WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.720 We're in Psalm chapter 5 this morning. 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:09.199 We've been going through some of the psalms, and this will we will pause here after Psalm 5. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.480 Jimmy preached Psalm 6 a few weeks ago. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:18.399 And next summer, Lord willing, we will pick up in the Psalms. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.559 Today we are in Psalm chapter 5. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:30.160 Church, hear this as this is God's holy and sacred word. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.880 Give ear to my words, O Lord. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.119 Consider my groaning. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.560 Give attention to the sound of my cry. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.399 My King and my God, for to you do I pray. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.880 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.799 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.799 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.840 Evil may not dwell with you. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.079 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:08.959 You hate all evildoers. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.560 You destroy those who speak lies. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:17.040 The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:22.159 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.879 I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.000 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, because of my enemies. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:34.560 Make your way straight before me. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:45.599 For there is no truth in their mouth, their inmost self is destruction, their throat is an open grave, they flatter with their tongue. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:59.280 Make them bear their guilt, O God, let them fall by their own counsels, because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.519 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:12.000 Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exalt in you. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:14.960 For you bless the righteous, O Lord. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.840 You cover him with a favor as with a shield. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:25.840 Church, I want you to think about this. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.240 How is it that God hears your prayers? 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:44.080 How is it possible for a righteous and holy God to hear the prayers of sinful people? 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.800 Most of you probably know the correct answer. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.439 It's the Sunday school answer for everything, right? 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:52.719 It's Jesus. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:53.199 Right? 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:53.919 Jesus. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.840 And that's a hundred percent correct. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:02.080 It's because of Jesus that God the Father hears you when you pray. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:08.240 The Westminster Larger Catechism says in question 178, what is prayer? 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:22.479 The answer is prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with the confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:26.719 Now maybe you hear me say the word catechism and you think we're Catholic or something. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:34.240 I just want to assure you that we are not catechism or catechesis is just a way of teaching the doctrines of Scripture. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:37.840 It's been around long before the Pope was around, okay? 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:46.000 So we can have confidence in our prayers, that God hears us because of Jesus. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:52.080 Because Jesus lived a perfect life and died, an atoning death, atoning for our sins. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.360 We learned that in Psalm 1 or Psalm 4, right? 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.400 Psalm 4 tells us that God hears us. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:02.800 He hears our prayers because of Christ. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:07.120 But how does this shape the way that you pray? 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:18.560 Understanding who God is and what he has done for us is crucial to having a prayer life that is healthy and maturing. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:33.439 If your view of God is big guy in the sky, angry judge, disappointed father, your prayer life will reflect that. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:39.040 Here in Psalm 5, we see David giving a lament. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.360 A lament is a cry of sorrow or grief. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.079 Sometimes you use words for lamenting. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:50.959 Sometimes it's just groaning or sighing or crying out. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:59.519 This Psalm shows us the righteousness of God and the wickedness of man. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:06.639 And how these two things should be evident, they should be present in our prayers. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:13.600 God hears the prayers, He hears our prayers because of Jesus Christ. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:20.480 But do your prayers point to the righteousness of God and to the wickedness of man. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:23.759 God is just. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:38.240 Brother or sister, have you been in that place in your life where words don't even work anymore? 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.959 Your soul can't even put a sentence together. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:45.040 God hears you. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.600 He hears your groaning. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.920 He hears your crying. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.000 Now I don't assume everyone here is a Christian. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.600 I imagine there are some here who do not believe in God. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:59.600 And they're okay with that. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:21.920 I'd imagine there's some here who think they believe in God because they've just grew up in the Christian family or they were baptized at some point or something like that, but they're still dead in their sin, seeking to make things right, to be to stand in their own righteousness on judgment day, not trusting in the righteousness of Christ for salvation? 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:28.319 To you, my question is this: where do you go with the things that break your heart? 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:35.600 Where do you go with the things that burden your soul and seem to crush you? 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:37.200 To who do you cry? 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.039 To where do you turn? 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.120 Food or drink or drugs? 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.159 Images on TV or the internet? 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.200 Do you turn to praise and affirmation from others? 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.159 Where do you go if you don't turn to Christ? 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:06.080 This goes for everyone, but I want to speak, especially for those who are younger in the faith and you've grown up in a Christian home or a Christian environment. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:20.159 One of the most dangerous things for you is finding your affirmation or identity by acting like a Christian, by acting like a good Christian. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:30.799 You know what the things you're supposed to do, you know the verses that you need to know, you know when to quote them, you know the rules to follow, you know how to not get caught. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:42.960 You think you're a Christian, not because you trust in the person and work of Christ to atone for your sin, to change your heart, to give you new desires. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:48.480 Rather, you think you're a Christian because, well, everyone around you thinks you're a Christian. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:55.440 Everyone around you just assumes you're a good person, you say you're a Christian, surely, well, then you're a Christian. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.679 It's not the fear of God's judgment that keeps you up at night. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.840 It's the fear, what if they find out? 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:03.360 What if I get caught? 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.120 Now hear me on this. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:06.320 Hear me. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:19.360 Just because you're struggling with sin, or your spiritual life feels dry, or you care more about your reputation right now than you do your own personal holiness, that does not mean that you're not a Christian. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.480 But Christians repent. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.320 They turn from their sin to keep following Jesus. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:34.399 They love Him and they strive to obey Him, even when they fail again and again and again. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.919 Non-Christians don't care about true repentance. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.000 They care about maintaining a good image or making sure they at least feel okay. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.440 They're not too convicted over what they're doing. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:54.960 They're generally too occupied with themselves to care much about what God thinks or what God requires. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:58.799 God is just. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.840 O Lord of the morning you hear my voice. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:18.879 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you, and watch, for you are not a God who delights in wickedness. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.279 Evil may not dwell with you. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.320 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.480 You hate all evildoers. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.360 You destroy those who speak lies. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:34.639 The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:42.320 You know, there is something important about morning time, the beginning of your day. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:47.200 Jesus would often rise early in the morning and go to spend time and go away. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:48.799 The Bible tells us to pray. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:58.080 Now I get that not everyone's a morning person, but I want to encourage you to be wise and thoughtful with how you start your day. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:06.000 I think in the CSB translation, it says, In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:11.840 In the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:19.600 The tactic that David is taking first among all the evil people is to pray to God. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.759 That is his first move. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.240 Wake up and lay out my case. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:28.639 Tell the Lord how it's going on, the burdens of my heart and how I feel. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.840 Now, why is this David's tactic? 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:36.639 Because David serves a just God. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:43.279 And God, and a just God hates evil. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:51.679 Verses four and five quickly take us to this heavy place and even a little bit confusing. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.639 What do we do with these two verses? 00:12:55.440 --> 00:13:11.679 What we do with these two verses, what we believe about them, it reveals a whole, whole lot about our theology and what we think of God and what we think about ourselves. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:18.000 If our first move is to dismiss them, God doesn't actually hate sinners. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.080 God doesn't actually hate these people. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.159 This is kind of a misunderstanding. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.000 Well, there's a problem with that because the Bible says it right here in verse 5. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:41.039 If we try and get God off the hook, as if we think he's on the hook, by saying, well, God hates sinners in a general, cosmic, kind of ethereal sense, but not actual people. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:45.519 Well, here again, the Bible says otherwise. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:52.559 Now I understand this isn't like one of those really fuzzy warm parts of the Bible. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:58.799 For some, what the Bible is teaching here, say for most of us, this is hard. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.559 This is hard. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.440 You should feel the weight of this. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.000 Before she does, and on we go. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:10.320 You should feel the weight. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.399 The Bible is teaching us something here. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:20.879 And we have to figure out who is the authority. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:22.720 Is it you? 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:24.559 Is it me? 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.120 Is it what other Christians think? 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:31.279 Is it maybe what some of our theologians that we turn to think? 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:34.480 Or is it what God thinks? 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.159 Jesus said, Come and follow me. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.639 And when he says that, he means it. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:49.039 Not just partially follow, follow what you agree with or what you like. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:51.120 We fully follow him. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.039 He is God and He is good. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:57.360 We trust Him and He has given us His Word. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:02.320 We're to be a people of the Word, people of the book, to lead us and to guide us. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:04.240 So we trust His His Word. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:10.720 Now we might not like all of it and we might struggle with it, but it is the authority. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:14.559 It is His He is the authority. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.559 We trust Him. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:30.000 Now, if you think God is wrong, if you think God is wrong for hating evil people, I want to tell you lovingly and kindly that you do not understand grace. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.039 You don't understand grace, and you need to read your Bible. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.559 Psalm 5.5, God hates evildoers. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:41.120 Psalm 11.5, God hates the wicked. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.639 Proverbs 15, 8, God hates the sacrifices of the wicked. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:48.639 Proverbs 15, 9, God hates the ways of the wicked. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.080 Proverbs 15, 26, God hates the thoughts of the wicked. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:57.039 Proverbs 6, 18, God hates the feet that make haste to run to evil. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.720 Malachi 1 in Romans 9, God hates Esau. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:05.600 Revelation 2, 6, God hates the deeds of the Nicolatians. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:11.039 It is a good thing that God hates evil. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:14.159 It's a good thing that God hates evil. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:16.480 God is just. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:39.440 I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.679 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:47.919 Make your way, your way, straight before me. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:53.519 David is confident that he will enter God's house. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:58.159 If you don't know much about David, I want to tell you that he's an adulterer. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.240 He's a murderer. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:05.920 He's a liar, a deceiver, he has rebelled against God's ways. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:11.920 Why should he be confident that he will enter God's house? 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:15.039 Why should he have any confidence? 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:22.640 His confidence is not in himself, it's in the steadfast love of God. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:28.880 He asks God to make his way straight because he knows only God can do such a thing. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.839 It's not because of anything that David did that makes him worthy to enter into God's house. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.119 He is not worthy. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.200 He deserves death. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:47.200 But God, being rich in his mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.559 By grace have you been saved. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:52.240 Amen. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.000 Psalm 5 is here. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:11.119 David, who is a great sinner, is crying out to God for justice against wicked people only because Jesus Christ came and lived and died. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:17.839 Paying the price, keeping the law, obeying every part of it perfectly. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.279 Outwardly he obeyed it, and inwardly he obeyed it. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:26.240 Then dying is the perfect lamb for the sins of God's people. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:34.880 David stands before God, making his case in the morning, because Jesus paid the price for David's sin. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:39.200 God does not hate David because God showed David mercy. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:44.319 God has every right, every right to hate David. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.960 But he shows him mercy. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.599 He shows him mercy. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:56.079 When we understand this, it changes our prayer life. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.240 Our prayers change. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:02.880 We pray for God to bring justice and to judge the wicked. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.720 Those who promote genocide by protecting and promoting abortion. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:13.440 Those who promote an ideology that mutilates the human body to make the mind feel better, which doesn't work. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:18.559 So many things again and again in our culture that are wicked and evil. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:24.400 We pray for God to bring justice, that justice would be done. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:37.920 And we pray for God's grace and mercy to be poured out, just as God showed us mercy, just as He has shown you mercy and kindness and compassion. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:51.279 That those who are rebelling against God would see their sin and selfish desires, that they would repent, turning from their sin to Christ, trusting in him for salvation. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:20:05.680 It's so easy for us to fall to one side or the other, just praying salvation and grace and not acknowledge the wicked, that God would bring judgment and justice. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.279 We should be praying for both things. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:09.759 Why? 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.240 Because God will do both things. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:19.200 He will be compassionate, he will be merciful, and he will be just and he will bring justice. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:30.960 It's easy for us as Christians to look to our own righteousness, excuse me, our own sin, and think that it's just not as bad as that person's sin. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.880 I want to challenge you. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:40.720 Do you really think that your sin is any better than anyone else's? 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:48.480 So much right now in our culture, even politically, there's so much animosity, there's some serious things at stake. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.359 I'm not making light of those things. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.119 Are you praying for your adversaries? 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.559 That their sin will be atoned for by Jesus Christ. 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:05.119 Do you think that they are worth saving? 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:16.880 Do you think those people who speak against you, who make your life difficult, who hate God, do you think they're worth saving in your eyes? 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:26.400 Do you think that somehow you are worth Christ coming down and atoning for the sin, for your sin, but they're not? 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:32.640 How easy it is for us to praise God, thank him for saving us. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.920 But then there's people in our lives or people in the culture. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.359 We just want their demise. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:40.880 We just want them to be destroyed. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:45.279 We too have been shown mercy. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.279 We too deserve death. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:51.759 We too deserve to be hated by God, but he has shown us mercy. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.599 David's boast is not in his own righteousness, he is not leaning on his own righteousness to guide him. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.680 He is trusting in God. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.240 He has this fear of God. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.319 He's looking to God. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:11.839 Because God is just and he leads the righteous. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.559 God is just and he judges the wicked. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:18.480 Look at verse 9. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.519 For there is no truth in their mouth. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:25.440 Their inmost self is destruction. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.480 Their throat is an open grave, they flatter with their tongue. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:34.400 Make them bear their guilt, O God. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.920 Let them fall by their own counsels. 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:45.039 Because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:54.400 No doubt this psalm has heaviness to it, a darkness in part to it. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.319 It weighs us down. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.039 Again, I think that's a good thing. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:00.559 This is real stuff. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:01.680 This is real. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:03.920 This isn't just hypothetical. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.359 This isn't a thought exercise or a mind exercise. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:08.160 It's real. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:13.039 Heaven and hell, God and Satan, light and dark, me and you. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:13.839 It's real. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.039 It's all real. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:21.759 Verse 9 tells us what these wicked people are like. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:24.480 There's no truth in their mouth. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:27.279 Their inmost self is destruction. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.839 Their throat is an open grave, and they flatter with their tongue. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:42.000 Jesus in Luke 6, chapter 6, verse 45, says, The good person out of the good treasured up in their heart, in his heart, produces good. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:47.599 And the evil person out of his evil, evil treasure produces evil. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.640 For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:56.480 Be mindful what you say. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:03.519 I'd imagine that most people are familiar somewhat with the stench of rotting flesh. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:13.119 Either you've just seen rotten animals alongside the road, you smell smelled an animal that's died and is now decaying in your yard or in the barn or something like that. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:18.640 If you're familiar with that, it's a stench, it's an odor that's putrid and repulsive. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:22.960 That's what's coming out of the mouth of these people. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:27.440 Open graves, rotting flesh, if you will, metaphorically. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.880 But they seek to use flattery with their tongue to cover their deception. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.400 They're awful, they're wicked. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.480 So David cries to God to judge them. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.160 To judge them, because he judges the wicked, right? 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:45.759 That's what God does. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:52.160 It's a good thing that your throat or my throat isn't an open grave. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:53.599 That would be troublesome. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:25:01.839 Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 13 says it is written, No one is righteous, no not one. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.200 No one understands, no one seeks for God. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:06.799 All have turned aside. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.279 Together they have become worthless. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.000 No one does good, not even one. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:14.720 Their throat is an open grave. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.599 They use their tongues to deceive. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:22.480 God is just, he will judge the wicked. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:26.880 And God is just, he will protect the righteous. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:29.119 Look at verse eleven. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:34.400 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:43.119 Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exalt in you. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.759 For you bless the righteous, O Lord. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.240 You cover him with favor as with a shield. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:59.920 Listen, verse eleven does not make verse five go away. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.039 Verse 11 does not make verse 5 go away. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.160 All who take refuge in God will be saved. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:13.440 But that does not make verse 5 that God hates the evil any less true. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.440 Do you understand that? 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:28.319 What it does is it makes verse 11 all the more glorious that God is just and righteous, and all who take refuge in him will be delivered. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:34.240 Because he is the one who made them righteous. 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:42.319 You know, we don't know when Psalm 5 was written exactly through in David's life. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:53.119 We know that Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 probably were, we know 3 for sure, was written when David was fleeing from his son Absalom, who was trying to kill him. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:59.279 I think Psalm 4 is there, and most people think Psalm 5 is around that time as well. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:04.880 This comes long after Psalm 51. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:10.000 Now the Psalms are not chronological, they're thematic. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:33.279 In Psalm 51, which happened before the events of Psalm 5, David says, after sleeping with Pathsheba and killing Uriah and being confronted in repenting, in Psalm 51, where he's repenting to the Lord for these things, in verse 5, he says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:47.680 Here David, the theologian David, believes in this original sin, that mankind, because of our father Adam, was born with a sinful nature that separates us from God. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:56.000 So there's no way that verse 12 of Psalm 5 happens, for you bless the righteous of the Lord. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:00.720 There's no way that Psalm 12 happens apart from Jesus Christ. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:06.960 Because there would be no one to bless, for there is no one righteous, as Romans 3 says. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.319 None are righteous. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:15.920 So apart from Christ, there is no blessing because we're born into sin, separated from God, unrighteous. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:24.160 It's not as if God saw something in you and then decided to save you. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:28.640 He saved you because he's merciful and kind. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:33.440 He desires to show you compassion and love. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:49.279 As we mentioned Ephesians a moment ago in chapter 2, but God being rich in his mercy, because of the great love which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, our sins, he made us alive together with Christ. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:29:07.359 By grace have you been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:10.319 For by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:26.640 And this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:37.599 Not only has God been gracious to you, but not killing you yet, he has provided you salvation for all who believe. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:41.039 He has formed you, he has made you. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:46.400 Now he has a plan for you, he has good works for you to do. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:49.519 You don't work to earn grace. 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:53.599 You work because you've already been shown grace. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:19.279 David's crying out, his lament is to a righteous God who brings justice to the nations because he alone can bring justice, and he alone can show mercy, and he will bring justice, and he will show mercy. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:26.160 So, how is it that God hears your prayers? 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:29.200 It's because of Jesus Christ. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:34.799 Pray the truth, the truths of the Bible. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:39.440 Don't shy away from calling evil evil and good good. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:43.519 We need God more than we'll ever know. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:50.799 And God has been more merciful and kind and compassionate to us than we will ever know. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:56.079 There's much in this world to lament. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:59.200 There's much to lament. 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.680 Are you taking those things to Jesus? 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:16.799 The burdens of your heart, the things that are crushing you, causing you to groan, lamenting the tragedy or the darkness or the sorrow. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:20.319 Are you turning and taking those to Jesus? 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:22.559 Or are you looking for something else? 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:34.480 Your phone or a TV or some other thing to distract you, to numb you, to keep you from turning to Jesus? 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:38.079 What a friend we have in Jesus. 00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:41.279 All our sins and griefs to bear. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:45.440 What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:52.799 I'm going to tell you, brother or sister, take your broken heart to Jesus. 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:59.200 Take your burdens, your shame, your guilt, your sin, your pride. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:02.240 Take these to Him. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.240 Take these to the God who created you and loves you. 00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:09.680 He never grows weary or tired. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:14.960 He can handle whatever you have going on in your life. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:17.279 He can take your anger. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:20.240 He isn't scared of your doubts. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:23.680 He isn't put off by what you know or what you do not know. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:24.799 Come to him. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:27.440 He's compassionate and kind. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:34.799 Psalm 86, 5 says, For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:40.079 How good is it to know that God is good? 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:42.480 What's it mean when it says it's good? 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:43.920 It means he's just. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:49.920 It means every single thing that has ever been done, every sin will be taken care of. 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:57.839 Either it was put on Christ on the cross, or people will bear their sin. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.839 But God is just. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:02.400 When it says he's good, he's just. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:05.200 He's always just. 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:09.200 And he's forgiving because of Christ. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:11.039 He is forgiving. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:12.960 There is not a thing. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:14.559 Hear me. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:20.640 There is not a thing that Christ cannot forgive or will not forgive. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:22.559 There is no sin. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:27.279 There is no transgression, no rebellion, no thing. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:29.279 He cannot forgive. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.000 He's a forgiving God. 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:34.160 Verse 5 finishes. 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:35.680 Abounding. 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:42.000 Abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon him. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:45.359 He's a good God. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:46.960 He's a forgiving God. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:48.640 He's a righteous God. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.000 He abounds. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:59.519 He abounds, keeps going and going and going with his steadfast love to all who call upon him. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:07.839 If you have this lie going on in your mind, well, that's great for them. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:10.719 You don't know my story. 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:12.960 You don't know what I've done. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:16.880 Listen, this has nothing to do with you. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:19.119 This has everything to do with God. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:20.559 This is God. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:23.280 He comes for his people. 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.440 So put your hope in Jesus. 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:26.800 Put your hope in him. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.239 We're about to sing this as a church. 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:37.360 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:46.800 I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly, completely, utterly lean on Jesus' name. 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:50.400 Don't put your hope on anything else. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:52.800 Don't build it on something else. 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:55.280 Trust in Jesus. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:58.880 Sing that like you mean it. 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:02.719 And pray like it's true because it is. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:04.400 Let's pray.