Hello, you're listening to Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church. Stephen Pollack is the pastor of Free Presbyterian Church of Malvern, Pennsylvania. The church is located at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. Thank you for joining us today as Dr. Pollack opens the Word of God and lets the Bible speak. Please turn in our Bibles tonight to the Psalm 17. Turning tonight to the 17th Psalm. Psalm 17, it is a Psalm of David. Hear the rites, O Lord, and attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer, and goeth not out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from my presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the nights. Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Show thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies who compass me about. They are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly, and they have now compassed us in our steps, they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth. like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, and I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to bless and encourage us in his word again tonight, for his name's sake. Prayer, the opening of this very psalm, Prayer of David. Prayer is, in the life of a believer, both a public and a private experience public and private, and neglect in either experience will produce an unhealthy, unbalanced Christian life. You need both. Scripturally, we see, again, practice and precept regarding public and private prayer, and both are necessary for a well-balanced Christian experience. Public prayer is often easier. You can be present in the public prayer meeting out of habit, You can pray proper prayers in the knowledge of others hearing those prayers, and that knowledge can govern how you express yourself in the public place. You can be present in public prayer meetings, even when your heart is not what it should be. You can still be there in the public prayer meeting. Private prayer is certainly a different challenge altogether. It's easy to neglect private prayer without anyone ever knowing about it. You're missing in the public prayer meeting. Again, that is very readily acknowledged, again, in a small congregation like ourselves. In private prayer, you can miss that for a long time and no one would ever know. In private prayer, there's no place for pretense or hypocrisy. When you pray good prayers and your heart's not in it, your own conscience judges you for your lack of sincerity. If your hearts aren't right, Well, private prayer reveals that as well. And so often we feel the trial and the challenge of sincere spiritual private praying. But whilst there are problems in both areas and we can fall into sin in both areas, it is often neglected to consider the privilege of private prayer. We so often focus on the difficulty that we forget the delight and the privilege. We forget that we have personal, individual access to God's throne of grace, that as sinners we can approach the Holy God as Father and come boldly, bring our petitions to that throne of grace. We can do so without a priest. any earthly mediator, we have direct access to God's holy throne. We have the privacy to humbly, honestly pour our hearts to God, to bring things to God in private that we couldn't and shouldn't pray in public, to have those inner wrestlings of the soul with the Lord, And so we focus so often on the challenges that we forget these profound privileges that allows us to come to God with the very inner burdens of our souls. And so as David here prays, hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer. Again, the personal nature of this. This is a prayer that, yes, it's inspired, it's in here to teach us, but it is very, very personal. Now, there are plural pronouns later on, but the prayer itself is intensely private and personal. Spurgeon says about this prayer, David was a master of the sacred art of supplication. He flies to prayer in all times of need as a pilot speeds to the harbor in the stress of tempest and the storm. Again, the pilot of a ship will make speedy progress towards the safety of the harbor. So Spurgeon uses that picture to point out David's rapidity in getting to the place of prayer and pouring out his heart to the Lord. You see, in summary, in this psalm, again, we find the psalmist in yet another season of affliction. In this first book of the Psalter, we find time and time again David in trials, and normally those trials are caused by wicked people around him. So verse number nine, he's praying for this prayer that he had to be kept from the wicked that oppress him, from his deadly enemies who compass him about. Again, that continues, and he refers to those again in verse number 13, and cries unto God, deliver my soul from the wicked. They have compassed him. They've surrounded him with malicious intent to do him harm and damage. And yet in that experience, He recognized he wrestles with God in a way that he could not do necessarily in public prayer. Because he gets to God, verse 1 to 3, and puts to God, again, his own personal integrity. Again, if you're afflicted and in trouble, oftentimes you look at your heart and you see your faults and your sins. You see all of your feelings. But here's a psalmist in seasons of affliction, and he's getting to God and saying, Lord, you've proved my heart. You visited me in the night, you've tried me, and you shall find nothing. He argues about his integrity in the things of God, especially from worldliness and carnality. He refers in verse number four to the works of men. And by the word of God's lips, he's kept himself from the paths of the destroyer. He's been able to walk uprightly and avoided the carnality of that present age. Again, verse number 14 describes the affluence, the wealth and the prosperity and the carnality of those wicked men against him. Their portion is this life. Their belly is filled. Again, these are people who have seen much success and prosperity, so much so they give their inheritance to their children's children. And yet the psalmist is content. He's content with God. As for me, verse 15, Again, here he is. He's under the affliction of ungodly people. They're seeking to do him harm, and yet he can get to God in prayer and say, No, Lord, I'm a righteous man. inward righteousness, integrity of heart. Verse number three, blessed prove mine heart, that heart that is demonstrated in contentedness in verse number 15. Integrity of his mouth, I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Integrity of life, verse four, concerning the works of men, he's kept himself from the paths of the destroyer. Again, this is full-orbed Christian integrity. internal righteousness, righteousness in heart, righteousness of mouth, righteousness in his walk. He's walking uprightly with his God. How good it is to have a good conscience. And as Paul will say elsewhere, herein do I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. He's not claiming sin is perfection, we know that. Very much not the case in the life of David, but he is claiming to have a life of uprightness in the presence of God. And so he finds himself in times of affliction. Not caused at this point by his own folly, but a season of affliction described in verse number 13 as God's sword. A time that God has brought into his life. time that God has brought to try him and test him further. And in that setting, there are three very simple petitions that I believe would be good to learn and reflect on as the year turns. And that's what I want to do. I want to really apply this very, very generally. In our lives, there are three things that come to mind here. Verse number five, hold up my goings and my paths. Verse number seven, show thy marvelous loving kindness. And verse number eight, keep me as the apple of the eye. Again, these are three really helpful prayers as we turn from one year into the next. Prayers to pray, January, February, March, April, you go through the whole year. These are prayers to take with you into a new year and to take with you through the entire year, wherever your goings find themselves. First of all, please note, that it's important for us to keep on praying for the grace to persevere. Verse number five, hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. Our goings, the word is elsewhere translated with the word steps. Verse number 11, for example, they have now encompassed us in our steps, our goings, the same words. refers to life or walk. It's true for everybody, saved, unsaved, they have their goings. Now, we will walk new paths in 2025 if we are spared. We'll do the same things, but with fresh opportunities. We can succeed where we failed in the past, and we can fail in areas of past success and triumph. We'll come across new things. New opportunities. Where will your feet take you in your goings in 2025? I'm not speaking of change or new destinations necessarily, but your feet will take you again into your workplace. Your feet will take you there, whether you work from home or work somewhere else, you will go in the place of your occupation. Your feet will take you into church. Your feet will take you into rooms in your house. with different experiences, different relationships. Those are your goings in every part of your life. You'll face new trials, many of which you will not expect at this point. You'll have new opportunity to serve God or to prove God in those new trials. You will have goings as long as the Lord spares you. And the psalmist expresses the godly man's prayer in verse number five, hold up my goings in thy paths. He wants to find his goings lining up with God's. He wants to walk in his life in a way that is consistent in God's paths. He doesn't want his goings taken in a by-path meadow, off the way of God's appointment and God's choosing. He's not referring to providence here. You will walk in God's providence in 2025, that's guaranteed. You can't get outside of God's providence. All things are under God's control, but you can get outside God's will that is revealed. You can walk in your goings in a way outside the revealed will of God. And so it's a prayer here for perseverance and obedience. As the psalmist says, you turn across to Psalm 119, it's full of this sort of language. Psalm 119, of course, the longest psalm that deals with, and again, the law of God and obedience to God's law. In the verse number 35, And Psalmist prays this. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. He wants to go in that path. Again, different word, but you see the same things in verse number 32. I will run the way of thy commandments. Verse 33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes. Again, the will of God is often used with this metaphor or this simile at times of the way, the path, the road. And the psalmist is praying in our psalm that his goings would be in the same path as God's will. He wouldn't walk outside the revealed will of God. Now, this prayer, if you go back to our psalm and to verse number five, you'll see this prayer acknowledges a couple of things. It acknowledges the danger or the potential for slipping. Again, the Christian way is a narrow path. Here the psalmist says, hold up my goings that my footsteps slip not. We often walk in the Christian life with faltering steps. Many Christians experience the reality that they feel they're walking in the dark. They just don't know what the next step's going to involve. And you know what it's like? You wake up in the middle of the night and the lights are off in the house, and you're... I remember in the old days when we had children, and they put Legos or something on the floor, and you were fearful standing on that Lego, and you're treading so carefully to walk along the path without doing yourself major injury and harm. Well, the Christian life's like that. We walk sometimes without knowing the way ahead. And the real danger is we might fall off either side of God's path, and we need God to keep us in the right way, that our foot wouldn't slip, and we wouldn't fall to our harm. It's interesting to note that the number of times when the word goings is used in the book of the Psalms and the Psalter, oftentimes it refers to this idea of feet slipping. The law of God is in his heart, Psalm 37, none of his steps shall slide, or steps there, the word goings, none shall slide. Or Psalm 44, our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way. Or Psalm 73, as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. At times the word goings is used, it's often used alongside this danger of slipping and suffering harm. And what is significant here is that past success doesn't negate the need to pray this. You may have seen success in this past year. Your feet may not have slipped in this past year, but that does not mean you shouldn't pray this prayer next year. Look what he says, verse number four. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. Hold up my goings and my paths. I've kept myself from the wrong path. but hold up my goings and nigh paths. I've already succeeded in this area, but I understand the danger all around me that I might yet still slip." It's a prayer for grace that acknowledges the danger of slippage. It's a prayer that, again, depends on the Lord for his faithfulness, obedience in all of our goings. make me to go in the path of thy commandments. For therein do I delight. Obedience is spiritual. We've been given a new heart in the rebirth, but that new heart is energized by the Spirit of God with faith and obedience. And so the Lord tells us to pray this prayer, Thy will be done. And we often look at that prayer for others. Lord, may thy will be done by me. Grant me the grace to do your will. Grant me the grace to walk in your paths. Whatever our goings take us—in work, in the public square, in church life, in family life, in all the rooms of the house—may walk into those rooms, again asking God to keep us in the paths of obedience. that we wouldn't be righteous in church and wicked at home, or upright in work and negligent in church. We want to be consistent in every part of our goings, that all of our ways are in the will of God without exception. It's a prayer for the grace to persevere. Secondly, please note the prayer for the grace that provides. Again, that's verse number seven, this second prayer to take into a new year. Show thy marvelous, loving kindness. Again, this is an interesting way to translate a tricky phrase in the Hebrew. Loving kindness you will know Again, it is the Word has said, the covenant faithfulness of the goodness of God. We get that sort of language regarding God's goodness. And again, you'll know the words, Psalm 106, and the verse number one, praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Psalm 107, verse number one, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Or please turn across to Psalm 118, which again highlights the goodness of God, this loving-kindness of God. Psalm 118, verse 1, And then down in verse number 29 again, And then verse 25, You see, when we desire to see God's marvelous lovingkindness, we're desiring to see the spiritual provision of God, not prosperity in terms of financial things. but spiritual blessings, that we are rich in the blessings that God blesses with. And this prayer, again, it highlights this dependence upon God to show us his spiritual blessings. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness. You think we saw Last Lord's Day. It's a prayer to see Christ. Because all blessings come in Christ. We want to see the Savior, and we want to see all blessings that come in Christ Jesus. And so you praying in a new year, take this prayer. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness. When I enter the closet, in my private personal reading, give me fresh sights of the Savior. You know, if you've been saved for 15, 20, 30 years, you know you come around January time and you've got to almost renew your vigor in Bible reading. You get to the end of a Bible plan, whatever you've done this year, and you think, oh, phew, I've got to the end of another plan. December 31st. What happens next? You've got to go again. And here's a prayer to take for the new year. Show thy marvelous loving kindness. keep going again asking for fresh sight to the Savior, fresh delight in the Lord's goodness towards you. The same is true in public preaching. That you come to the house of God in a new year with a fresh desire to see more and more the loving kindness of God. These are things to take to heart and to pray over sincerely that we'd savor God's goodness or taste and see that the Lord is good. The Lord is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Show us this. Show us the fact you will not withhold anything that we need to walk uprightly. Help us, O God. Show us these things. It's a prayer for the grace that provides. Thirdly and finally, please note the prayer for the grace that protects. Again, this persevering grace It highlights our weakness, but the protecting grace highlights that we live in a world of enemies, spiritual enemies, those who are against our souls. And verse number eight, keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Now, we understand the need for protection. We think of God. It is the power of God who keeps us. Again, 1 Peter 1, we're kept by the power of God. We think of Jude 24, He is able to keep us from falling. We need this spiritual protection. But what I want you to notice here are the details. Not just protect me, but protect me, hide me, And note the language used. Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. A simile and a metaphor to show us, again, something of the nature of God's protection. He protects us as something that is precious. As the pupil of the eye is to the body, as the chick is to the hen, they are precious, they are tender. And God loves us. We're not praying for God to reluctantly protect us. We're praying for God to protect something He holds very, very dear to His heart. The pupil of the eye, the chick to the hen, so dear and so precious. That is how the Lord protects us. We are dear to Him. You need not fear that God would neglect this prayer. You pray this prayer because you know that in Christ Jesus, this is how God does value you, as the apple of the eye, something precious, something vulnerable. Oh, the people of God are tender. They're vulnerable. They're often soft-hearted, and they feel the attacks of enemies very, very keenly, and the Lord knows that. protects us in our vulnerability. It's a recognition that we in of ourselves are so fragile, vulnerable, easily destroyed. And if it wasn't for the Lord, we would be destroyed. We are no might against the force of the evil one. We're no might against this evil world. But in God we are safe. In God we are protected. He protects us as under the shadow of his wings. Again, there's that picture of the bird bringing the little one, the vulnerable chick, under safety and under protection. Little wonder the psalmist can end the prayer, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Is he referring to waking in a new day? Understanding more of God's blessings, perhaps, but ultimately, it is that awaking in the eternal state. He knows, he knows that he's kept by God. That verse number eight is answered when he gets to verse number 15. He has been kept, he will behold the face of God. He will be in the Lord's presence. I do, I think these are really good prayers to take into a new year. For the grace to persevere. For the grace to see more of God's provision. for the grace of God to protect us in all of our needs. There's not a day goes by you will not need to pray these prayers. May God help us in his providential kindness he's brought us to this psalm tonight. May it be a help to us as we enter a new year in his will. As a private individual in prayer and in public prayer as well as the family of God here. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of Let the Bible Speak from Malvern Free Presbyterian Church. If you'd like more information about the gospel or the church, please call 610-993-3170 or email malvernfpc at yahoo.com. We extend an invitation to all to join us as we worship the Lord each week. You will be made very welcome. The church is situated at 80 Mallon Road, Malvern, Pennsylvania, at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. We meet for worship on the Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. A Bible study and prayer meeting is also held on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. We preach Christ Crucified.