Please be seated. If you would turn back with me in your copies of God's word to the last text of scripture, which we read, the 20th Psalm. That is our text for this evening. Before we turn to it, I'd like just to ask you, as you assess your own hearts this evening, How sensible are you of your dependence, of your weakness? Certainly every time you and I come to the worship of our God, and anytime any of the people of God came to worship Him, either in the old or in the new covenant, that certainly is an appropriate question to ask. Do I come as one who is needy and sensibly needy? before the mercy seat, before the throne of grace. You see that question in many ways does lie underneath and thread through the psalm. It may not be obvious at first, but friend, this is a psalm for those who feel themselves dependent, who feel themselves in need of one stronger than themselves. I submit to you when we sing this at the end of our time, God willing, the degree to which we feel that dependence will be the same degree to which we take this up from the heart in praise to God. As we look at the psalm, you'll notice that it really divides into three basic sections. In the first four verses, you have a prayer. what really is, in essence, a prayer, though it comes to us in the form of a blessing, and it is for the king's salvation and for his success. And then as you move to verses five to eight, you see there that the psalmist, he gives something of an affirmation of his own faith. And then in verse nine, you come to another period of petition. In two lines, you have a prayer for the Lord's salvation and also a prayer that the king would hear us. Friend, as you take this psalm in its entirety, it may at first brush seem a rather curious composition. How would the Israelite take this psalm in praise to God? Perhaps as he's making his way up Mount Zion, as he passes the palaces of David's house to his left, and as he makes his way to the Temple Mount, perhaps of course, he would have a very lively picture of the monarch, the anointed king of Israel. And so in that context, of course, it makes sense that he would be thinking about the king. But note again, the language of our psalms. how much the man, the psalmist in this case, binds Israel and himself to the well-being of the king. It's not just a prayer for the king, you recognize this. The psalmist goes and he prays these things, praying the blessing upon the house of the king, of course, for the good of all of Israel and for his own good. We'll see that in just a moment. And why would he do that? Why would he take a psalm like this, with such a lively sense of his connection to the house of David and its well-being, upon his lips and praise to God? Well friend, the answer is that the Godly Israelite would know, as he walked into the temple to worship God. As he was an Israelite and so a member of the visible church, that God, according to his own good pleasure, had chosen the house of David to be head over Israel, such that in David's prosperity, the church would prosper. In its temporal and immediate context, that was the idea. As David was victorious, as his posterity was victorious on the field of battle, as they ruled well and as there was stability in the kingdom and so stability in David's house. The prosperity of David's house was the prosperity of Israel and so of the church. But friend, the spirit of prophecy had already well established the fact that the godly Israelite was also to see that in the house of David as well, and not just in a temporal or an immediate sense, but in a spiritual and eternal sense, the well-being of the church would be found in David's house and through great David's greater son. If he is a pious Israelite, he carries that reality with him as he comes to the worship of God. He must. It has been revealed to him in the word of God and so he must take it with him as he worships. And friend, you and I shouldn't miss that reality when we come to our psalm this evening. There's so many aspects of the psalm that are really poignant because they drive us very much away from a temporal context and drive us to that ultimate son of David. What do I mean? Friend, I want you to notice just for a moment the structure of the psalm. Take the first and the last verses, just for instance. The first verse is a cry that the king would be heard by God. The last verse, the ninth verse, is a plea that the king would hear us. the worshiper of God, the psalmist in this case. Striking, isn't it? The psalm is bookended, as it were, with this idea that we long for the King to be heard by God and we long for the King to hear us. And what's striking about that is that necessarily there's something of a reciprocity at work. As the King hears us, the thought is then, of course, Would he not also be interceding for us to God? Striking, isn't it? Well, we can go further. As you look at the verses intervening, you notice that there's a pattern in the psalmist's thought. You have, first of all, reference to the king's sufferings. Then to the king's sacrifice. followed by his salvation. And in his salvation, the salvation and the rising of the church. And then the plea that the king would hear. Friend, I don't know about you, but that's breathtaking. Once you see it, you really can't unsee it. The psalmist joins all of these themes together And his focus is then the king's success and his intercession. And that being the well-being of the psalmist and so all of Israel. That's the focus of the psalm. All I ask you, friend, is how can the Christian sing this psalm in praise to God today? There is no other way. but seeing this King as being the Lord Jesus Christ. And so through the running centuries, Jewish and Christian commentators alike see not David only, but see there principally the Messiah, the anointed described in our text. And as such, this Psalm shows us that it is Christ's success and intercession that is the ground of the believer's hope. That is what underpins this psalm really from the start to the finish. Christ's success and intercession is the ground of the believer's hope. And I want us to see that just very briefly this evening. Take, for instance, just the first three verses. Where there you have reference to the king's suffering as well as his sacrifice. Now, there are a number of aspects about these three verses that are rather unique. It's unique, first of all, because these things are joined. Strikingly, in the scriptures, you don't find these joined in such a way elsewhere. But here they're joined together, made inseparable. And then furthermore, it is not just the sacrifice itself, but it is principally the acceptance of the sacrifice that is the psalmist's concern. Then in the fourth verse, moving from the king's suffering and his sacrifice, and principally its acceptance, to verse 4 where His pleading is that the Lord would grant according to thine own heart, speaking to the king, and all of his counsel. Now, I want you to notice something, friend. Note the universality of the request. Friend, David may be a well-meaning king, but a well-meaning king can still, in his counsels, make decisions that cross the church's good, that are actually for the detriment of his kingdom, notwithstanding the king's well wishes. The psalmist prays in a universal sense, grant all thy counsel. And the sense is here then, that the desires of the king are pure, they are actually good, and ultimately they are for the good of the church. Again, remembering, friend, of course, that he's not an Israelite by nation only, he's a member of the visible church. In that case, the good of the nation was the good of the church. But friend, if you hold all of those themes together, what do you see? You see the one who's anointed in the text is one here who has suffered, whose sacrifice must be accepted, and whose desires are good and good for the church. And friend, what you see then here is that in this king's acceptance by God, The psalmist clearly discerns the benefits that accrue then to the church. Beloved, David is in the psalm. David's posterity is in the psalm, but only as they indicate, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. His suffering and his sacrifice were one, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And beloved, the acceptance of his sacrifice, and we can't miss this, the acceptance of his sacrifice is the ground of what we read in John 17. Because, friend, because what we find in verses one to three of our text are true of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, friend, all that Christ intercedes for us presently for is firm and certain. But I want you to notice something, beloved. As you look at this, you notice in the first verse, and as we have it in our Metrical Psalter, the theme brought out to us is even more poignant. That first verse is Jehovah troubling the king. In our Metrical Psalter, it is the Lord hear thee in the day when trouble he doth send. Jehovah, hear thee in the day when trouble he doth send, and let the name of Jacob's God, thee from all ill defend. Note, friend, the emphasis. Our metrical Psalter does parallel better the Hebrew. This king was troubled by Jehovah. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ was troubled, not for himself, but for those for whom he would mediate, for you who look to him by faith. His sufferings and his sacrifices were won for your sake. And beloved, his acceptance, the acceptance of that sacrifice is indeed for your eternal good. But secondly, I want you to notice in verses five to eight, you have here the voice of the church saying, we rejoice in thy salvation. We might understand that, I suppose, as being a general well-wish or desire for the king. The Lord saveth his anointed, that literally is the word, the Lord saveth his Messiah. But I want you to come down to the eighth verse. After Messiah's saving, The church says, we are risen and stand upright. Friend, I don't know any other way to put this across more clearly than to say that the King's salvation is the salvation of the church. The King's rising is the rising of the church. The psalmist joins these two things as though they are utterly indistinguishable. as though they are so integrally tied that if the king is saved, so must we. If he is risen, so must we be. His salvation, his rescue is made ours. There is no other way to read the text, beloved. This is precisely why even unbelieving Jewish expositors have seen the Messiah in this text as well. And beloved, we see here then of course, the truth that Christ's resurrection is also ours. It is so legally. He was, as Paul says, delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Beloved, what you and I need to remember is that Jesus was made the sin bearer for a time. But what is required afterward, after he has made atonement, is he must be acquitted of that guilt that he bore for his people. And that's precisely what the apostle is teaching. And in his acquittal, you find the acquittal of the church. His acquittal, the announcement, the announcement of his acquittal is ours. And beloved, we find that in the resurrection. But not only is it legally ours, but so also is it physically. Christ risen from the dead has become the first fruits of them that slept. Note the order. Christ, the firstfruits must be raised, and afterward they that are at Christ's at his coming. The Apostle says, if Christ is raised, so must also those who sleep in him. If he is raised, they must be raised. Christ's resurrection is inextricably tied to that of his people. And so Jesus was pronounced acquitted, as the apostle says, justified before we. And he was raised physically from the dead before we ourselves. But beloved, make no mistake, in both senses, our resurrection is only so because of his. But then finally, I want you to notice the ninth verse. where you have the cry, let the king hear us when we call." Again, as you look at the structure of the psalm, you see that this idea of intercession is really crucial to the psalmist's thought. He thinks much about the king's pleading and interceding with God, and then he thinks about his own pleading with the king. Intercession threads the whole theme. And friend, manifestly what you and I are to see here is that in having the king's ear, the psalmist presupposes that that is for his and so the church's good. Again, there is no other way to read that ninth verse. And friend, this idea that intercession is fundamental to the church's hope, a ground of her confidence, It's certainly right throughout the scriptures. Hebrews 7, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Beloved, you and I, I don't think, and our generation at least, think much about the session of Christ. But the apostle says it's integral. If you'll save them to the uttermost, it is because he is living now to intercede for them. The intercession of Christ is not an appendage, a footnote. It is a necessary aspect of the church's salvation. So says Paul. But friend, what grounds all of this is the idea that this King actually has He has lent his ear to the cries of his people. Of course, that itself presupposes a living King, doesn't it? It presupposes a King who is capable of hearing the cries of his people, even today. Friend, we must be careful that as we come to the scriptures, that we read them carefully. in such a way that though we know that Christ is in all of them, that we make sure we understand that if he is in the text, we see it precisely as the text brings him to us. Beloved, as you look at this 20th Psalm, and even as we perhaps allow for David and his posterity to be in here in some sense, beloved, is there any way in which you can take this up in praise to God without seeing the Lord Jesus Christ? Can you? And if you can, then friend, I want you to notice what else this text holds forth for us. For our comfort, it leaves us with the reality that as the psalmist prays in verses four, and in the latter part of verse five, as he prays that the king's desires will be granted, that presupposes that the king's desires are for the good of the church. And so beloved, even at this stage, the psalmist is thinking much about the heart of the king and his disposition toward his people. Beloved, that should thrill your heart and mine, because as we sing this of the Lord Jesus Christ, we sing of his present desires and intercession for her good. This psalm, friend, speaks of a king who lives, who intercedes, and who genuinely desires the consolation and preservation of his own. And so, friend, as we close our brief meditations this evening, I said to you at the start that this was a psalm for those who are sensibly dependent. I do believe that. Because friend, only those who know their absolute need for Christ's success and present intercession for their good will sing this from the heart and praise to God. Only those who know that it is Christ's success and his current work alone that holds them, only his victory and his present work that sustains them and is their only hope. Only they will sing this in praise to God of right. And so friend, before we take this on our lips, do you feel yourself, do you feel yourself utterly dependent upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ? and on his present and active intercession. May it be, friend, because as you and I feel our dependence, we will flee to him. As we do so, we will find that he will make us more like himself, and that we will know more by experience of saving him. Amen.