So please turn to Psalm 86 in your Bibles. Everybody knows this trick, just open the middle of the Bible and open it up and you'll end up in the Psalms. And our time is pressed, so I'm gonna read the Psalm for us first. A Prayer of David. Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly. Save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer. Listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me. You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, insolent men have risen up against me. A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to Me and be gracious to Me. Give your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. Show Me a sign of your favor that those who hate Me may see and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped Me and comforted Me." Have you ever gotten yourself in a jam? found yourself in that proverbial place between a rock and a hard place. That's what they call the Rock of Gibraltar, by the way, when you pass through the Mediterranean, you're between a rock and a hard place. But maybe it's your fault that you got yourself in this jam, and maybe not, but usually it is our own doing. Well, David was in a hot mess when he penned this By this time he had been through plenty of tough spots, fighting wild animals to save sheep early in his life. When he tested Saul's armor to fight Goliath, what a predicament that would have been had he tried to fight Goliath with all that armor on. It wasn't going to work. he couldn't even move. Later Saul hunts him like a dog. Even David's son Absalom sought his life, and that's what Psalm 3 is all about. And by the way, most of the Psalms don't tell you what the circumstance is. Some do, like Psalm 3, but most don't. That way we can apply them in a varied way to our prayer. So Saul, so this is just a guess, but I think the Lord allows us to wander into tight spots. And it becomes a test to see where we'll go for help. So David, who has matured in his faith and is yet another tight spot, ends this prayer. So first, I'd like us to notice David's approach. He could have said, help, Lord, and that would have been genuine, but what would we have learned from that? So my first heading is verses 1 through 4, and it's this. David approaches the Lord with a humble and lowly demeanor. He says, I am poor and needy, in verse one. The great king of Israel, the promise of God to Abraham that he would make him a nation, and after years and years of judges and prophets leading God's people, Saul rejected David chosen, declaring that he is a man after God's own heart. After the promise, through Samuel, that his kingdom be established forever. Remember 1 Samuel 17, that God promised David his kingdom would be established forever, and it pointed to Christ? David, the exalted King David, approaches the Lord, saying, I am poor and needy. Note, if we approach the Lord with a self-reliant attitude, what can we expect to hear? You might hear this, well, you have this all figured out. Let me know when you really want to hear from me. Those who see themselves as empty, needing to be filled with heavenly food, are most welcome to God. He reminds the Lord that he is set apart or holy in verse two, and that he's a child in the Lord's kingdom. Do you ever remind the Lord that you're his child? First Peter 2.9 says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Why? That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. David argues for self-preservation, not because he deserves it, but because he is God's, and he trusts in God. What actions in his life reveal that he trusts in God? Well, verse 3, I cry, for to you I cry all the day. He lives his life day to day in dependence on God. Can we say the same? Do you begin your day in prayer and thanks and you remain in the spirit of dependence on the Lord? Well, as he meditates on his neediness, he is reminded that joy, real joy. Joy of the soul comes from God. Look at verse four. Gladden or rejoice the soul of your servant. David had all the world could offer, yet he knows that real joy is inward. The world promises joy and satisfaction, but it is often just fun things built up to be something more than they promise. Sin is fun for a season until the payment comes. Think about the Lord rejoicing your soul. You're saved and you're going to heaven. Can you be greatly encouraged by this to your soul? Have you ever wrestled with God in prayer and sensed an overwhelming joy? It's one of the benefits of being in a local church is you not only have your own experiences of wrestling with God in prayer, but we get to watch each other wrestle with God in prayer and go through things. And as I look around the room, I think about your instances, the things that you've revealed, that you've wrestled through and I've watched God deliver you and that encourages me. So no matter what dilemma when you wrestled, yours was, your concern just melted away because the Lord had just gladdened your heart and you knew it was going to be alright. Years ago I lied on a job application and the Lord convicted me and through my prayer, anxious prayer, trembling prayer, I determined to go and confess my lie and I did. But you know I got the greatest peace and joy when I determined to go and confess. You can ask me later what that was. Real joy comes from knowing that we are his. You know, that wrestling and that interaction that you had, he reminded that you're his. And he delights in his children and when they seek him. So we have David's humble approach in verses one through four and demonstrated dependence on the Lord. And by the way, he hasn't made his request yet. Number two, verses five through 10, God is approachable and responsive to the humble petitioner. See how David reminds the Lord of his own gracious character. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Not only is God able, but he is ready to forgive the repentant sinner. Well, how about this? He's more ready to forgive you than you are ready to repent. David is reciting from Exodus 34 when he says this. Verses six and seven, when the Lord passed by Moses. says, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. This is what the Lord said when He proclaimed Himself to Moses. Is the Lord pleased when we highlight His goodness? Of course. He never tires of hearing praise that is genuine. This theme of the Lord's God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love is repeated again and again. Second Chronicles 5.12, Solomon repeats it when he dedicates the temple. 120 priests are singing, for He is good and His steadfast love endures forever. Again, in Psalm 100, 106, 107, 118, 136, 138, and Jeremiah 33. Again, this theme. We do well to follow this example of declaring the Lord's goodness and faithfulness, His steadfast love to His children. So David begins to reveal his request in verse 7. In the day of my trouble I call upon you. There's trouble or there's anxiety or there's tightness. Think of it as tightness. You are squeezed in a group of people. And all you can think of is to escape. Or you are strapped in something too tight and you might be freaking out and wanting to be free. Has that ever happened to you? It's happened to me. I know that feeling, the tightness. And so we feel like that when we get in a jam. It feels like we're strapped in. And what do we want to do? Is our first thought to pray? Or is our first thought to squirm and try to get yourself out of it? hold on to the burden, even feel sorry for ourselves, instead of quickly going to the Lord. We're embarrassed because we're the cause of this mess, usually. So finally, we go to the Lord and we say, I've messed up again. Please bring something good out of this, for I trust in you. The prodigal had to hit rock bottom before he went back to his father. Could he have gone back earlier? But he hadn't because he hadn't learned his lesson yet. I believe the lesson here is to go to God early. He goes on to say, there is none like you among the gods, oh Lord, nor are there any works like yours. So David is pointing out God's omnipotence, his ability to deliver in any situation. Look at verse 10, you alone are God. So if there is a lesson in this verse, let it be this. Remember, remember, remember the great and wondrous works of the Lord in history. Think in history, study your church history and watch the Lord's deliverances of God's people in your history, in your life. In all these, remember the works of the Lord. This will give you greater and greater confidence in what he will do in the future. I wanted to refer you to Psalm 107, but I'm going to skip over that, but it basically, the gist of it is Psalm 107 starts talking about the faithfulness of God, and what happens is Israel gets themselves in a jam, and they call on God, and He delivers them. Then they get themselves, somebody else gets themselves in a jam, and they call on God, and He delivers them. That's the whole Psalm. That's what I intended to talk about tonight, but I wandered over to 186 instead. But it so excites me to see God's deliverance, excites us. Number three, the petitioner's promise to follow and obey, verses 11 through 13. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. David, the man after God's own heart, doesn't behave as though he has arrived spiritually. He remains teachable. He offers humble submission to whatever the Lord is going to show him. He pledges, when you teach me, Lord, I will walk in it and obey. Is this what we say? Do we offer the Lord our hearts? Or do we just ask to get out of a jam? He prays, unite my heart. Perhaps David had a heart just like ours, sometimes scattered, wanting the Lord's help, yet clinging to our own solution, scheming, scheming, scheming before we go to the Lord. We are on good ground to request, to pray, align my heart with yours, Lord. Do you see how David in his prayer is dealing with his hard attitude towards God? He reminds him of his own humble state, of the Lord's wonderful attributes. He promises the obedience God Almighty deserves, and he still hasn't made his petition. There is one more matter to consider. He recalls by his own experience, I'm sorry, in verse 13, Lord, you saved me from the pit of hell. He recalls by his own experience how the Lord delivered him out of the consequences of his sin. He was saved, he is being saved, and his soul will be saved when he passes to the next life. Do you see David's saving faith? He believes the prophecy of the coming Messiah. Even though Christ has not come and accomplished his work of salvation for God's people, he believes the promise, as good as done. knowing it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, otherwise they would not have to continually offer sacrifices. David saw Messiah when he penned Psalm 40. In that he says, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. Of course, this is Jesus. Or how about Psalm 22 that begins in a dark place? My God, which David penned, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it gets darker. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones and they stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. But in the end of the psalm is light. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you." David sees Messiah in this. In his psalm, we're looking at verse 9. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and glorify your name. So today, in countries all over the world, the Lord is calling someone to the kingdom right now. They are believing that Jesus lived and died for sinners, and he took upon himself the penalty of sin for all who believe. The Old Testament saints looked forward to the promise, and us New Testament saints look back to its fulfillment. If you've trusted in Christ, you are able to continue in the psalm. If you haven't yet repented of your sins and called upon his name, you will not have the ability to make any promise to God because Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. It is he who enables us. You must be regenerated. So if you're not a believer, why don't you call on him now? Why don't you listen to John 3.12? Which says, Jesus said, if I have told you earthly things to Nicodemus. Sorry, lost me. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." Finally, in verses 14 through 17, we come to David's petition. He finally gets to it. And we can learn a lot from that, that David waited so long to bring his petition after all this exercise. Don't we sometimes go too quickly to our petitions before resting on the rock? David says, Oh God, insolent men have risen up against me. Or you could say violent men or proud men. A band of ruthless men seeks my life and they do not set you before them. Well, we can relate to that. Unbelieving, overbearing, frightening men have risen up against me. This fits a lot of our scenarios. We have a standard for dealing with the unbelieving taken from, I'm taking this from Romans 12. Verse 8 and 9. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. But the world doesn't keep the standard. They play by a different rule book. They play dirty. They're not looking for right, but for advantage, to win, to beat you, or to look better than you. Our verse continues though. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. See how the Lord is looking after us? So we run to the Lord, and we say what is right, we say the right thing to say, and we trust Him for the outcome. The Lord is not surprised. The tightness is that we are being stretched in our faith. You may experience a quick deliverance like David did when he prayed and the plague stopped after he counted Israel. Or you may end up waiting for a long time, but we can continue to trust him. Remember, he takes us back, verse 15, but you, our Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. And so he is to his people. Well, he ends the psalm asking for a sign. He asked for a sign that those who hate him may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. So David is saying, show me a token of your love in all of this. He's asking that his faith be uplifted and that others may see an answer from the Lord and be ashamed. He asked that they, those violent men, would see that God hears the prayer of his people. That is what the Lord has called us to. I refer back to 1 Peter 2.9. Sorry. After he says we're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, it says that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so this is what David's doing. He wants God to be glorified in these unbelievers too. He wants them to be ashamed for going against God. So to recap our first point, approach the Lord with humility. And realize that we have a great deal of neediness to us. And the longer we're in Christ, the more we realize our neediness. The more we realize and can say with Paul, I am the chief of sinners. Who was it that said, I am a dead dog? Was it Job? But anyway, all these seasoned saints think lower of themselves. Point two, remember the Lord is approachable because we are his and he is gracious. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Number three, we must be willing to follow when he answers, and also to follow what he has already spoken. Four, before we come to our petition, it is appropriate to remember God's many acts of provision and deliverances, and especially our salvation in Christ. With that framing, we will have greater confidence that he will hear and act. He knows what we ask before we ask it. For we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He, Jesus, is our High Priest, who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. He loves His sheep." Amen. Let's go to pray.