Our text this evening is the 31st Psalm, our last scripture reading. So if you would turn back with me there. Friend, as we take up the Psalm this evening and meditate upon it briefly together, I think it's right for us to remember just how profound it is that this is in fact a Psalm of David. I think sometimes we can forget that it was a remarkable thing that the Spirit of God inspired this man to be the one who had penned this composition. He was a king, a king who knew victory on the field of battle. He was as well a king who even in his youth was endowed with strength. He was a king well-established in many senses. He had a people around him even whenever he was persecuted by another king. And yet in this psalm, we recognize that this king, however strong, however well secured he might've been, his only trust and his only confidence was in his interest in the Lord, his God. Not in his own ingenuity, not his own strength, not in foreign alliances, but in Jehovah, his God. But this psalm is principally a psalm about confidence. And as you notice, friend, as we leave the 30th psalm and come to the 31st, really that theme of confidence threads both, but they're mirror images of one another. In the 30th psalm, you remember that there the psalmist David, he describes himself as coming to ease and prosperity. And so he takes those comfortable providences and he makes them an occasion for sinful presumption, for a kind of carnal security. But in this 31st Psalm, we find the Psalmist confident. In fact, that's exactly how you and I could translate several of these words in this composition. But in a holy way, not presumptuous, not carnal, but secure in his God. What you and I see in this text then is a man who takes that confidence with him as he goes to the throne of grace. Principally, this is a song of prayer. And really there are two major petitions or two cycles, if you will, of petitions in the psalm. In verses one to eight, you have the first where the psalmist principally focuses on that which he pleads for God to do and also pleads his interest. But then as you notice in verses nine to 19, the psalmist shifts his focus to the cause and to the character of his misery, that particular pinching affliction that has driven him to prayer. And so he also, of course, sets out particular needs. But as we leave this psalm in verses 19 to the end, the psalmist shifts really from petition to praise. And really, in the first 18 verses, you and I, from a literary perspective, we're merely onlookers. We were observers as David goes to the throne of grace. But in these latter verses, he actually turns to us. He exhorts us to join him in his praise of God. And he exhorts us to do so, friend, because those whom he describes here as saints have that self-same interest in God. that interest that here David boasts in and hangs his life upon. What you and I see in this text, friend, is that in his prayers, the psalmist approached the throne of grace in a way that was very grounded. Friend, he did not go laxadaisically to God in prayer. He took with him arguments. He took with him strong reasons as he makes his petitions to God. And what you see here, friend, is that he does so as he makes use of divine promise. And that really is what is characteristic of holy boldness. Holy boldness is taking the promises of God back to him. And friend, part of that, necessary, essential part of that, friend, is their knowledge of their own interest in God. a knowledge that they indeed have a stake, if you will, in those precious promises revealed in the scriptures. Before we go any further, friend, I think it's right for us to recognize that this is a profound thing. It's a profound thing for dust to go to the living God and say that he is my God. But it's perhaps even a more profound thing to find that compound of dust, that man who is but fleeting in his life, to say that this living God is surety, his rock and his redeemer, that this living God will undertake for him. A profound friend it certainly is, that men may say that the living God undertakes for them. And here you see the psalmist, he hangs his life upon that truth. Our theme this evening is that in adversity, God's people are to plead their interest in him. In adversity, God's people are to plead their interest in him. And I want you to see this in three headings. First of all, I want us to look at his petition. And there you find it. in the very first two verses. And in fact, really the tenor of the psalm is found there. The psalmist begins saying, I put my trust in the Lord. But then you note the next line. He says, then let me not or never be ashamed. This is really an argument, friend. In other words, you could put it this way. I put my trust in thee, therefore, let me never be ashamed. This is his reason for the petition. He's one who trusts. And then as you come down to verse three, you notice that he's making another argument. He says, for thou art my rock and fortress. Why deliver? Because of the Lord's relation to him as rock, as fortress. In verse four, for thou art my strength. Verse five, why intervene? Because thou hast redeemed already. Verse 14. Why petition? Why? Because thou art my God. And then in verse 17, at the end really of his petitions, the psalmist concludes thus, he says, let me not be ashamed, O Lord. Why? For I have called upon thee. I want you to notice friend that then right through these petitions, from the first down to the 18th verse, you and I see the psalmist engaging with the Lord and ever keeping before him his interest in God. He claims him as his God, as his rock, as his fortress, his strength, as one who has already been redeemed and the one who, because he trusts in the Lord and because he goes to God and calls upon him, the Lord must, must undertake for him. Friend, the logic of this text is staggering. and it shouldn't be lost on us. The psalmist goes to God saying that the relation between him and the living God is the ground of all. Friend, here you see the psalmist pleading for mercies from his own personal interest in the Lord. And you recognize friend that this is not presumption. This is not presumption. It would otherwise be, friend, if we did not have the scriptures, if we'd had no revelation of the Lord's mercy, it would be presumption for men to approach the living God as the psalmist does here. But the psalmist is not presuming because the word of God tells us that the Lord is in fact promised to be all and such for his people. In fact, friend, As you look throughout the scriptures, you notice that the Lord God has not only promised, but has even given to us a form of that promise that shows us, friend, as it were, that he invokes his own name, brings his own honor on the line, so to speak, so as to undertake for his people. Because, says the apostle, God could swear by no greater, he swear by himself. He brings his own name on the line. When he makes covenant with his people, friend, he says, he must cease to be God, if he would fail in any promise. If he fails to undertake for the Psalmist, and this really is presupposed right throughout our Psalm, then God must cease to be God. Because of course that cannot happen, then the Psalmist has a strong foundation. for his pleading, because God has promised he can go before the Lord so boldly. My friend, what you notice then in verse 16 is that what the psalmist is really praying for here is just praying that those mercies that are covenanted would in fact obtain in reality. And when he says there in verse 16, he says, save me for thy mercy sake, you and I are supposed to see that really this is a plea that God would show or that he would vindicate that covenanted mercy. That's all. Beloved, what you notice in this psalm then is a man who goes before the living God, who knows that this God has promised and that this God is faithful. And that in adversity, he can depend upon that word infallibly. The apostle puts it, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Beloved, it's that which is the ground of our psalm this evening. And here you see friend, a real distinction between this boldness and the carnal security of Psalm 30. Because here the psalmist, he doesn't take to himself more than what is in the promise. And what is the promise? Friend of the promises is that, that God's people will be more than conquerors through Christ over every providence. That does not necessarily mean that your life will be affliction-free. And the psalmist doesn't pray to be free from affliction here either. Note, friend, how general his pleadings are for mercy. He leaves the specifics with the Lord. All that he pleads here is that the Lord God would do him good as he has promised. Christian, are we more than conquerors in every providence. The psalmist shows us, friend, how to pray if we are so. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And note that the apostle joins those two ideas together just as our psalmist does. The psalmist joins the fact that God has promised, that God has already made covenant with him, with also, friend, his petitions. Because God has made this relation, so the psalmist pleads. Because, says the apostle, the Lord God has secured us in his Son to himself, we too, are to go before him in the throne of grace and plead that interest. That is the petition. But I want you to notice friends, secondly, the penitence of the psalmist in this text. Something we could easily overlook, but as you look from verse nine and following, you notice that the psalmist shifts his attention. Again, he focuses now more on the cause and on the character of his misery. He pleads for mercy. And mercy presupposes misery, of course. But what has led the psalmist to such an affliction? Look then at verse 10. His strength faileth because of his iniquity, because of his sin. Right here you find that the psalmist, howsoever bold as he is before God, he is penitent. He goes before God pleading his interest, but penitently. Now, as you look at verse four, just look back with me there for a moment. Know what the psalmist says is part of his affliction. There are those that have laid a net, privily for him. There are those who are deceivers, and that is part of his affliction. Then come down to verse 13. Part of his affliction also includes those who have devised to take away the psalmist's life. But over all of that, the psalmist says that principally his strength has failed. And friend, that should be taken really as a motif for the entirety of his affliction because of his iniquity. Does that strike you, friend, this evening? As he describes the agents of his affliction, he describes their sinfulness. He describes their treachery. Simultaneously, he says, though they deserve wrath. And in this text, he's saying, I don't deserve mercy. Here you find a man who pleads his interest, acknowledging full well, friend, that he deserves no good thing from the hand of God, even friend in the face of those who have sinned against him. And I want you to notice friend in verse 15, that this also includes humility and acknowledgement that all of the work that God may do certainly is in the hand of God. His counsel, his counsel is to stand. And the psalmist will not dictate to the Lord. He will not prescribe the method that the Lord will take with him. He says simply, my times are in my hand. So friend, you notice here that the psalmist acknowledges first of all, that in this case, he sees that his sin certainly is before him. And secondly, he doesn't presume to prescribe for God the particular method of his deliverance, the particular method of God's dealing with him. Friend, here you and I, we see that the psalmist's pleading his interest is not presumption. I wonder, beloved, do you and I, do we take that same kind of heart with us as we plead for mercy? As we go before God and we, We approach the throne of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, and so taking to ourselves all of these descriptors used in the preceding verses. Friend, do we go so with the acknowledgement that I deserve this misery and so much more? I don't know if I can ask a more challenging question, friend of a Christian this evening. Do you go acknowledging, friend, even when those who have sinned against you have done so treacherously? Do you go acknowledging that I deserve this misery and so much more for my own sin? The psalmist pleads his interest, but also with this acknowledgement. And finally, as we close, I want you to notice perseverance in the psalm. In verses 19 and following, you find the psalmist describing, really, of course, his own experience, and then he gives to us an exhortation. But before Franny comes to the exhortation, he tells us something internal, something about the inner life as he underwent this affliction. And as you note that, you see it there. I don't know if you're looking with me. Down there, all these verse 22, where he says, in my haste, he said, "'I am cut off from before thine eyes.'" Now, friend, what you notice in this text is that in the midst of all of this affliction, and the affliction was severe, the psalmist describes for us in various ways how touching it was. He didn't have enemies that were exterior to him, he had enemies that were neighbors. Those who were his closest friends refused to acknowledge him on the street. And friend, what you notice in this text is that this was incredibly afflicting in terms of the external man. But what you see in this text, verse 22, is that his inward life was touched by all of these things. And this leads him to a point where he says, again, that he would be cut off from the Lord's eyes. He expected at this moment, no mercy from God. He expected that there was no help for him in the Lord. But then, at the end of verse 22, he says, nevertheless, thou heardst the voice of my supplications. The Lord provided the outbeat. What I want us to emphasize this evening as we close, friend, is that as afflicting as this was for David, his faith was sustained. He was made to persevere by grace. such that that faith, yes, though often flagging, never ultimately was extinguished. You see this in verse six, the most familiar words of the entire psalm, into thine hand I commit my spirit. Friend, here you see the powerful operation of the spirit of God upholding his own in the midst of the most pinching and distracting afflictions. His faith is sustained. Though fear was on every side, he says in verse 13, yet he stood upon the promise of God. His faith was sustained. Friend, it's staggering, I suppose, even more so when you recognize that the psalmist sees his own sin in this case, sees that he is justly chastened. And he says that he commits himself to the Lord. Though every providence around him surrounds him, as it were, with tokens of God's displeasure, leading him to say, cut off, that he's cut off from before the Lord's eyes, yet he's kept. Verse 23, you notice the psalmist prays, O love the Lord, all ye who saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Beloved, that preservation that is so described is not only in terms of the external man, but in the fact that David was not ultimately overwhelmed. His faith was not extinguished. Christian, the example from the scriptures that perhaps is most familiar text is of course that of Job. Imagine friend, just for a moment that you had four extraordinary providences, two of which were through secondary means. namely the Chaldeans and the Sabians, destroying your flock and your servants. But two immediate acts of God, whereby Job not only lost much of his wealth and security, but even his own posterity, children. What would you think in such a moment? You probably would think the very same thing that Job's friends thought. How could such extraordinary providences be anything, anything but a clear indication that God hated Job. That Job had no interest in God. And then friend, imagine that all of the godly whom Job knew were persuaded of that fact. and sought to convince Job themselves of that truth. What would you do? Friend, the climax of that entire book shows us the power of the Spirit of God in the life of his people, doing just what he did in the case of our psalmist. For in Job 19, Job says simply, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Beloved, he does so because the Lord preserved him, just as the psalmist says God does for all of those who are truly his. But as we leave, friend, I really only wanna leave you with this. Can you be so bold with the Lord this evening? I'm not asking you, were you so bold at one time? Were you so clear in your interest in the Lord before? That really doesn't matter much at this moment. And what matters most this evening is, can you discern your own interest in the living God as the psalmist does? And if you can't, why? Why not? And maybe another question Friend is, do you feel the need to seek this kind of holy confidence yourself? Psalmist says he can hang his life upon it. He knows that this God is his God. He knows that his interest in him is secure. Psalmist need not and will not look to any other source. He can plead this interest even in the face of some of the most greatest and the most extraordinary of providences. So friend, do you seek it this evening? Beloved, this kind of confidence doesn't come. It does not come ordinarily without a very earnest, constant, and often fraught pursuit. Friend, you and I, we are called to endeavor to this kind of holy boldness. And as we do, beloved, then we leave the psalm knowing this, that the Lord God will not deny himself. To all of those who have a true interest in him, he will fulfill his word and perfect that which concerns them, everyone. Beloved, they then have a greater security than the most powerful monarch, the wealthiest of businessmen. They have a confidence that can take them not only through this life, but through the threshold to eternity. And beloved may it be that as we close our own days, our own knowledge of our interest would only grow. And that we ourselves, and for God's sake, will be made more like the Lord Jesus Christ in light of that truth. Amen.