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. Let's turn in our Bibles to the Psalm 5. The title is, to the chief musician, upon Nihiloth, a Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, and the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. Because of mine enemies, make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels, cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them never shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous. With favour wilt thou compass him, as with a shield. One of the marks of being an image-bearer of God is an inherent sense of justice and a desire for justice to be done. It's one of those things that I believe does mark us out as those, again, not like the other creation, but we are those as image bearers of God who have that inherent sense of this need for justice. Of course, it's present and true even in unbelievers. We see that in our own society. Now, I understand that morality changes with the passing of time in this present evil age and it becomes subject to the will of the majority. But there are certain things that occur in society and all society rise up with one voice and says, no, justice must be done. You think of the response that's taken place in this nation to various terrorist activities in the past, and there has been a unity of both saved and lost in a cry out for justice. But if this justice marks us as image bearers of God, then surely it must be intensified in the life of the believer. That we as all people who are made more like unto the Lord in grace, we of all people must have this sense of justice that it should be done. We perceive wickedness. We don't see wickedness as the will of the majority. We see wickedness according to that which is against God. And thus we long for justice. We long for the wicked to be punished for their evil deeds and the righteous to be rewarded. That is biblical, that is God honouring. Now when it comes to justice being done, that desire for justice is tempered by our knowledge of God's grace. We understand that God is willing to pardon and so we may well pray for the wicked that God would spare them and they would not immediately be cast into a lost eternity. So there is this sense of justice. And it is that sense of justice that really drives the psalmist in prayer, in this particular prayer. He enters into prayer with confidence. Again, he starts, verse one, give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation, hearken unto the voice of my cry. Then verse three, my voice shalt thou hear in the morning. And you may remember that we've seen in recent psalms, an evening psalm, morning psalm, and here's another morning psalm. And again, reminding us of how important it is to begin the day with the Lord. And people have various ideas about how they conduct their devotional lives. They may say, well, I'm so sleepy in the morning. It's better for me to have devotions in the evening. That may be true. And so, yes, you may decide to arrange your devotion in such a way that if you like, your concentrated time of devotions may be later on in the day. But do not forget to start your day with the Lord. To some degree, having some time when you reflect upon the Lord at the beginning of your day. Because you're looking ahead, you're looking down, if you like, the corner of your day and you want to see that day for God's glory and recognise that day is only going to be for God's glory and God's strength. And so the psalmist, and of course Daniel famously, they start their day with the Lord and we must do the same. Again, I would almost encourage you, maybe beyond almost, I would encourage you, make sure you pray before you lift your smartphone. Make sure the first thing you do in the morning, even in your bed, is simply pray to God and say, Lord, I need you today. I need your grace. I need your help. And not be distracted with all the things that come in upon your mind. But having said that, the psalmist does come with this confidence. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning. And that confidence is based on his understanding of God's justice. because he understands that he's not like the wicked. Look at verse four. He says, my voice, shalt thou hear? For thou art not a God that of pleasure and wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. I'm gonna be heard in the courts of God, but the foolish and the workers of iniquity shall not stand in thy sight because the Lord hates the workers of iniquity. And so it continues, there is this recognition that beyond this hatred, the Lord shall destroy them. Thus speak leasing that are, again, guilty of this fabrication, this lying. The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, again, you're seeing this contrast. He's coming to God in prayer. He's arguing, if you like, regarding the Lord's determination to hear his prayers because he understands that God is just. The sense of justice in the reborn heart is driving him to pray and even framing the arguments he brings to God in the place of prayer. So the contrast is seen. Contrast verse 7, but as for me, I will come into thy house. The ungodly, the foolish, they can't stand in your presence, they've no right to be in your presence, but I, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy. He recognises he's not deserving of this, it's all of God's mercy, it's all of God's grace, his covenantal faithfulness, but yet he still knows that he can come before the Lord. Again, each of these first five Psalms, they have this sense of contrast. Again, you look at the end of Psalm 1. Again, just to show you this again. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 2, again, has that very same contrast. Kiss the son, lest he be angry. Blessed are all that put their trust in him. Psalm 3, similarly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. But in the previous one, the Lord smites his enemies. And so you're seeing this contrast. Psalm 4, the same, verses 2 and 3. There's a contrast between the righteous and the ungodly. And so we see the psalmist here having this confidence of knowing God's grace. And that leads him then to bring about these petitions. And they don't start verse number eight. Lead me, O Lord, in my righteousness because of my enemies. In light of the contrast, he prays for himself. He's in a difficult place. He's got those who are opposed to him yet again. How often that's the case in David's life. And so he finds himself coming to God in a difficult time. He recognizes the presence of the wicked, and yet he prays for God to bring judgment upon their heads. lead me, make thy way straight before my face, make me know the path I should walk. And then he continues, verse number nine, there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an oblique sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. And so he prays for God's justice to be done. Destroy thou them, O God. This is the first time in this altar we have what's known as an imprecatory psalm. Psalms that have this theme of praying against God's enemies. We know that verse number nine is used by the Apostle Paul in Romans as one of the descriptions of the ungodly. The mouth reveals the heart. Again, how often that's the case is it's what people say that is the revelation of what's true in their hearts. So David prays for them. Destroy thou them, O God. I don't want to take time tonight to look at the subject of the imprecatory Psalms. We'll do that some other time. I trust in the help and the will of God. But please note David is praying here as king. He's a representative of the people and he's praying not so much against his personal enemies, although God's enemies are his enemies, but he's praying particularly against those, as it says in verse number 10, who have rebelled against the Lord. He's praying for justice to be done in God's timing against those who will not confess their sins and trust and obey the Lord. And so that sense of justice is driving his prayers. And it is that very same sense of justice that then leads to the prayer in verse number 11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them never shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. He's got this sense of justice in his mind, and so he comes to God. Lord, you're a God of justice. That means two things, that you should judge the wicked and that you should bless those who are righteous in your sight. The justice of God is driving his prayer life. Again, we often say that those who know their God are strong and do exploits. Exploits and prayer arises in those who know their God and understand the ways of their God. And so he's praying these things. And we find him again, again in his own troubles, as a man of God who has concern for others. And that's the theme I want to look at tonight with you. Again, we saw last time that in our discouragement, The remedy for our discouragement, one of them, is an encouragement for others. That whilst we may be discouraged, one of the ways we can fix our own troubles is by earnestly pursuing the encouragement of others around us. And so it's also the case in our prayer lives. That as we find ourselves in troubles and in difficulties, and we often become self-centered in those difficulties, we must resolve in our minds to earnestly pray for one another. So he's praying for himself. Verse eight, lead me, O Lord, make thy way straight before my face. But then in verse 11, but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. He's got a heart for others. He's large hearted for the benefit of the people of God. And so we must pray for one another. Now we know we should do this, but why do we do this? And for what do we pray? Well, Let's look at that tonight. Let me just give you a little challenge here. I want you to think of someone in the congregation right now, and you're to keep that person in your mind throughout this message, and see how it applies in their life, and to see, well, what does this mean in terms of the actual practical praying for somebody in this congregation? So you can make your pick, and let's go forward. First of all, we should think about our confidence in praying for one another. Our confidence in praying for one another. Verse 12, for thy Lord wilt bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. And the psalmist, he has the petition in verse number 11, but those petitions are undergirded by his confidence in his God. For thy Lord wilt bless the righteous. And it's that confidence that I believe drives his prayers. And what's that confidence based upon? Well, it's based upon God's promise. God's promise to them and for them. Again, you've got this person in your mind you're praying for. Well, what does God promise them as a child of God? Well, he promises blessing. for thy Lord will bless the righteous. Again the psalmist has in his mind here the covenant faithfulness of God. He's referred to God's mercy in verse number seven and the word mercy there again is that word hesed which refers to the covenant loving kindness and mercy of God. He's got that in his mind. And then he uses the term, the Lord will bless the righteous. And of course, God's blessing of his people takes you back to the time of the calling of Abraham. And the promise was made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. That promise is a dividing promise. you're either with Abraham or you're against Abraham. And ultimately, you're either with the Abraham seed or you're against the Abraham seed, and that seed is Christ, Galatians chapter three. And so in Abraham's seed, all nations of the earth are blessed. Outside Abraham's seed, all people are cursed, but those who are in Christ are under the promise of God's blessing. And so you bring that, you've got this person in your mind to pray for, and you have the confidence that God has promised to bless them. You see, we see profound needs in God's people. and we must hold on to God's promises on their behalf. Oftentimes, they may be too weak to hold on to those promises as they should. They may be struggling to even pray the promises for themselves, but you can pray it for them. You can take them upon your heart and you can plead those promises on their behalf and say, Lord, they're in Christ. Therefore, you've promised to bless them. Therefore, bless them. Again, we have that promise of every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Isn't that Ephesians chapter one? God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, in Abraham blessing, in Christ blessing. And so we have this promise of God to them. But secondly, we've God's provision for them. God's provision for them. And again, back in verse number 12, they are described as the righteous. For the Lord will bless the righteous. Now, Paul is writing Romans with Psalm 5 in his mind. Not only Psalm 5, but many of the Psalms in his mind as he gives a list of sins in Romans chapter 3. But certainly Psalm 5 is there. And so when you get to the end of Romans chapter 3, you find this description of how God is just and the justifier. God is the one who is able to pardon. In other words, God is the one who's able to make one righteous. And yet it's also the case in Romans chapter 8, that by the work of the Spirit, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. And so I believe Paul understands the righteous in the very same way the psalmist does. Both that legal righteousness that comes for the one whose sins are forgiven and that moral righteousness that comes progressively in our life by the work of the Spirit of God. And so they are righteous in Christ and they are progressively righteous as the work of the Spirit continues in their lives. But, Let's focus particularly on the truth that they're righteous in Christ Jesus. We pray for ourselves and if you hear me pray, I'll often pray that I'm not pleading for you the base of your own righteousnesses. Our only hope is in Christ's righteousness. And so when he says, the Lord will bless the righteous, he's reflecting upon God's provision of a perfect righteousness. And we pray for ourselves, not for my righteousness, oh Lord, but for Christ's sake, hear my prayers. Well, if we pray that for ourselves, we must pray the same for others. Pleading their righteousness in Christ. I don't know who you've picked in your mind right now, But if you think long enough, you'll be aware of many imperfections in their lives. And there's reasons in their lives whereby you could think, well, God will not bless them. If God treats them as they deserve, they won't know God's blessing upon them. Then you've got to come alongside and say, but they're in Christ. They're righteous in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I can pray for them and expect God to bless them. You see how important these things are? We're praying for God's gifts to be given to those who have already received God's greatest gift, namely Christ Jesus. He spared not His Son for them. He's delivered His Son up for them, and He will therefore freely give them all things. You can put their name into Romans chapter eight. God's promises to them, God's provision for them, and thirdly, God's power in them. Again, look what it says in verse number 11, but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Again, down in the same verse, let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. He's praying for these people and they trust in the Lord and they love the Lord. You think the contrast verse number nine, there's no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. So the wicked, they don't trust in the Lord. The wicked don't love the Lord, but these people he's praying for, they know the Lord, they love the Lord, they trust the Lord. What makes the difference? The difference is made, of course, by divine power. Verse number seven, as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies. In the abundance of God's loving kindness, will the psalmist come into the presence of God, and so it is for all those that God blesses. They're changed. They've been radically changed by God's grace. Imperfect, but truly different. Even in the Old Testament, David could think of people who genuinely trusted and loved the Lord, and so can I. See, humility doesn't mean that we deny God's grace and power. We know our faults, and we know the faults of one another, but we can still see God's working in their lives. We can recognize that they are sinners, but they're sinners saved by grace, and God has done a work in their souls. and therefore we can pray for them. You think of praying for your husband, or your wife, or your children, or your friend, or your elder, or your deacon, or your church member. You pray for them, and you begin, I can see God's grace in their lives. God's changed their hearts. There's Christ-likeness in them, and therefore, if God has done that work in them, he'll continue to do that work, therefore I can pray with a confidence that God will hear my prayers on their behalf. You see these things, these are the arguments you bring in prayer. If you're gonna mature in your prayer life, you've gotta start here. To get beyond the simple naming of someone's name. Lord, remember so and so. But really, bring substance to your prayers. Developing and maturing your prayers, you've gotta have these things in your mind. God's promise, God's provision, and God's power. Well secondly, please note the content of our prayers. Again, this is just one example of a great prayer. And there are other things, you could take the example of the Apostle Paul, and there are other things that he prays for, for God's people. But in verse 11, we see a Christ-like prayer. Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. It's a Christ-like prayer. John 17, in Christ's own prayers. And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I wanted to come here, it ties in so well with what we saw on the Lord's the evening. This is a prayer for joy despite circumstances. It's a prayer for joy despite enemies, despite adversities. It's a prayer for joy to triumph over the trials of his life. That's the prayer here. And surely we can pray for one another in that regard. That despite what's happening in our lives, Lord, help them to rejoice. You see, the source of their joy is in the Lord. That's what it says. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. It's in the Lord. He's praying here for the Spirit, I believe, to apply the Word. It's a direct request for the Spirit of God to work in their lives. Praying for the Spirit of God to apply the Word of God. Do you pray for your brother or your sister's private devotions? Is that ever a prayer of your mind? Lord, speak to them in the quiet place. Speak to them in the closet. Do we ever get beyond, again, the simple prayers for each other? Or do we really pray substantially? Lord, would you speak to them today in the word? Think about the Lord's Day. Do you pray that they would have a personal word from God to their heart? Do you pray for the preacher? For Christ's exalting sermons? For spirit-filled services? For the word and season that is personal? You see, praying for one another is to pray that they rejoice in the Lord. But that means they grow in their knowledge of the Lord. That means they're blessed under the word of God. Again, there's meat behind this prayer. praying for each other, praying for the Lord's day. Lord, when you gather your people, may we all rejoice in thee. That's the prayer here. The source of that joy is in the Lord. Then note the shout of joy that's mentioned here also. Let them ever shout for joy. Again, it describes the extent and the triumph of their joy. It's actually one word in the original, even the words here, shout for joy, that's just one word in the original. Sometimes it's translated with the word sing or simply the word rejoice. But it has this idea that Christian joy is always expressed and is expressed in public worship. That's where Christian joy, if you like, comes to the surface. It doesn't mean you can't sing in your own home, but it has a sense here that when we come, there's a public declaration and a shout for joy as the people of God gather together. This, of course, is a divine operation. It can't be manufactured, it can't be pretended, but it is a public manifestation. not without reverence. And again, we saw back in the Psalm 2, the necessity that we rejoice with trembling, Psalm 2 verse 11. And so it's joy with reverence, but as a public manifestation of our joy in the Lord. We have young people and they are seeking their joy in the world. They're pursuing joy in the things of the world. And there are others, and they're seeking to, if you like, show their joy in Christ by bringing the world into the church. Those are the issues we face. Among the burdens that I have in my soul is that our young people, they do not see a shout for joy. To someone who's observing you in public worship, do they believe that you're joyful in the Lord at that time? Pray for God to work in your soul that you can genuinely show exuberant joy in the things of God. We must pray for this. Pray earnestly that God would give us the sense of corporate joy in the things of the gospel. Well, fine, our time is gone. What about the consequence of our prayers for one another? If we see the confidence, the content, what's the consequence? Well, very simply, it's eternal life. We're praying for the biggest of things. We're praying for God's people to know eternal life. Verse number 11, let them ever shout for joy. Again, I'm drawing a lot from that. But I'm doing so with reason, for you have, again, in the context of the text, the promise that God defends the righteous, thou defendest them, the promise that God with favour will compass them as the shield, though this world is difficult and dangerous, the world and the devil and even our flesh cannot take our hearts away from Christ Jesus. And so we're praying over one another with that expectation that God will hear our prayers and the consequence is eternal life. The grace and all graces needed to protect our souls and to keep us safe to the end that in God's presence there'll be fullness of joy. You see, we can say that they will ever shout for joy because the expectation in Psalm 16 is that indeed, when they're in God's presence, they will forever shout for joy. We want that, four cases of that here on earth, but that's our eternal expectation, that we will forever rejoice in the Lord. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. This prayer for joy is ultimately a prayer for final redemption, for resurrected glory in a redeemed humanity. 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 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. We meet for worship on the Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. We preach Christ Crucified.