Series: Psalms
Title: Cry of the Humble
Text: Psalm 9: 12-14
Date: May 3, 2012
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
The Lord promises to never to forsake those who seek him--Psalm 9: 10: And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
Our expectation is for the Lord to save us and the Lord promises he will not let our expectation perish forever—Psalm 9: 18: For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
The Lord promises to remember and not forget the cry of the humble--Psalm 9: 12: When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
God’s people are a humble people. Grace makes them humble and the afflictions we suffer keep us humble. We are afflicted with sin, afflicted by Satan, the world, by anti-christ and his followers, a sense of our sin and unworthiness keeps us humbled. In our afflictions we cry to the Lord. It may seem for a while that God has forgotten us. But God never forgets his child. God remembers the cry of the humble. That is what I have titled this message.
Title: Cry of the Humble
Proposition: What is it to be truly humble, to truly cry to God in our affliction? We learn what it is by looking at four characteristics of the cry of the humble found in verses 13 and 14. We will read our text as I give you our divisions for the message.
Divisions: Psalm 9: 13: Have mercy upon me, O LORD—1) The cry of the humble is a cry for mercy--2) The cry of the humble is a cry for consideration—v13: consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, 3) The cry of the humble is a cry of acknowledgment that God alone is our Savior—v13: THOU that liftest me up from the gates of death: 4) The cry of the humble is a cry with one chief end—v14: That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
I. THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE IS A CRY FOR MERCY--v13: Have mercy upon me, O LORD;
The humble cry from a broken and contrite heart. When a sinner is truly humbled by grace we have no strength, no power, no ability, no wisdom. We are poor, needy, contrite, broken, afflicted in soul and spirit. OUR CRY IS IMPORTUNATE—it is not merely saying a prayer but our prayer is truly “a cry”! A cry for needed mercy!
Illustration: Child crying for his father from the next room vs. child who is lost in the woods crying for his father.
1. The prayer for mercy is different than the prayer of the self-righteous. The self-righteous pray to be seen of men:
Matthew 6: 5: And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6: But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
2. The self-righteous expects to be heard for much speaking—
Matthew 6: 7: But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8: Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
We are exhorted to pray without ceasing. But not using vainly, expecting to be heard because we pray a lot. Remember those who prayed to Baal before Elijah?
1 Kings 18: 26:…they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. [They cut themselves—they prophesied until the evening sacrifice—still no voice or any regarded them]
3. The self-righteous use prayer to exalt self over those who truly need mercy.
Luke 18: 10: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11: The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13: And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
When Ezra heard that many in Israel, the priests and the Levites included, had joined themselves with their neighbors and mingled the worship of God together with idol abominations, Ezra said
Ezra 9: 3: And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4: Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. 5: And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, 6: And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
When is the last time you really cried to God for mercy? Those who are truly humbled by God’s grace, humbled in affliction, cry for mercy. Never use prayer to be seen or to prove a point or to exalt yourself above others. When we really see our need of mercy that is when we pray and true prayer in time of affliction is a cry for mercy! Those called by the grace of God, have obtained mercy of the Lord. Yet, we continually need more mercy. We need to know more of the Lord’s pardoning grace and mercy. We need mercy to deliver us from enemies, inward and outward. Brethren flee to God. Plead, not any righteousness or merit of our own, but cry for the mercy of God. He never forgets the cry of the humble. So first, the cry of the humble is a cry for mercy.
II. THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE IS A CRY SIMPLY FOR CONSIDERATION—V13: O LORD;CONSIDER my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me
he Lord teaches us to make our request known with diligence—pray and not faint—like the widow who continued asking the judge to awake and avenge her of her enemies. But the spirit of this cry is not a demanding or commanding, it is a cry for consideration. It means more than simply not forgetting me. It means to look upon the character and the depth of my trouble as only the Lord has the Wisdom to do.
The wise and prudent pray with a spirit of defiance, a spirit of haughtiness, a sprit of murmuring and commanding as if man knows what is best for God to do.
When we are suffering we do not know the depths and intricacies and purposes of God involved in the trial. We hear in this prayer one bearing the cross laid upon him, with a patient and submissive spirit. He asks God to consider—to undertake, to look into to it, to see to it as only God is able to do. His name is “Jehovah Ji-reh”-it shall be seen—the Lord will provide, the Lord will see to it—will consider.
The Master said at the end of that parable of the importunate widow:
Luke 18: 7: And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8: I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
But he suffers long:
· With our adversaries who oppress the Lord waits until their iniquity is filled up—you and I do not have that wisdom—ask God to consider.
· In each trial, the Lord suffers long with his elect till the Lord’s purpose is accomplished for us in the trial: partly to teach us these very things we are learning tonight in this passage and many other things. We don’t have the wisdom to tell God what to do, but we have grace to asking him to “look after it”.
· Also, the Lord delays his second coming to execute vengeance until his elect are gathered in from among them. But in all…
2 Peter 3: 9: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
So our prayer day and night is for the Lord in wisdom to consider—to use his wisdom in caring for us in the trouble we suffer from our enemies.
Remember, our Advocate and Intercessor and Head knows the ways of the oppressor. He said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” (Jn 15: 18) So he is able to consider—to look after—our trouble with exact precision. When he faced the enemy he prayed this,
John 12: 27: Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28: Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
III. THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE IS A CRY ACKNOWLEDGING CHRIST IS OUR LIFE AND STRENGTH—v13:..thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
The gates of death means death itself. It is plural because God our Savior lifts the believer from many gates of death.
1. Spiritual death
· God the Father lifted us from death choosing us in Christ and raising us in Christ to his right hand.
· God the Son our Lord Jesus Christ lifted us up from the death of sin: putting away all our sin that God might be just and our Justifier us. He lifted us up from the lowest low and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the grave that we might be made the righteousness of God in him
· God the Holy Spirit lifted us from our spiritual death, from the power of darkness, up out of the horrible pit and miry clay of an unregenerate state and set us upon the Rock of salvation…“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Ga 4:6)
2. He lifts us from deaths often (2 Cor11: 23)
2 Corinthians 1: 10: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
3. Lastly, he shall lift us up from the death of the grave.
1 Corinthians 15: 54:…then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56: The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
His former dealings with us have revealed his name to us and made us to trust him—he delivers us from the gates of death. His wisdom and grace and love shown us in the past compel us to rest all in his hands now. Our cry is, “LORD as you alone are able to do and as you have dealt with me so far, lift me up from this present death.”
IV. THE CHIEF END OF THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE IS THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO PRAISE THE LORD AND HIS SALVATION-- Ps 9:14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
Deliverance merely so we do not have to suffer or deliverance for the sake of making a boast of our prayers or our righteousnesses and so on is a wrong motive. We have prayed from a proper motive when our hearts desire is That I may shew forth all THY PRAISE in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
In the gates of the daughter of Zion. Zion is Jerusalem. The daughter of Zion and her gates are the cities near Zion. At that time it was the custom to hold assemblies at the gates of cities.
Spiritual Jerusalem is the church which is above, the heavenly city, the mother church, which is the mother of us all. The daughter of Zion and her gates represent local assemblies, churches, where the saints are gathered in the earth.
Here is the motive for the cry: “If you save me to live in this world longer my desire is no other purpose than to recount and rejoice before all who will listen in the most public manner of the goodness of God manifested in my deliverance.” It was Paul’s motive. He said,
Philippians 1: 21: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain…22:…yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
This is why our sovereign Head sends the trial, then rediscovers to us our complete inability to save ourselves, then brings us to cry to him, then saves us with so great a salvation: That I may shew forth all thy praise. We have no reason to boast in ourselves (1 Corinthians 4: 7) But brethren, we have so many blessings for which to recount and boast in our God.
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)
He has given us grace upon grace, and grace for grace.
· We have redeeming grace because of his electing grace!
· Regenerating grace because of his redeeming grace!
· Sanctifying grace because of his regenerating grace!
· Believing grace because of his sanctifying grace!
· Persevering grace because of his preserving grace!
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)
THE FINAL WORD
You brethren who are yet suffering—who are yet expecting for the Lord to lift you and comfort you—ask your brethren to recount to you what he has done for them so as to remind you of what you already know: He has not forsaken them that seek him; When he makes inquisition for blood, he remembers his children, he never forgets the cry of the humble; the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Secondly, cry unto him:
· For mercy—Lord, have mercy on me
· For consideration—Lord, use your wisdom to consider my trouble
· With acknowledgment that he alone can lift you up—thou that liftest me up from the gates of death
· For this chief end—that I might show forth all your praises
In his time by his grace whichever way he chooses he shall save his elect, redeemed, regenerated child. It will be salvation. And we will rejoice in his salvation.
Amen!