Series: Psalms Series
Title: Prayer of the Poor
Text: Psalm 10: 1-18
Date: August 23, 2012
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
First,
we will look at Psalm 10 as the words of our Savior on the cross.
Psalm 10: 1: Why standest thou afar off, O
LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Immediately,
when I read this verse, I thought of our Savior’s cry from the cross in Psalm
22: 1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far
from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Then
when I read the end of the Psalm, I immediately thought of Christ risen.
Psalm 10: 16: The LORD is King for ever and
ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
So
first, we will look at this Psalm as the inward thoughts of our Savior on the
cross. And we will see that the believer,
made one with Christ, suffers like as our Savior. The servant is as our Master.
Secondly,
we have here a description of the wicked.
Psalm 10: 2: The wicked in his pride doth
persecute the poor:…
The
majority of this Psalm is a description of the heart and actions of the wicked.
So secondly, we will consider this as Christ giving us a description of the
heart and ways of the wicked, especially seen at the cross.
Thirdly,
we hear the prayer of our Savior, concerning the wicked and concerning the poor.
Psalm 10: 2:…let them be taken in the devices
that they have imagined….12: Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not
the humble…
So
thirdly, we will focus our attention on the intercession of our Savior for his
people.
Divisions:
1) The poor; 2) The wicked; 3) The prayer of the poor
Title: Prayer
of the Poor
I. THE POOR—Psalm 10: 2: The wicked in his
pride doth persecute the poor:
First, the Poor is Christ Jesus.
As
Christ walked this earth and finally willingly went to the cursed tree, our
Savior was the poor—the humble, the obedient child of God the Father.
2 Corinthians 8: 9: For ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that
ye through his poverty might be rich.
Philippians 2: 5: Let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus: 6: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God: 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8: And being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross.
Christ, who is God, made himself the least that he might
glorify the Father and redeem his brethren.
When his disciples asked who is the greatest in the kingdom, Christ sat
a little child in their midst.
Matthew
18: 3: And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4: Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. 5: And whoso shall receive one such little child in my
name receiveth ME.
Having highly exalted God by making himself the least as
an obedient child, having fully accomplished the work of redemption, God also
highly exalted Christ. Christ is the
greatest in the kingdom of God.
Philippians 2: 9: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10: That at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
Psalm 10: 16: The LORD is King for ever and ever: the
heathen are perished out of his land.
So first, and foremost, Christ is the poor
one spoken of in our Psalm, who is now risen.
Those Born of the Spirit Are the Poor
Those in whom Christ is formed are made like
unto Christ in spirit. Paul said, “Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” and by the work of the
Spirit, Paul said, “We have the mind of Christ.” By God’s grace making us
partakers of the divine nature, the believer is given a new spirit—poor,
humble, contrite. We trust Christ and
walking after him. Now the servant is as his Master, we are persecuted as
Christ was by the wicked.
Using the allegory of Sara and Hagar, Paul
shows that believers are the elect children of God, children of promise, born
of the everlasting covenant ordered in Christ before the world was made and
made sure by his finished work.
Galatians 4: 28: Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise. 29: But as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
So all who are born of the Spirit, who have
been made to see the poverty of our flesh, made to cast our care upon Christ in
faith, are persecuted by the wicked.
Psalm 10: 2: The wicked in his pride doth
persecute the poor:
Psalm 14: 6: Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor,
because the LORD is his refuge
Application: We are
being taught in Psalm 10 that Christ knows what we suffer. He often waits in order to prepare our hearts
so that we see the wickedness and cry for him to save us. Our risen King hears
our cry and shall keep us by his grace.
II. THE WICKED
Psalm 10: 2: The wicked in his pride doth
persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined
Now, think of Christ on the cross surrounded by wicked
men who persecuted him. Christ knew what
was in their hearts. He describes the
heart and the devices of the wicked here for us.
When we hear these descriptions we may think of vile lewd
sinners: murderers, adulterers and so on.
They are included. But this is
the heart of all men as we are born into this world.
This includes the secret heart of that one who appears so
sincere outwardly, who is in the pew each time the door opens, but yet trusts
in his works, who will not submit to Christ who is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes.
And remember, this is what remains in the believer’s old
fleshly nature. This is what believer’s
desire to be saved from in our own flesh.
Wickedness comes
from the natural heart
Psalm 10: 3: For
the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desires and blesseth the covetous whom the
LORD abhorreth. Note: It can also be read "the covetous man blesses himself.” I think this applies to one person.
The desire of the natural man’s heart, which he covets, is
the power and praise that belongs to God.
So he boasts in himself and praises himself. He blesses himself for:
·
Self’s wisdom
·
Self’s will
·
Self’s righteousness
·
Self’s holiness and success in mortifying his
own flesh…whom the LORD
abhorreth.
·
Such a man abhors God and God abhors him.
Application: God abhors any and all who “opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thess 2:
4)
God says, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
(1Co 1:29) but rather “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”. “Salvation
is of the Lord.” Salvation is “not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
If one doesn’t need Christ FOR All then the truth is in
their heart-of-hearts they don’t need Christ AT all!
It is time to be honest with sinners. Either the sinner repents from all we are and
have done, bow to God and trust his Son to save us OR we will meet God opposing
God.
This was the heart of those surrounded Christ
on the cross. We hear Christ telling us the sinner’s true problem is the wicked
desires and covetousness of the heart.
Wickedness is due to pride.
Psalm 10: 4: The wicked, through the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his
thoughts.
The way unregenerate man sees himself swells
him with pride. Here is the result v4…through
the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not
in all his thoughts.
Until God creates a new heart and humbles the
proud sinner…
Romans 3: 11: There is none that understandeth, there is
NONE that SEEKETH after God.
Psalm
14: 1: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…
But if God is not in his thoughts, what is?
Genesis 6: 5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY.
This was the heart of the religious host who
called on God as they crucified God. And
it is what God says is the heart of all men by nature.
The Ways of the Wicked
Psalm 10: 5: His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are
far above out of his sight:….
Charles Spurgeon—“A swine may sooner look through a
telescope at the stars than this man study the Word of God to understand the
righteousness of the Lord.”
Psalm 10: 5:…as for all his enemies, he
puffeth at them. 6: He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall
never be in adversity.
The
natural man either tries to convince himself that he will never have to face
God or he thinks by his works, God will receive him. It is a carnal security. A security of the
fleshly imagination.
Thomas Brooks, “A carnal settled security will let in a
whole army of lusts into the soul.”
Psalm 10: 7: His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and
fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
The poison of venomous snakes is under his
tongue. His works may be as sweet as
sugar. But any word which attributes salvation
so the work of man are blasphemous words against God. He uses oppressive
accusations against God’s sheep.
Psalm 10: 8: He
sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he
murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
The natural man is described here like a murderer waiting
in a dark, dangerous back alley to murder the innocent—the innocent are those washed
in Christ’s blood. His eyes are secretly
set against the believer—looking for something to accuse him. Christ experienced all of this. He knows the
heart and ways of the wicked.
Psalm 10: 9: He lieth in wait secretly as a
lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor,
when he draweth him into his net.
The
Pharisees were constantly trying to lay a net to entangle the Master in his
words.
Psalm 10: 10: He croucheth, and humbleth
himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
The
wicked crouches like a lion but he humbles himself to appear like a lamb. His goal is to bring down the glory of Christ
and to bring down Christ’s poor saint.
Psalm 10: 11: He hath said in his heart, God
hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Wicked men either think God does not see what
they do or they think they are pleasing God by what they are doing. Remember
what was said of Christ? Isaiah 53: 4: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. Self-righteous men called
on the name of God as they rejected Christ.
They thought God was actually pleased with them for crucifying the
Savior. That is what self-righteous men
think who reject the gospel, today.
Application: You who
are without Christ, this is the description of your heart and your ways. I do hope the Spirit of God will use these
words to convince you of your sin. And believer,
this old wicked man is yet with us.
All of us here need Christ. Oh, how we do need our Savior to save us from
ourselves. That which we need salvation
from is us. May God be pleased now to
draw us to him.
III. THE PRAYER OF THE POOR—
The Prayer of Christ
As we look at this as the intercession of
Christ before the Father, we see also the Lord declaring to his child how that
his intercession for us always succeeds. That is the work of a high priest and
Christ is that High Priest.
Hebrews 2: 17: Wherefore in all things it behoved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. 18 For in that he
himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are
tempted.
Psalm 10: 12: Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand:
forget not the humble.
Surrounded by strong bulls of Bashan, Christ
asked God to lift up God’s own hand of power.
He asked God to lift up his hand in remembrance of his oath, the
everlasting covenant made with Christ before the world was. And he asked God to lift up Christ himself,
who is God’s own right hand—the arm of the LORD—O God, lift up thine hand.
Forget not the humble. Christ on the cross was that humble, faithful, obedient servant of God, as we saw in the
beginning. And the humble are those for whom Christ was suffering. So he
petitions God not only to forget him, but to remember him so as not to forget
those in him, for whom he was putting away sin.
We saw the question in verse 1: Why standest thou afar
off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? Why did God hide his face from the Savior on
the cross? Christ answered it himself in
Psalm 22: 3: “But thou art holy,…”
2 Corinthians 5: 21: For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.
1 Peter
2: 22: [Christ Jesus] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23:
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened
not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24: [Christ
Jesus as the Substitute in place of his elect] his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
On the cross was God satisfying the justice of God for
his elect. That is why God stood afar off—for God is holy. Christ was perfecting obedience for his
people, making his people perfect by his suffering.
Hebrews
5: 9 And being made perfect, [having
finished the work] he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him;
Our Savior’s intercession was and is that the
wicked be not allowed to blaspheme our God and he teaches us God will not allow
those who do to prosper. This is the
believers same desire and Christ promises, by his intercession, that God our
Savior will not allow it.
Psalm 10: 13: Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he
hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. 14: Thou hast seen it;
for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand:…15: Break
thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou
find none.
Christ our Substitute Proved God’s Faithfulness
Now, see Christ our Substitute committing
himself unto him that judgeth righteously.
Psalm 10: 14:…the poor committeth himself unto thee;
Luke 23: 46: And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he
gave up the ghost.
Now
hear Christ by his own experience in being raised from the dead, assure us of
his Father’s faithfulness—thou art the
helper of the fatherless.
We are
as helpless as fatherless orphans. But God made us his children before he made
the worlds, by his sovereign choice, and that, not because of any merit in us. Adam
was our first father and he left us fatherless. Christ is our Everlasting
Father and he shall never leave us or forsake us.
Christ Risen
Psalm 10: 16: The LORD is King for ever and ever:
the heathen are perished out of his land. 17: LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the
humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
Application: Do you
ever wonder why God appears to hide his face in times of trouble? We see here
when he waited as Christ suffered that his waiting is always to bring about the
greatest good for his people. Christ knows the heart and ways of the wicked better
than we, and even when we do not recognize the secrets of the heart. God always sees and God will recompense. It may appear he has hidden his face from us
in our time of trouble but get this verse.
Psalm 10: 17: LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the
humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
What comfort!--“Thou hast,” and “thou wilt.” What
he has done he will do again. God has heard Christ and for the sake of
Christ, God will hear us by Christ.
It is not recorded that Christ said audibly any of these
words from the cross or those recorded in Psalm 22: “Many bulls have compassed
me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my
bones are out of joint:…But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength,
haste thee to help me.” But the words we
read here and the words of Psalm 22 swere the “desire”, the prayer of Christ’s
heart. And God heard him.
His waiting, his appearing to have turned his
face in troubled times is simply for our good.
When we are the helpless, humble, poor, little orphan child, that’s when
we really pray. The “desire of his
humbled child” is the cry that comes up the loudest to God without a word
spoken. And God loves to fill empty vessels
Psalm
145: 19: He will fulfil the DESIRE of them that fear him: he also will hear
their cry, and will save them.
As God heard the “desire” of Christ from the
cross, God hears Christ intercession for us now and causes his ear to hear you
believer. And as God arose and set
Christ in safety from them that puffed at him so he does the same for us even
now.
Psalm 10: 18: To judge the fatherless and the
oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
Application: We
learn everything best by looking to the cross:
1. At the cross, we see the glory of God in
the face of the humble One, Christ Jesus. We see God’s mercy and grace, his
forgiveness, his righteousness and justice in saving us by Christ’s shed blood.
2. At the cross we best learn the wickedness of the
fleshly nature of man.
3. At the cross, we learn best the faithfulness of our
God. As our triumphant Intercessor was heard so he now hears us who trust him. Nothing shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 33 Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that
justifieth. 34 Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 39 Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What comfort!
Amen!