Series: Psalms
Title: Commit it to Him
Text: Psalm 17: 1-15
Date: December 8, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Psalm
17 is a Prayer of David. Now, Christ teaches us, who believe, through the Holy
Spirit, through the apostle Peter, to do as Christ did when he suffered and redeemed
his people on the cross:
1 Peter 2: 20:…when
ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with
God. 21: For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22: 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:…3: 12: For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil.
Proposition: We see in this prayer in Psalm 17 what it is to commit
ourselves and our cause to him that judges righteously.
Title: Commit
it to Him
I. FIRST, TO COMMIT OURSELVES AND OUR CAUSE
TO GOD IS TO COME TO GOD WITH A TRUE HEART, ASKING GOD TO HEAR CHRIST ON OUR
BEHALF—Psalm 17:1: Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my
prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
“Hear the right, O LORD.”
David
is a type of Christ here. So we can look
at this as the prayer of Christ when he himself committed his cause to him that
judgeth righteously. We can look at this as the intercession Christ makes for
us when we come to God the Father through Christ our Intercessor. But let’s
begin with our prayer to God through Christ.
“Hear the right, O LORD” means “hear the righteous.”—Christ is the Righteousness
of every who believes. We come to God asking, “Hear the Righteous, O LORD, hear
Christ.” We ask, “Attend unto my cry,
give ear unto my prayer”—by hearing Christ my Righteousness. And if the Holy
Spirit has regenerated us, given us a true heart before God, (which is the only
way we can truly come to God in prayer) then we can say that our prayer, “goeth not out of feigned lips.”
Still,
our prayers are full of unbelief, full of sin. That is why we ask God the
Father to hear Christ our Righteousness; that is why we ask him to hear us by
hearing Christ. Now, between the
believer and God the Father is Christ Jesus our Advocate with the Father. When Christ, who is Righteous, presents our petitions
to the Father, he is able to say of himself on our behalf, “Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto MY cry, give ear unto MY prayer, that
goeth not out of feigned lips.”
Application: So first of all, to commit ourselves and our cause to
God is to do so with a true heart, asking God to hear Christ on our behalf.
II. SECONDLY, TO COMMIT OUR CAUSE TO HIM THAT
JUDGES RIGTHESOULY IS TO HAVE A HEART CONTENT FOR OUR SENTENCE TO COME FROM
HIM—Psalm 17: 2: Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes
behold the things that are equal.
David
appeals to the LORD as a Judge. God our Savior sits in heaven upon his sovereign
throne judging right. Rather than opening his mouth against his adversaries,
David is committing his cause to the LORD to litigate between him and his
adversaries. Asking God to give the righteous sentence.
That is
what Christ Jesus did when he opened not his mouth before his adversaries. 1.
He committed himself and his cause to him that judgeth righteously, saying, v2:
Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the
things that are equal. 3: Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me
in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that
my mouth shall not transgress.
God the
Father had proved Christ’s heart.
·
God visited him in the night and tried him—at all times Christ was proven faithful.
·
God found nothing in him—“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:”
·
Christ was purposed that with his mouth he would not
transgress—he opened not his mouth.
Instead
he said, Isaiah 50: 8: He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?
let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. 9:
Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?
And God
judged righteously!
Psalm 9:4: For thou hast maintained my right and my
cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
In due
time, when Christ had satisfied God and his justice--the sentence came forth
from God—God raised him from the dead declaring him just and the Justifier.
Ro 4:25: Who was delivered for our offences, and was
raised again for our justification.
1 Timothy 3:16: And without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory.
The GodMan
highly exalted God and God highly exalted the GodMan. And he raised all his people, justified, in him.
With
Christ formed in David’s heart, in the heart God made and tried, David was as
satisfied with Christ as God his Father was. When that is our case then we are
made willing, content to commit our eternal well-being into the hand of Christ
who Judges righteously.
Job 13:15: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
And
when our adversary the devil rages against us and wicked men revile us, when
Christ has made us to cast all our care into his hand, then we are content to
commit each earthly cause to him. v2: Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
Now, what
David is saying here about his heart is not that he is without sin. David knew
that in his flesh dwelt no good thing. He is saying, “Lord, you know my heart—you
know the heart that you have created in righteousness and true holiness!”v3: Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast
visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find
nothing; [nothing good except your presence dwelling in me. That is why] I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress.
Illustration: Peter had boasted that he wouldn’t forsake the Lord. So the
Lord proved Peter’s heart. He proved Peter’s heart to Peter. When he came to Peter later, he asked him
three times, “Peter, Lovest thou me?” Peter answered, “Lord, thou knowest all
things;--you know there is nothing good in my heart of flesh, only your
presence in the new heart is how I’m kept. He said, “thou knowest that I love
thee. That’s what David is saying here.
Application: So first, to commit ourselves and cause to God is to do
so with a true heart, asking God to receive us and to hear Christ our
Righteousness on our behalf. Secondly, it is to have a heart content for our
sentence to come from him that judges right.
Are you content that the God of heaven and earth will judge righteously
for you? Commit yourself first and your cause unto him.
III. THIRDLY, IT IS TO DO SO WITH ALL
CONFIDENCE THAT IT WILL BE BY HIS WORD THAT HE KEEPS US—V4: Concerning the
works of men, by the word of thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 5: Hold up my goings in
thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
The
works of wicked men and the paths of the destroyer, Satan, are one and the
same. Men will judge for you and give you all kinds of advice but the end
thereof are destruction. But the word of God’s lips will keep you from the
paths of the destroyer. For the true believer born of the living Word, the
words of this book are the words of God’s lips. His word really is our only
rule of faith and practice. How do we
know and recognize the path’s of the destroyer—read v4 without the italicized
words—V4: Concerning the works of men,
by the word of thy lips I have kept [recognized OR marked] the paths of the destroyer.
Illustration: To recognize a crooked stick lay a straight one down
beside it. This written word is the
straight line that exposes the crooked.
But we
need his word to be made effectual in our hearts by him speaking his word into
our hearts. So he asks, v5: Hold up my
goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
Jeremiah 10:23: O LORD, I know that the way of man is not
in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
This is
our need continually—
·
Hold up my goings IN THY PATHS
·
that my footsteps slip not.
Application: We know the scripture that says, “let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor 10: 12) But we really do get to
thinking we can stand. It is only when our footsteps slip that we learn that we
need our Savior to hold us up in his paths. So from time-to-time he sends the
devastating news! The hard trial.
The
Psalmist said, Psalm 72: 2: But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps
had well nigh slipped… 17: Until
I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood…He went to the house of
God, where the Word of God was read and preached, then God by his word, made
him to understand and held up his goings in God’s path so that his feet slipped
not.
Application: Our trials are always to remind us that we need his
gospel, we need Christ, we need his effectual power to hold us up, we need our
brethren. It is to keep us compacted together committing our cause to him. He
will hold us up by his word—through the gospel. So when he gives us a word in
season then we need to heed his word. We will when he speaks into our hearts.
So
first, to commit ourselves and our cause to God is to do so with a true heart,
asking God to receive us in Christ our Righteousness on our behalf. Secondly,
it is to have a heart content for our sentence to come from him that judges
right. Thirdly, it is to have confidence
in his word to keep us and to heed his word, to mark the path of the destroyer,
to stay in his paths.
IV. FOURTHLY, TO COMMMIT OUR CARE TO HIM IS
TO DO SO BELIEVING HE WILL HEAR US AND WILL SAVE US THROUGH CHRIST—V6: I have
called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and
hear my speech. 7: Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest
by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that
rise up against them.
Believer,
are you weighed down with a heavy trial?
He will hear! He will have us to ask him—“O God: incline thine ear unto me, and
hear my speech”
Illustration: I noticed when I was home, my dad, my mom, my
grandmother—they delight to hear their children and their grandchildren ask
them for anything. God our Father does, too.
Mic 7:18 Who is a
God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
Heb 4:16 Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.
What do
we ask him for? Well the scriptures say,
1Jo 5:14 And this
is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to
his will, he heareth us: 15: And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Here is
what God wills to show, this is God’s delight. This is what we are sure to
receive so long as we ask in faith in him—v7:
Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them
which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
Ask in
faith to see his marvelous lovingkindess and you are asking according to what
God is willing to show. The thing that makes his lovingkindness so marvelous is
that it never changes toward those he loves.
Jeremiah 31:3 The
LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee
Application: Have your sins risen up against you? Satan or wicked powers? What about your flesh—disease, weakness?
Believer, it is to have you, his dear child draw near and ask, Abba, Father, v7: Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou
that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from
those that rise up against them.
His Right Hand is Christ Jesus. Has he
saved you from your sins by his Right Hand? Has he justified you by his Right
Hand? Has he quickened and called you by his Right Hand? Has he drawn you by
his Right Hand? “Then shall he not with him freely give you all things?” So we
ask him in faith, believing he will hears us and save us by Chrsit his Right
Hand—v8: Keep me as the apple of the eye,
hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 9
From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who
compass me about. 10: They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they
speak proudly. 11: They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their
eyes bowing down to the earth; 12: Like as a lion that is greedy of his
prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 13 Arise, O LORD,
disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is
thy sword: 14 From men which are
thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this
life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full
of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
Application: So first, to commit ourselves and our cause to God is to
do so with a true heart, asking God to receive us in Christ our Righteousness
on our behalf. Secondly, it is to have a
heart content for our sentence to come from him that judges right. Thirdly, it is to have confidence in his word
for him to keep us by his word Fourthly, it is to ask him in faith believing he
shall hear and save us by his Right Hand, by Christ. Remember, to commit it to
him is be content with his sentence. It is to rest content that however he
shows his lovingkindness, however he saves me, it will be right, for his glory,
for my good, for the good of my brethren.
V. LASTLY, TO COMMIT ALL TO HIM IS TO DO SO
SATISFIED WITH NOTHING ELSE BUT HIM—V15: As for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Brethren,
he has saved us—
·
From our sins and our flesh
·
From the curse of the law
·
From the dominion of sin, all condemnation
We
rejoice. That is a great salvation!
Brethren
he is saving us—
·
From trials, from our enemies
·
From our unbelief, Often from sickness
That is
a great salvation!
But
brethren one day he shall save us for good—I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. THAT WILL BE THE GREATEST OF ALL!
1 Peter 5: 6: Humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7: Casting all your care
upon him; for he careth for you…10…the God of all grace, who hath called us
unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
Amen!