He Hath Heard the Voice of My Supplications

[00:00:00] Psalm 28, Psalm 28, verse number one, says the Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. [00:00:17] Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle, draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbors. But mischief is in their hearts. [00:00:34] Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors, give them, after the work of their hands, render to them their desert. [00:00:46] Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them and not build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise him. [00:01:13] The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people and bless thine inheritance. Feed them also and lift them up forever. [00:01:26] Would you pray with me, Father, as we come to your word and we come to study it here for a little while, I pray for your blessing and help to be upon us. Lord, we look to you. We pray as the psalmist prays that you would hear us. Lord, we don't just go through the prayers and open in prayer and pray for the missionaries or have prayer time just to do it. We pray because we believe you have promised that you hear us and that you will answer. And so we come now. We ask you to bless our study of your word that you would so incline our hearts to what it says, that it would help us and strengthen us. Lord, we just. We look to you, help me to say what I need to say, what it is your will for me to say to help your people and strengthen and comfort them. And I pray, Lord, that they indeed would be strengthened. And so bless our time in your word, and bless our prayer time to follow in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:25] All right, in verse number one, the main theme of this psalm that's kind of repeated somewhat is the theme of really I should say prayer, but it's really not so much prayer, but it's being heard. Being heard is really the theme. Notice in verse one, he says, unto thee will I cry. That's obviously prayer. O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that Go down to the pit. He says in verse two, hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. And then in verse number six, he says, blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. He hath heard the voice of my supplications. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but I came across something as I was reading that I thought was interesting, a good quote by Charles Spurgeon in the treasury of David. He was actually commenting on verse number two. He says, hear the voice of my supplication. So why is it that we ask God to hear us? What is prayer? What is crying out to God all about? [00:03:43] Why do we pray? [00:03:47] I think that's a valid question. You know, Muslims pray, Buddhists pray, Catholics pray. Why do we pray? Do we pray as they pray? Do we pray for the same reason that they pray? Notice David in this psalm was not praying just to pray. He was praying to be heard. And we know that because he's asking God to hear him. So it wasn't enough that he just prays and go through the. And he goes through the exercise of prayer. But there was an end involved. There was a desire in his prayer. And here's what Spurgeon said. [00:04:28] He said, mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot. [00:04:39] They are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will. [00:04:48] They must go further and obtain actual replies from heaven or they cannot rest. [00:04:56] So do we pray? [00:04:59] Do we pray for the effect, simply for the effect that prayer has upon us? In other words, you know, kind of like a sanctified venting process, basically? Is that why we pray? We pray to get things off of our chest. And we know that's scriptural, right. Casting all your care upon him, that's venting, right? That's laying your burdens upon the Lord. That's a valid thing. And prayer itself, the actual exercise of prayer, does indeed bestow direct benefits upon us that pray. [00:05:31] But that is not the primary reason that we pray. The primary reason that we pray is to be heard. [00:05:40] Prayer is not just. And this is where the. [00:05:45] The rubber meets the road in this question. Prayer is not just a religious exercise to make us feel better. [00:05:52] Prayer is about God hearing us and our getting answers and being heard by God and getting him to act on our behalf. And we can't demand anything of God. [00:06:06] He would just laugh at us. Who are we to demand anything of God? But prayer is in humility. It's a petition where we ask God upon the basis of his own goodness, to act, to do what we've asked Him. [00:06:21] We pray to be heard, and we pray to get God to work on our behalf and on others behalf. [00:06:30] And here's the thing. Without that end in mind, without prayer being about being heard, in other words, if prayer is only about the way it makes us feel, then it's simply a psychological kind of like salve. It's like a mind trick that we play upon ourselves. And you know what? That's how a lot of people view a lot of unbelievers. They view prayer as nothing but a psychological trick. It's a way to make yourself feel better. That's not what it's about. Although there are secondary benefits in that way. Would you be. Listen, would you be okay if you prayed the rest of your life and God never did anything you asked? [00:07:09] Would you feel like, well, at least it makes me feel better? No, that is not what it's about. It is not just about feeling better. You know, we ought to take petitions to God that will not make us feel better unless he does something, right? Unless he hears us and he answers our prayers. Now, how many of you have taken things to God before and you've walked away feeling better about it? [00:07:38] That's pretty much all of us. But it is next level, though. [00:07:46] Especially in the case when you pray to God about something specific. Remember, I said this before months ago. Now, I said it before. Specific prayer is the only kind of prayer that has answers. When you pray in generalities, you never know if God answers you, you pray specifically. [00:08:04] And when God answers, you know that he answered you. But not only that, when you pray and you don't tell anybody, that's one reason why prayer is supposed to be primarily private, right? The closet, right? You go where just you and God are there and you give your heart. So it removes all distraction. That's not the primary thing, though. [00:08:28] No distraction. But it also allows you to speak freely to God from your heart. [00:08:35] Like the other night yesterday kind of had an interesting. I don't know if Sister Karen's listening or not, but I went to the hospice, the McCall Hospice, where Ms. Barnett is, where Ms. Juanita is. And she was sleeping and nobody else was in the room. And I touched her arm and called her and called her name. You know, I didn't know if she would wake or whatnot, but she didn't wake up. And I obviously wasn't going to, like, wake her up. [00:09:03] But I found myself in an unusual position because I was there, and I didn't know if she could hear me or, you know, or what the case was. So. So I prayed. And normally I wouldn't stand and pray out loud around other people, right. If I was going to pray, I would pray quietly if other people are around, right. [00:09:24] But I was praying for her, and I wanted her to hear it, but I didn't know if she could hear it. So I didn't know if I was praying with someone or praying without someone. So it was kind of an interesting. It was kind of an interesting. [00:09:36] I don't know, kind of a different kind of experience than our normal types of prayer. [00:09:42] We go into the closet because. So that we can speak to God from our heart without considerations about what other people think or whether we're saying it right or anything like that. [00:09:54] But the other reason is we go into the closet because nobody knows what we say. And so when God answers, we can know for certain that he heard me. [00:10:05] It's not just about the way I feel, is that he did something that I individually asked him to do, and I can demonstrate that he heard me. That's what this psalm is about. God, will you hear me? Will you hear me? [00:10:24] I remember my wife, whenever she was expecting Joshua. It's been quite a few years ago now, but she was obviously first baby. She was nervous about that, you know, with, of course, any lady that goes through that experience as a. You know, with their first child, there's a. I mean, there's a lot of reason to be shy and bashful, going to the doctor and all the things. It's just a. It's invasive. Okay, put it like that. To be. To be polite. And so she was kind of nervous because the doctor she went to had a. Had or group was a group had men and women. And so she wanted to have a woman to deliver the baby for obvious reasons, especially given the first baby and everything. And so. [00:11:12] But it's on a rotation, so all of the doctors, it was just totally random. When you went into labor is when you. When you had the, you know, whoever was on call is who delivered the baby. And there was no, you know, and I think at that time, there might have been eight or 10 doctors. So it wasn't. There wasn't a very good chance that you would get the doctor that you preferred. [00:11:34] So my wife, she prayed specifically for one doctor to be on call when she was expecting or when she would deliver the baby. Joshua. And when she arrived at the hospital, I don't remember all the details. I think she had to be induced, but she didn't know who was going to be on call or anything like that. Allison's probably like, no, that's not what happened, because she has a better memory than me. [00:12:00] But when she got to the hospital and the doctor walked in, it was that lady that was on call. [00:12:07] That was a specific. [00:12:09] I mean, would it have made any difference? Probably not. [00:12:13] Probably not. But the Lord heard her and answered her for some trifle, some trivia, right in her life. Something that ultimately is not that big of a deal, except the fact that one of God's children asked God for something nobody else knew. And God did that very thing. And that doctor came in, and Allison looked at the doctor and said, I prayed that you would be the doctor to deliver me. And I remember, if I remember correctly, I remember the doctor just kind of being stunned. [00:12:45] And then later, Allison had the opportunity to witness to this lady. And as far as we know, this lady actually got saved. I mean, you think this sounds a little outlandish, right? She actually got saved. She got. Even though she was going to a Presbyterian church, she actually got baptized in a Baptist church, scripturally, and then went back to the Presbyterian church. But anyway. [00:13:09] But at least she did it right? We know she's going in. No, no, just. Just joking. Just joking. Just joking. [00:13:17] The Lord hears. [00:13:19] It's all about being heard. It's all about being heard. Now look at verse number one. [00:13:26] I want to show you a contrast. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me. Now notice what he says. Lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. [00:13:42] Compare that to being heard. [00:13:45] He's referring to people that go down into the pit. And we'll talk about the pit in a minute. But going down into the pit, the idea that these people perish in hell. And what is the one characteristic that's in focus when someone perishes from God's presence? Here's what it is. In contrast to the child of God being heard. [00:14:06] I don't know what is going on out there. They're backfiring. [00:14:10] Okay, you go get him, Sam. [00:14:14] He's gonna open the door and say, hey, what is the one thing he focuses on with those that go down into the pit? The fact that they pray and are not heard. [00:14:27] You know, the people in hell, you think of the rich man, he said What? In Luke 16, he said, Father Abraham, right? [00:14:35] Send Lazarus that he May dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. He cried out to. He cried out, not to God in that case, but I'm sure people do. And he cried out to Abraham. But here's the thing. He wasn't heard. Now, his voice, like Abraham, heard him. But what good is it if someone hears you but they don't respond? And so it was like he was forsaken, abandoned in hellfire, ignored, forgotten. [00:15:06] That's what's being described here. He says, lord, don't be like that. Because if you don't listen to me, it'll be just like those people that perish where you ignore them and you don't listen to any. You don't listen to their cry. And I'm sure people in hell are crying a great deal. Psalm 18:41, we've already covered. This verse says, they cried, but there was none to save them, even to the Lord. But he answered them not. Does God not answer some people's prayer? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a thing. That's a thing. [00:15:42] You know, the silence of those. [00:15:45] The silence of the Lord to them that go down into the pit is, if you think about it, frightening. [00:15:52] It's frightening to think about, to be ignored and forgotten, for cries to go unanswered. [00:16:01] It's not that they don't cry. It's that they cry and are not heard. [00:16:06] Quite a contrast. Notice in verse one, he says, lest I become like them that go down into the pit. Let's look at a few verses about the pit in the Scripture. And the reason I want to bring this up is because this is sometimes used and misunderstood by especially false teachers. [00:16:25] The pit refers to three things in Scripture. The pit. You know what a pit is? Obviously, it's a hole. It's a hole in the ground. The word in our Bible translated pit is also in some places translated dungeon. And it's also in some places translated well, in all cases, it's referring to a hole that's dug in the ground. So you can go to Genesis 37. You see, Joseph was cast into a pit by his brothers. It was a hole in the ground, right? And then if you'll take a peek at Psalm number 30, just a couple pages over, notice what David says in this Psalm, Psalm 30, verse 3. [00:17:04] He says, O Lord, thou has brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. You see that? What is he talking about in this case? He's Speaking very literally, he's speaking of. Because notice the word pit is set parallel to the word grave in verse three. So in this case, the pit refers to a hole where you put somebody that died. We call that a grave. Right. So that's another definition of pit. Notice one more in job 33. Look at that real quick, if you would. Job 33, job 33, number 18. [00:18:01] Elihu is speaking here, and he says to Job, verse 18, 33, 18. He keepeth back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword. See that? His life from perishing by the sword. So a pit in scripture can be a hole. A pit in scripture can be a hole where you put somebody that died. [00:18:22] And there's one other thing. [00:18:25] A pit in Scripture is also a picture in its relationship, especially with a grave, of eternal death. It's also a picture of that. And this is what people get hung up on. But let me show it to you clearly. Look at Isaiah, chapter 14. [00:18:43] It's actually going to be Isaiah 14 and Isaiah 24, Isaiah 14, verse number 15. [00:19:02] Now, you're probably familiar with this passage because in verse 12 says this, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nation? So this is a reference. This is kind of like a double reference, if you will. There are a number of places in prophecy that have a double reference to a king and to Satan. And this is a reference to Satan here. Verse 14 says, Satan. Now I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down to. What's it say? [00:19:40] Hell to the sides of the what pit? [00:19:47] Well, as far as we know, the devil doesn't have a fleshly, fleshy body like we do. Right. So I don't. I don't think there's. I don't think you could find in Scripture proof that the devil's going to die and be buried in a coffin somewhere. So this pit being referenced, notice is set parallel to the word hell, which is properly in scripture, especially as you read it in the Old Testament, is a reference to the place of the dead. That's what it's referring to. And of course we see. But let's look at a couple more passages, and you'll see at verse 20, Matthew. I'm sorry, Isaiah 24. [00:20:21] Isaiah 24, verse 21 says this. [00:20:30] This should sound familiar to you. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high. That's speaking of the angelic beings, right? They have access to God in the heavens and the kings of the earth upon the earth. See how it's like this double reference. You'll find this. You probably have noticed it. Sometimes when you read a certain passage, you're not sure if he's talking about principalities and powers, talking about kings and rulers, or if he's talking about the devil and the angels. It kind of blends together. There's something to that. But this idea of the pit is kind of like that. When it's talking about earthly things, it's referring to the grave. And then when it kind of crosses over, it makes that connection from the grave to what's after the grave, right? And you see that in passages sort of like this verse number. Where Was that? Verse 21. [00:21:21] And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in the prison. And after many days shall they be visited. [00:21:39] Now go to Revelation, chapter 20, Revelation, chapter 20. [00:21:53] Revelation, chapter 20, verse number three, verse one. Rather, pick up in verse one. [00:22:03] Revelation 20, verse one. And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit. [00:22:11] Now, this is not talking about a grave, no matter how many Jehovah's Witnesses want to say it. This is not a grave because this has no bottom. And that's a little bit different, is it not? But it's a pit. You see it. It's a hole, right? The idea is. And so you have this picture, right? You die, and then they put you in the ground and you sink down, right? That's the idea. The visual here is you die and you go into the grave physically, and your soul sinks down into the bottomless pit. Now, here's the thing. The Old Testament. [00:22:51] The Old Testament did not fully reveal this truth. That's why you see the word hell and the grave and the pit used together so often. It's not until you get to the New Testament that the full understanding of the afterlife comes into very clear view. For instance, with the rich man in Luke 16, that's where it comes into perfect view. But the Old Testament, what you had is just like we read here In Psalm number 28, we read about the wicked going down into the pit. And you think, well. And you could say, well, that just means God's going To judge them. They're going to die. Yes, but there is also an element that they will be judged and it actually says it that they'll be judged and destroyed in a spiritual way eternally also. And that's fully revealed in the New Testament. He says this verse number two, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan. Remember here it's clear in Isaiah 14 and Isaiah 14 in particular. It wasn't exactly clear who he's talking about. Right. There's a little bit of ambiguity here. Is none. It's perfectly in focus. [00:24:08] And bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season. That's. You know what this is? This is the New Testament interpretation of Isaiah 24, 21 and 22. It's the same thing, but in Isaiah he described the pit and in the New Testament it's more fully revealed as the bottomless pit. And this is not a grave. Here's why this is important, because Jehovah's Witnesses will say, ah, well, when you read hell in the Old Testament, you read the word hell. That's just talking about the grave. [00:24:49] Alright, well, all the verses do not line up with that. First of all, all the verses don't line up with that because they believe in soul sleep actually to be proper. [00:25:02] They. But not only they, there are other false teachers. Hell is one of the doctrines that people like to deny along with the deity of Christ. Those two go to works salvation. The deity of Christ and hell are the three that always, almost always go together with false teachers. Almost always. But they deny hell and false teachers like that, they actually believe in what is called annihilation. You just cease. That's what Jehovah's Witnesses believe. The wicked just cease. And they say, well, it's just the grave. You know, you go in the grave and that's it, you're never resurrected. That's it. Well, that's a problem because the people that go into the grave in Revelation 20 come up out of the grave and stand before God and experience what Psalm 28 talks about. And then they what go back into the grave that you say is hell and you say is just. No, no, no, it's this more full revelation of the pit, this place of torment, this place of, you know, you think of a pit as, you know, a hole. It's Dark, you know, you're sinking into it, going down, you know, that's the idea. It's just in the Old Testament, it's revealed kind of visually. [00:26:18] But in the New Testament, it's described more fully. But it was always there, right? I mean, the rich man was under the Old Testament, right? He was not under. Under the New Testament period. He was. Because Jesus is talking about him. And Jesus hasn't died on the cross yet. So the rich man went to the pit and then went to the pit, Right? You might say. [00:26:42] So don't get confused about that. [00:26:45] The physical grave and the eternal judgment, eternal death are connected in the Old Testament. All right, let's move on. Look at verse number three in Psalm number 28. [00:26:58] Psalm 28, verse number three. 3. Let me get back there. [00:27:06] Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity. Notice that the idea of this repeated theme of judgment. Here the wicked are ignored, forsaken, abandoned, forgotten by God. Their cries are met with silence even in the pit. That's what it says right here. [00:27:30] They're drug away. [00:27:32] Draw me not away with the wicked. Here the wicked are drug away from God. [00:27:38] The idea being at the judgment here. If you look at verse number four. Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors. Give them notice. Their endeavors. God's not only going to judge their deeds, but he's also going to judge what. What they were trying to do. Their endeavors. Give them, after the work of their hands, render to them their desert. And God's going to judge them. And they're going to cry out for mercy. And it's going to be met with silence. And then they're going to be bound and drug. That's what it says, right? Drawn away from the Lord and cast into the lake of fire. [00:28:19] I want you to see something about the wicked here in verse four, though, or verse three, rather. Draw me not away with the wicked. Now notice this. [00:28:28] Which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. [00:28:38] They speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. This is a description of the wicked. [00:28:49] Now listen to me. [00:28:53] Here's the point I want to make, and then I'll apply it. [00:28:57] We should make a point to live by this principle that the words of our mouth and the thoughts of our heart should always be in agreement. [00:29:12] You notice that about them, the wicked speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. In other words, there's a disconnect between what they say and what they think. [00:29:23] It's not the same. [00:29:25] We should live by this principle. And listen, this is a biblical principle. It's stated here in the negative, but it's a biblical principle. We should live by the principle that whatever comes out of our mouth is what is really in our heart and in our thoughts. You say, well, what if something's bad in my thoughts? Well, then don't speak. [00:29:43] Right. You don't have to say it. [00:29:46] You know, here, down south, as a matter of culture, we have a big problem with this. We do. [00:29:57] I know people that are from up north, you know, they more readily speak their mind. And Southerners, people who are born and raised down south are known as being people who say nice things to your face. And Abby's nodding energetically because she works at a bank where they do that all day long. [00:30:19] Slander somebody as they're walking toward the front door and come in and turn on the happy face. Listen, that is not godly. That's not right. [00:30:29] That disconnect between what you think and what you say. What we think and what we say is not godly. [00:30:36] Not godly. If it's not in your. [00:30:39] If the person's not beautiful, if their clothes are not pretty, if they're not a nice person, if the compliment is not true, don't say it. [00:30:46] Don't say it. [00:30:49] But sometimes I think we could do better at. When something is especially kind in our heart to actually speak it, not hold a den. We could do better on that front as well. But here's the thing. [00:31:00] What's in the heart and what's on the lips is the same. [00:31:04] The Lord says, did he not? He says that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. All those words that go out that are not matched with consistent thoughts, you know, inward meaning. [00:31:22] I wonder if the Lord's going to bring that up. I think he probably is. [00:31:26] Because we didn't really mean what we said. We just said it to tickle the ears of that person, make him feel better. [00:31:33] Here's the thing. And you say, well, that might cut way down on what I say to people. [00:31:43] You know what that tells us? [00:31:45] Maybe our heart needs to get a little brighter. [00:31:48] Is that right? Is that proper grammar? Maybe our heart needs to be a little more right. See, here's the thing. [00:31:55] If in our heart are thoughts that are evil and we're just able to button our lips to keep that stuff from spilling out, well, I mean, that's better than saying it, I'll give you that. [00:32:10] Why? Just. I can't say anything nice to them. [00:32:13] So I'm just not going to say anything rather than faking it and there being that disconnect. [00:32:21] But that's not the best. [00:32:24] That's better, but that's not the best. The high road is this, Lord, change my heart so that I have kind and good thoughts toward that person. So that when I say it, I mean it. [00:32:37] God can do that. [00:32:39] He can do that. [00:32:41] But here's the thing. [00:32:43] We can't hide the mischief of our hearts and our thoughts. [00:32:50] God sees that even if we don't say it. [00:32:54] Lord says, fix that. [00:32:58] Fix that. [00:33:00] Right? [00:33:04] One of the characteristics of the wicked is what he says you can't trust because his heart is not there. [00:33:12] You might want to note these verses. Proverbs 26, 22, 26 say essentially the same thing. [00:33:24] Look at verse number five, we're almost finished here. [00:33:30] Verse four and five says this. Give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors, Give them after the work of their hands, render to them their desert notice, because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them and not build them up. Two Sundays ago, I preached on the body of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit. Remember that? And it says, there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but the same God. Right? Here's the thing. This word operation just refers to God's works. That's all. That all. It refers to God's works. But notice the wicked, they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands. So it doesn't matter if it's Romans chapter one, with God creating the world done by his hands. It doesn't matter if it's. If it's. It's the cross of Christ and his resurrection, the works of the Lord. It doesn't matter if it's the church of God who suffers willingly for the cause of Christ, the works of the Lord. Or in John 12:37 it says this. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him. You see that? Why didn't they believe? Why do people turn a blind eye to the works of God that they see? [00:35:04] You see a believer with, you might say sanctified vision, he sees the work of God in everything. But an unbeliever never sees the work of God. [00:35:15] In other words, he sees it with his eyeballs, just like everyone else does. But he never attributes the work of God to its rightful source. And so therefore, or he is Never affected by it. And sometimes that work of God is a good work and sometimes it's a bad work of judgment, right? [00:35:35] And so what they do, and this is what people do, they see what God does, just like we do. And we see it and we say, God did that like an answer to prayer a minute ago. God hears us. Something you could not predict, you could not explain. [00:35:48] Nobody knew it but you and God. And God did it. You know what they do? [00:35:52] All right, yeah, whatever. They just wave their hand and dismiss it. But the very thing that God is intending to use to draw them and to demonstrate his power, right. Is the very thing that they dismiss and explain away. You think of the glories of creation. [00:36:14] Now we live in a world that has a worldview that it's a large, complicated structure has been built since the 1850s. [00:36:25] Was Darwin in the 1850s. [00:36:29] Since that time, a large, complicated, intricate structure has been built. It's not some simple thing. A whole scientific structure has been built with one purpose. [00:36:41] I love science, but it has one purpose as a worldview. [00:36:46] You know what that purpose is? To dismiss all of the operation of God's hands. [00:36:53] Dismiss it all just. [00:36:58] And people are pouring into hellfire by the millions because they have found a way to dismiss the operation of God's hands, what God has done in creation. [00:37:18] Let's go to verse seven, to close verse six. Says, blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplication. So he's excited, he's joyful, because God heard him. And you know, the joy of that, the joy of God answering a prayer is way more than the comfort of the prayer itself, is it not? [00:37:42] When God answers you and you know he answered you specifically, there's way more joy in that than the, you know, the assurance and the calmness that comes from praying, the actual exercise, right? [00:37:55] So the psalmist is happy. So he says this verse 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in him and I am helped. [00:38:04] Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. And with my song will I praise him when there is joy in the heart. [00:38:20] And praise to God in the heart, perhaps because we've seen the operation of his hands, right? When there's joy in the heart, there is praise in the heart. [00:38:34] Listen now, the songs of the lips will be lively, will be enjoyable, and will be with feeling. [00:38:47] How many of you have ever come into church and taken part in the song service and thought, I'm bored, raise your hand. You don't have to raise your hand. [00:38:58] You said you thought to yourself, yeah, it didn't excite you. It didn't do anything for you. [00:39:09] But hold on now. But then you came another service, sing the same songs, and you were excited and your heart was stirred. Is the difference Brother Ari or Sam or Josh or whoever else might lead the music? [00:39:27] Brother Andrew has been involved in music ministry. [00:39:30] Is the difference the song leader? [00:39:33] No. Is the difference the song? No. Yeah. Here's what we do. We lay the blame for a song service on the song leader ain't right. [00:39:46] This man David, was stirred in his heart. [00:39:51] He was helped. He was joyful. He had praise inwardly. And so he sang. And so what happened? The song of his lips was a song of praise. It was energetic. It was joyful. It was all the things I described. And that's the difference. [00:40:08] If you want to have a better song service, then you have a better heart that you bring to the song service. Right? That's where you start enjoying the song service. [00:40:20] It's not Brother Ari's job to get you to enjoy the song service. [00:40:25] It's your job to get your heart in tune with the Lord. [00:40:31] Brother Ari, we've messed it up, have we not? Church has been about performance, has it not? We've made it so performative, and we inch toward the concert like. And I've told Brother Ari, you know, I know I'm going long, but just bear with me. I've told Brother Ari when, you know, especially when I first became the pastor, and we've had conversations over time about, you know, he asked me about song leading and, you know, that kind of thing and what kind of songs, that kind of thing. And I've told him I really want to emphasize congregational singing. [00:41:04] Congregational singing. [00:41:07] Congregational singing. [00:41:09] Now, of course, it's not wrong for people to stand up and sing a special. That's not what I'm saying at all. But as far as an emphasis, we want to de. Emphasize the performance. Again, not saying that those who sing specials are performing. I'm just saying we want to emphasize that. [00:41:25] And so when we sing together, the idea is that you bring your heart of thanks and praise to the song service. And what you'll find is you will enjoy that song service and it will minister to you and you'll get help. [00:41:41] It's not Brother Ari's job to do that. It's our job to bring, like David here in verse seven, bringing a heart of praise to the song. And here's the thing, it's convicting. You know why? Because we sing these songs. Our church sings good songs. Right. We have good songs. Brother Ari has gone out of his way to make sure not only. I mean, we all acknowledge our hymnal is not the best one that's ever been made. Okay, we know that. Okay, let's just put that aside. We know that. Everybody knows that. [00:42:11] It doesn't have a lot of songs that are really, really good songs. But you know what? Brother Ari has gone out of his way to make sure with these Red Books. We have good, good songs that maybe aren't in the hymnal because we want to sing good music. We want to sing good, sound, biblical, meaty, substantive songs. Right? And he's done that, and I'm very, very thankful for that. [00:42:34] But here's the thing. If we sing that and we sing songs like and Can It Be, and my favorite verse in that, which is thine eye diffused a quickening ray I woke the dungeon flamed with light I rose went flower forth and follow. Whoa. That's amazing, is it not? That is an amazing truth. That the operation of God's hands when a light beam from his eye awakens a sinner and he who is dead comes alive. That is an amazing. That is among the most miraculous and powerful things that God has ever done. Right. [00:43:14] And he did it to you. And yet we sing it. [00:43:18] When I diffused a quickening ray, I woke. [00:43:24] What's the difference? Nothing's wrong with the song. Nothing's wrong with the truth. You know what's wrong? [00:43:30] It's us. That's what's wrong. So here's the point. [00:43:34] You bring a heart of praise. You bring a heart of engagement toward the Lord. You bring a heart of desire and energy to a song. [00:43:43] You'll find that that song will help you a whole lot more. You know what? That's not only true of that. It's also true of your fellowship in the church. It's also true of the way you listen to preaching and teaching. It's also true of pretty much everything in the spiritual world, is it not? [00:44:03] You bring the Lord a heart engaged and inclined in his way. You'll find it's a whole lot more fun. [00:44:17] Let's pray.