Psalm 5 this morning, Psalm 5, as we turn to this psalm, it's a wonderful psalm, as we come to the table this morning and sometimes texts of Scripture are a little more challenging than others. If you're visiting with us, we're working through the psalms. I love to do that for a reason because it shows the Scripture as a whole. But do remember, if you were going to apply for a job at the post office and you were going to deliver letters, would you say, what if you said, I only want to deliver those letters that say, Merry Christmas, happy birthday, love letters, and you took all the letters that say, we regret to inform you, and threw them in the bushes. You think the postmaster would keep you working very long? He shouldn't. So you see, we have to deliver both sides, don't we? We have to deliver good letters and letters of warning. And let's consider Psalm 5 with that. To the choir master for the flutes, the Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God. For to You do I pray. O Lord, in the morning You hear my voice. In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for You and watch. For You are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth. Their inmost self is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels because of the abundance of their transgressions. Cast them out. For they have rebelled against You. But let all who take refuge in You rejoice. Let them ever sing for joy. And spread Your protection over them. And that those who love Your name may exult in You. For You bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. I remember being in college and my parents had come to visit and so I was excited to bring them to the church that I was attending in college. That day, that day in that church that I decided to attend. The first 20 minutes were rock and roll music. The pastor decided on a whim that day that he didn't want to preach. His message was, take a break. And he himself took a break. I'll never forget we went home that day. I was a bit embarrassed. And my father said to me, Son, I raised you better than that. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that. You know what was the most troubling about that whole event as a young person? I sat there for six months in that. And I didn't see it. I didn't see it. What are we doing today? Why'd you come? Why'd you get up this morning? Why'd you get up? Why'd you put on nice clothes? Did you do it because you just knew you should be here? Why are you here this morning? What drove you here? Was it because you've always done it and this is the thing you do? What did you seek in coming? What's your purpose? Did you come to experience something? What did you come to experience? Did you think about that at all? What is it? Why are we here this morning in the Escondido United Reformed Church? Well, all of this is answered for us this morning in Psalm 5. That's why I love Psalm 5. Psalm 5 answers those questions. And it's really amazing how this whole psalm begins. It begins with a cry. It begins with something we wouldn't expect. It begins with a cry. Lord, hear my cry. I'm groaning. I'm sorrowful. I want everyone to look at verse 7 this morning. In verse 7, this is what we read. But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy. I will... You know what worship means, right? The word that God chose for worship means I will bow down in your presence. This is what I'm going to come do. And then he cries out, as I come to worship this morning, lead me in your righteousness. This is what I'm asking of you. I'm asking you to lead me this morning. To guide my paths. To make them straight as we sung out. This is a psalm. And the whole purpose of the psalm this morning is David asking that he would have a proper reverence and a proper fear of this God to whom he is coming to worship. that he would have a proper reverence and a proper fear. Lord, help me to see things as You see them. Help me to understand things as You have defined them in Your Word. Help me in worship to honor You and to worship You the way that You desire to be worshipped. Psalm 5 is so interesting to me, and I really gave a lot of time to reflect on just what is happening here. Psalm 5 is so interesting to me because it's not a psalm that is exactly for the act of worship. It's a psalm that is a preparation for worship. He's preparing his heart. It's a psalm preparing your heart to come into the house of the Lord. That's why I want you to look at verse 7 and to see that he's praying early in the morning. It's a morning psalm. He's praying, anticipating coming. Now, it's not the kind of psalm we would really expect for coming into the worship of the Lord, at least if we're putting it on our terms, in our day in 2012. Because right at the beginning of the superscription, you read it saying, this is to the choir master and all the flutes. And you're thinking, oh boy, here comes the praise band, right? That's not what we have. In the superscription, you'll see that And then right after, you have something shocking. Give ear to my prayer. To my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray. Now if in verse 7 he is anticipating coming into the house of the Lord, he's asking, this is what I will do when I come. I will bow down. I will reverence You. Here is David preparing his heart. in verse 3 he says I will pray to you in the morning in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and I will look up to you I'll look up prayer not always like this sometimes it's like this this is the language of the priests in the morning who would prepare sacrifices on the altar wouldn't they and he's thinking here as we sing my heart and altar and I love the flame he is praying to the Lord he is preparing his heart for coming to the worship of the Lord now I don't know how you prepare for coming to the Lord's house but the first thing that strikes me this morning is how earnest this prayer is how how alive this prayer is how devoted and concentrated and fervent that this prayer is to the Lord. It is focused. And it's passionate. And it's real. It's not the kind of prayer where he's just going through the motions and it's just sort of a cold routine. I'm listening to this prayer and I can picture David, arms outstretched, bowing the head, but thinking a lot about the Lord, praying to him in fervent desire that all that he has would be given to him and that he would understand things the way that he should. It's sincere. Have you ever desired that? To have every square inch of who you are to love Christ. To delight in Him. To know Him. To commune with Him. This is a man after God's own heart. Remember. And he is so fixated on the Lord in this psalm. It's just the epitome of devotion. Furious, persistent, fervent, unwavering prayer filled with trust and confidence in the Lord. He's preparing. Have you ever struggled with feeling like nothing is happening in worship? Have you ever struggled with that? That the whole experience at times feels empty and cold and distant. You ever felt that? We've struggled with this. How many times have you even thought, you know, it's just boring? There was no energy in what we're doing. Where's the energy? And maybe you think about those who seem to have so much energy in what they're doing. And we've often made the assumption in that struggle that the problem is with worship itself, haven't we? That's what we've made the assumption. And so we've tried to fix this. And we have said, well, we need this for the sermons or we need this for what we do in this part of the worship. The experience of the whole thing needs to be a little bit greater. I've struggled with that. Oh, I've struggled with that. How much time did you give to prepare yourself this morning for worship? When you prayed, assuming that you did. Coming into the Lord's house. How did you prepare your hearts? What did you ask of the Lord? What did you do? What burdened you? What troubled your hearts? What did you feel? I ask that because it will have a bearing on what you're doing this morning. on your experience this morning. I never grasped this as a child, as a young person, what the worship of God was. I really didn't. Confession time, if I may. I know I'm not supposed to do that, but I'm going to do it. As a child, I remember numerous times in pews like this, in a church like this growing up, that I was rolling around on the ground and my dad would grab me and pick me up and put me back in the pew. And then as a teenager, I would sit there and I'd of course been out the night before with my friends. No preparation. I would come and I would sit. I would sit in the pew and you would see the Gordon kid do the Bob thing. I fell asleep. And then my dad would take his big knuckle and jam it right into the middle of my leg and I'd go home with a Charlie. It wasn't better watching anyone else. I saw everything in church. I saw mints drop on the floor and roll up one time to the front of the pulpit. I saw people walk in late. I saw newsletters being read. I saw people knitting. And if the pastor was long-winded that day, oh boy, a series of escalations of coughs and sneezing and getting up to go to the bathroom would happen. Here's my conclusion, beloved. I and many others in the life of the church, not all, had no idea what we were doing. Church, for many, had become a social club for the elite. And so because of increased dissatisfaction, the question started going out, hey, we need to dress this up a little bit better. We need to help engage people a little bit better. And so you live this. I live this. We went through the worship wars. I remember reading David Fettis' article in the Christian Reformed Church years ago. And he said something. I kept this article. I always thought it was an amazing article. He said, we forget that we are in the presence of a holy and an awesome God. Many churches go out of their way to make worship more inviting and more exciting. We preachers try to weave something colorful into our sermons to get people's interest. But interest in whom? The living God or the clever preacher? people go to church out of habit. They expect to be finished on time and they consider it a success if a good time was had by all. He says, do you realize when you go to church, you're entering a danger zone? If you get careless, it could destroy you in a moment. I kept that article. I raised all this this morning because I just didn't grasp this. I didn't understand this. I didn't get it. For my whole beginning part of my existence under the sun, I didn't know what was going on. And here I am as a pastor now, and I grasp this seeing the Psalms. I see what the Lord is telling us about coming into His presence. And here we are this morning, and we've gathered, and we're coming to receive the Word, and we're going to partake of the body and the blood of Christ. Something that meant so much to the Lord, He said you could eat and drink judgment on yourself if you don't discern it. I didn't write that. He wrote that. Here's my question. Do you think we've missed something in worship today because our priorities are wrong? psalm 5 is david's morning prayer preparing him and and it answers the question of why chris gordon needs to be here and why you need to be here uh no preparation probably means we're lacking in understanding why we even are here this morning lord hear from you and it brings us to the great question of this psalm why what is david why is david crying and what is he anticipating and coming to the Lord's house. What's burdening David? I want to know, don't you? Because all the commentators are sitting here. Calvin said, we're not even really told. Nothing is expressly told as to why David is burdened. It's interesting because the two previous psalms are very specific about that. Psalm 3 says enemies are attacking David. Psalm 4 says they're slandering David. But this psalm is a little bit different, isn't it? Why is he crying out? Why is he so burdened early in the morning? This psalm is unique because he provides not something specific to his life, but the greatest problem that all of mankind faces. And do you know what that is? It's God Himself. Look at verse 4. And here's the reason. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all workers of iniquity. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. I've never seen that on a bumper sticker. that's the worst news I've ever heard that's distressing you notice the progression there it starts with you hate wickedness evil cannot be in your presence the boastful will not stand you hate them you will destroy them now I could try to explain that away today and I could try to make that nice but it doesn't go away. Now I wonder, have we really felt the weight of that anymore today? Have we really felt the weight of a statement like that? You know, we used to hear that statement. I heard it all the time growing up. God hates the sin, but He loves the sinner. Remember that? That was the common lingo for me as a child. But what makes this psalm so potent, What makes this cry so powerful is that David realized we're not sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. Do you think we take that seriously today? I wonder if we become totally unmoved by the love of God and untouched by the love of God today in the Christian church. This is all we've heard. This is all we've been told. Could we ever imagine a God who hates? If you'll agree that He doesn't change, could we ever imagine a God who hates us? Let me go a little further. Do we believe there's a hell? No, no, no. Really believe that. Do we really believe that God is sending people there and that it's His hell? It's not the devil's hell. It's His hell. and that anyone who doesn't have a covering is going there. We shift. It's uncomfortable. Do you know what's happened to David? He's been out in the world and he has felt the sorrow of everything. And the problem that he is lamenting in this psalm, the problem he's crying about is sin. He has known its curse. He has felt it. He has seen the awful effects of it in this life. And here's what he's saying. I understand what You're like, Lord. I understand Your holiness. I get Your greatness. And that You cannot stand. No sinner can stand in Your presence and live. I feel that. I understand that. I believe that. And I groan over it. And I'm anticipating going into the house of the Lord and Lord, hear my prayer. Hear my cry. I'm praying to You because I'm broken up about this. When I think about Your justice and Your holiness and that You can't excuse sin and that no one can stand, I'm groaning. I'm groaning. When I consider your awesome, blazing holiness, remember Isaiah got a little glimpse of that and the first thing he did was cover. And the first thing he said is, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm breaking apart. I'm disintegrating in your presence. I fall right into despair. My concern is that we're so desensitized to these things, they just don't affect us anymore. They don't affect us. can we even hear it? I was reading Ezekiel the other day and it's interesting that God took Ezekiel into the worship of the Lord and He wanted Ezekiel to consider what was going on in the house of Israel. And He says, I want you to look. I want you to look, Israel, and I want you to look at what they're doing and see why it's driven me right out of the sanctuary. And so Ezekiel says, I went in and I looked and he says, I saw this infuriating image at the beginning of the gate. And then he brought me to the inner court and there was a hole in the wall, so I dug right in the middle of the hole and I looked into it and I saw all sorts of idols in the house of the Lord. And then he says, I looked at all the elders and you know they were worshiping pictures? And then he says, I looked at the women and they were worshiping this false god named Tammuz. And then he says, I turned around, I went to the innermost court and I saw 25 men facing east worshiping the sun. This was in God's house. The burden. And God would say in chapter 9 to Ezekiel, I want you to go through it. I want you to grab a big inkwell to His angel and I want you to mark those who weep over this stuff. Who are really agitated with this stuff. Have we lost sensitivity to what's happening? I turned on the news last week. I don't have to convince you in the world, do I? I don't have to convince you in the world. I just flipped open the news and these are the top five headlines I get. A man and his four-year-old son gunned down in L.A. home yesterday. Perversion files show locals helped cover up alleged child sex abuse in Boy Scouts. Four dead in beauty salon shooting. Dinesh D'Souza resigns from presidency amid scandal. Simpson trying to sell alleged murder weapon for millions. Alleged 9-11 mastermind blasts U.S. for killings. Man arrested in suspected terror plot to attack Federal Reserve. On and on and on and on. You see, I think we read this. And now it just... it's every single news line. Does it affect you? Psalm 5 is telling us this morning it affects God. And David is so overburdened by this. David is so confronted with the holiness of God. He's seeing things. He's crying out. And he's crying out over the sad reality of what sin has brought and what God is going to do about it. I'm not sure when this psalm was written, but David did some awful things in his life. He took a man and he took his wife. And David is thinking of coming before the Lord and he knows that no evil can stand in his sight. And he looks all around him and he sees the reality of mankind and he's feeling the weight of his life of sin and the weight of what humanity is like. And he is seeing it as God has defined it. so i bring us back for a minute did we hobble out of bed and rush up here this morning you know the devil wasn't down at the bars last night the devil was preparing to be here sunday did you know that the devil can do a lot of damage in the pew and you see what this psalm is telling us this morning is consider the need have you missed what God is doing for you in worship today if you've missed that and missed why you need to be here don't be surprised if through the course of time you're going through the motions and you're wondering where's the power to all of this where's the strength to all of this where's the answer to all of this if it's just enthusiasm we need Listen, I'm a pretty enthusiastic guy. I can do a lot. But God won't be very enthused about it. You'll never find power in that stuff. I promise you. You'll never know it until you experience the death to the self that the Scriptures talk about. Raised up anew. Have we created bubbles for ourselves as Christians to shield us from the world? I've got bad news. The problem is not from without, it's from within. And you see, David is saying that now. He realizes that in verse 9. There's no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue. This is all Romans 3 to make the single point. This is God's view of man. It comes from within. He sees it from within the middle of the heart. Their heart has been on destruction. There's nothing good there. Destruction and misery are all their ways, even though they flatter with the tongue. So how do I know? How do you know you're drawing near to God today? I want that. You want that. You see the answer in this psalm? If you're coming to worship in a meaningful way, you've been gripped with God's holiness. And there's an increased sensitivity happening to sin. What's going on in this sad world all around us and what's going on as you see it more in your own hearts, how sin destroys people's lives, how sin takes them down, and the state of things even in our country. I don't have to convince you of that. You see it. You say, well, this is a downer. I say, not at all. Because now the Lord's ready to give grace. Have you walked this? You see where David has gone? And that's why now, in verse 7, you have the most beautiful expression of trust that comes out. This takes us right on up into the clouds today. But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy. In the fear of you, I will worship toward your holy temple. What a verse, isn't it? I'm coming. And here's the thing. What does everyone say about Christians today? You guys think you're better than everyone else. Listen, maybe someone's walked in today and you see all these nice people dressed. You've never been here. You see the pastor in this nice suit up there. I promise you it's a cheap suit, by the way. I'm dressing up what's dying. And so is everyone else here. What are we saying to you? Oh, the wicked are out there. They're so bad. They're so evil. We're better. That's not what verse 7 says, does it? Verse 7 says, but I will come into your house, does it say this? Because I've tried so much harder than them. Because I'm so much better than them. Because I've led such a more holy, righteous life than them. That's not what it says. I will come to your worship in the multitude of your what? Mercy. He's making a contrast saying, Lord, I know what I'm like. I know what I'm like. And the basis of which I can come is the mercy that You've shed abroad. You see, we can say God gives mercy. It's quite another thing to say you need it this morning. You. Me. And you see, David will say, How blessed is the man who is forgiven. Fixed on the mercies of Christ, he found strength. Where do you find that? David understood that there was a mercy seat in the temple and that blood was sprinkled there and that all foreshadowed what the Lord Jesus Christ would do. That he would give his life and that He would die and He would taste the abhorrence of God's wrath on our sin and that He would propitiate that wrath for us. He would satisfy, boys and girls, that wrath for us. And so when you read v. 7 and you go on, you understand in v. 7 that the Lord did assign Jesus our guilt. And because of the abundance of our transgressions, he was cast out of the presence because we rebel against the Lord. And that's the most overwhelming message I could give this morning that the Lord would want me to give you. And you see, for the first time in this prayer, notice he didn't come with a whole load of petitions. You know, help me with this and do this and do this and do this. He's dealing with things first the way they should be. And for the first time, we get a petition in verse 8. And what is it? Lead me, Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies. Make Your way straight before my face. As I come, I'm asking You this morning to hold me, to keep me, and to guide me as I go through this life that I would be led in everything I do to see things as You see them, to fear and reverence You as You desire to be fear and reverence because I could be here this morning and I could miss everything that the Lord wants for me. You know the Lord desires to make straight your paths today. You say, I don't feel that. Have you come with the right desires? Alexander McLaren once said, love follows trust. So brethren, if we are to be warmed, let us get in the sunshine. You want life, go where the Lord's told you, he says. If we desire to have our hearts filled with love to God, do not let us waste our time in trying to pump up artificial emotions or to persuade ourselves that we love God better than we do. But let us fix our thoughts and fasten our refuge-seeking trust on Christ and that will kindle ours. I love that. And you see what's happened here in closing. David has come with this broken and contrite heart and he sought for the right remedy and what is the result? Now he's prepared. And what is God's answer to him? Aren't you thrilled with the answer that comes out in this psalm? You think it's coincidental that a psalm that begins like this ends on the highest note possible? Let all who take refuge in You today rejoice. Let them sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them that those who love Your name may exalt in You. For You bless the righteous. Oh Lord, you cover him with favor as with a shield. That's what he's done for you. He's taken our troubled hearts and as we've come to him today for safety and help, he has spread his giant canopy over his people. And he has shielded them, strengthened them, protected them, fed them. Heaven is my throne and the earth is My footstool. This is the one to whom I will look, says the Lord. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word. Do you shout for joy today? We Reformed people can shout for joy. It's a wonderful thing because that message is given to us. God gave His Son and He's promised He will not cast us off. And He has promised that He will shield us all the way through. That's Christ's prayer for you today. You believe that? Christ has prayed that all who love Him, the Father would help you to be joyful. Are you joyful? This is the path we walk to get there. And He wants you to know whatever sadness has happened to you in this world, He will surround you. That's why He gives you a supper called the what? celebration. Sure, we put our heads down because of sin, but we lift them high because Jesus triumphed over this sad mess. If you're discouraged in the valley of the shadow of death, what has He done? He's spread a table for you in the wilderness before your enemies. Believe Him. Trust Him. You may not be warm today in your body, but I assure you this, When you come believing and trusting and receiving His promises by faith, He will sustain you. He will strengthen you. He will nourish you for this sad journey that we walk until we're in glory. Let this truth fill you with joy and let us come and worship the Lord, our God. Amen.