A Study in Psalms - Psalm 5

Tonight we're gonna look at Psalm 5 and if you just want to know real quickly the 10 Psalms we're gonna look at this year: Psalms 5, next week, we're gonna look at a big one Psalm 27, Psalm 44, Psalm 53, Psalm 65, Psalm 79, Psalm 86, Psalm 87, Psalm 102, and Psalm 116. Because I know some of you asked me, "But why study the Psalms? Why study the Psalms?" Well, there are five books of poetry in the Bible and it's quite interesting here at Christ Community Church that last year Lance finished the book of Job on Wednesday nights, and in Psalms, we've done almost 50 to 60 of the Psalms, and then Proverbs, rarely as a sermon ever preached in this church where the pastor doesn't mention one, two, three, or four Proverbs, and Lance actually has 24 messages on Proverbs. And then we just finished Ecclesiastes, so the only book left is Song of Solomon, and I've only been married 22 years, so I'll leave that one to Lance to do someday.

But there's not just poetry in the five books that we call the poetry books, poetry is all throughout the Bible, and it begins. The first poem is in Exodus 15 with the song of Moses, and then Deuteronomy, there's also Deuteronomy 32, there's another song of Moses, and then you have the song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5, and you've got that beautiful poem of Hannah's prayer in 1st Samuel 2, you've got David's song of deliverance in 2nd Samuel 22, Habakkuk chapter 3 is a wonderful prayer, and then you go to the New Testament. It has poetry right away in Luke, you have the Magnificat, Mary's prayer, and then you have Zachariah's prophecy in chapter 1, all the way to Revelation. In Revelation there are seven hymns, one of them is Revelation 15:3-4. So God's Word is filled with poetry. God likes poetry. So should we, right?

Who else likes poetry? Jesus. Jesus quotes from the book of Psalms more than any other book in the Old Testament. Jesus began his earthly ministry when he cleansed the temple in John chapter 2, verse 17, his disciples remember that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me," that's a quote from Psalm 69, verse 9. And then Jesus, in it is earthly ministry, when he hung on the cross, and in Luke 23 verse 46 he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and that's a quote from Psalm 31, verse 5.

I have a lot of background on Psalms I want to give you, but I'll spread it out over the 10 weeks, so tonight, I just want to give you five key words from Psalms. Okay, five key words. The book of Psalms may aptly be summarized by these five words. Number one, praise. The word praise is used 134 times in Psalms, 13 times alone in the last one in Psalms 150. The psalmist worships, extols with a heartfelt gratitude, thanking the sovereign God of Israel for his person, his word, his mighty works in regard to both creation and redemption.

The second word would be prophecy. The psalmist often writes about the coming Messiah, foretelling his zeal, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, his high priestly work, and the coming millennial kingdom. Example would be Psalm 22. The third word would be pain. The psalmist describes in graphic fashion about his personal doubts, his fears, his pain, and his problems, and I think this is why we can relate to the Psalms because we have pain like he does. The fourth word, after praise, prophecy, pain, it's petition. The psalmist offers up many requests. He cries out for relief, for forgiveness, reassurance, direction, protection, and strength, and we'll see that in tonight's psalm, Psalm 5. And lastly, poetry. The psalmist pens his words in a poetic fashion meant to be sung. You all know Psalm 42, "As the deer pants for the streams of water," beautiful poetry. It's Hebrew poetry that we've translated in English, but it's still very beautiful.

So those are five key words in the book of Psalms. If you have your Bibles when you open to Psalm number 5, you notice there is a superscription at the top of it, and about a hundred and fourteen of the Psalms have these, and this one says, "To the choir master: for the flutes. A psalm of David." So this would have been sung in the temple and apparently accompanied by a flute or a choir, and David is the author of this psalm, and David wrote at least half of the Psalms. So we'll talk more about that in another week. But let's look at this psalm. In case you're wondering what type of psalm this is, it's a lament psalm, an individual lament psalm.

Let's look at Psalm 5: "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 bloodthirsty and deceitful men. 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, 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."

Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you tonight that we can look at Psalm number 5. Father, I pray tonight that you would just challenge us, encourage us, motivate us to talk to you more and more and more, in Jesus' name. Amen.

You know, it's almost a cliché when the pastor of church, any church, admonishes the congregation to read their Bibles or pray more. There are a lot of books on prayer. One of my favorite is "Valley of Vision." Tim will often read this before on Sunday. It's a prayer book by the Puritans. If you want to get it, it's a great book that they write out their prayers and you can actually pray them. I got a new book this week, "Handbook for Praying for Scripture" by William Warner. But prayer books are a dime a dozen. There are lots of prayer books. But Pastor Lance said something many years ago, that prayer is more caught than taught.

Last night, we had just a few people at our Tuesday night prayer meeting, and I listened to the ladies who pray, and I learned how to pray better because they make it so simple. It's almost as if God is there and they're talking to him face to face. So I hope tonight when you hear that we're talking about prayer, you won't think, "Oh no, another passage about prayer." Listen to what J.C. Ryle said: "Prayer is the mightiest engine that God has placed in our hands. It's the best weapon to use in every difficulty and the surest remedy in every trouble. It is the key that unlocks the treasury of promises and the hand that draws forth grace and help in time of need. Show me a growing Christian, a going forward Christian, a flourishing Christian, and sure am I, he is one that speaks often with the Lord. He tells Jesus everything."

So let me ask you, are you a growing Christian, a going forward Christian, and a flourishing Christian? How's your prayer life? You know, the real question isn't how's your prayer life, but the real question is, how's your relationship with your heavenly Father? You know, I was thinking recently as I was preparing this about the actor Gene Hackman, and his wife died a few months ago. Do you remember that? And I don't know exactly if it was seven days or ten days or two weeks, but it was a long time before they discovered the bodies, and yet I believe he has grown up children. So it's sad that none of those children checked in on their parents, or at least had one of those things that if they fell, they could, you know, call emergency. So I don't know if it's too much to speculate, but that leads me to believe there was a relationship problem. And that's not right. It's a sad situation that nobody checked on them and their bodies lay there for so long. That's a bad example of an earthly relationship. That's not right.

Let me give you a good example. When Ping, Tessa, and I would come home from Myanmar or Thailand when we were on the mission field, we would come home and we would stay at the house of Ray and Joanne Cruz. And every night at seven o'clock, I knew it was seven o'clock because Ray would scream at the top of his lungs, usually sitting in his Barcalounger, "I love you, Mom!" And he knew it because Joanne was upstairs on the phone talking to her mother in Boise, Idaho. So we knew it was seven o'clock, every night at seven o'clock they would check in with their mom. That's how it's supposed to be in an earthly relationship. We should not have a problem with our parents here on earth. We should be checking in on them and have a great relationship with them. But how much more we who call ourselves Christians? We shouldn't have a relationship problem with our heavenly Father.

So my prayer tonight is you'll be a growing Christian, a going forward Christian, and a flourishing Christian, and speak often with the Lord. We have an outline, which I hope you have. Every once in a while, there's a psalm that's difficult to outline, and this is one of them because it's interesting that the psalmist, verses one to three, it's a prayer. But then in verses four to six, he talks about the wicked, he just switches subjects. And then in verses seven to eight, he switches back about God. And then in verse nine to ten, he switches back to talking about the wicked. And then he finishes it with the prayer in 11 to 12. So I spent a lot of time trying to perfect this, and I don't know if I ever was actually satisfied with this prayer, but your outline: point one is the psalmist's request, verses one to three; point two, the relationship of God to the wicked in verses four to six; the purpose of the psalmist in verse seven to eight; the rejection of the wicked in nine to ten; and the prayer of the psalmist in verses 11 to 12.

Let's look at point number one, the psalmist's request, verses one to three. And you have five points there, sub-points: prayer, plea, person, period, and promise. Let's start with prayer. He says in verse one, "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning, and give attention to the sound of my cry." Notice, there are three types of prayers right there in verse one. He says words, he says groanings, and he says cry or crying.

First off, he says words, and that's what we pray most often is with words. We express ourself to God by speaking words in the human language. It's just an open dialogue to God. I mentioned the women of CCC who pray last night. It's just a simple prayer. Prayer is not some technological big words expose that some people think it is. It's just simple language like you're talking to God face to face. We speak, God hears, and it says his ear is inclined to us. We don't speak into space. We speak into the ears of God using words. Matthew 6:6 says that when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your heavenly Father who is in secret, and your Father who is in secret will reward you.

The second one is groanings. Now it could be translated meditations or sighing. David is asking God to pay attention to his unspoken words or his groanings of the heart. There are times I'm sure you relate when we just don't know, have the words to express what we want to say to God, yet we're still praying. Example in Romans 8:23: "And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies." We can pour out our thoughts to God. We can groan when we encounter sin and brokenness. We groan when we face bodily sickness, weakness, and death. We groan when relationships are strained or broken, or do we see those who we love are struggling. We ache for an end of pain. We long to be made whole and set free. We're groaning for the day we'll see when we shine in God's glory as he intended.

The third type of prayer is crying. And sometimes we are in such distress that our prayers are just a desperate cry for God: "Help us." Psalm 34:17 says, "The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears them and he delivers them out of all their trouble." A good example would be Hannah. You remember Hannah in 1st Samuel chapter 1. She couldn't have a baby, and the other wife, Peninnah, was making fun of her constantly, mocking her. And she's at the temple, and it says in 1st Samuel 1:10, "She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly." In fact, she was weeping so much that the high priest Eli thought she was drunk and tried to admonish her. So those are three types of prayers.

Let's look at the plea. Okay, notice the words here. In my translation, the ESV, it says "give," we're still in verse 1, "consider," and "give." If you're using the NASB tonight, it says "listen," "give," "listen." When was the last time you talked to God like that? It's like wrestling with God, like an arm wrestler with God. Three imperatives demanding action from God. This is not a normal prayer, but an urgent, serious prayer in an attempt to gain a hearing with God Almighty. It carries the same idea as the persistent widow in Luke 18 that was banging on the door of the unjust judge again and again. The point here is that we are to be persistent in prayer, even if for reasons unknown to us, the answer from God is delayed. God will not refuse to act forever. God hears our prayers, and you notice in verses the first three verses we have the use of the word "my" five times.

My favorite verse in all the Bible about prayer, and what I often use is Hebrews chapter 4, verses 15 to 16, and that says, "We do not have a high priest," that's Jesus Christ, "who is unable to sympathize us with our weaknesses." Jesus knows what we've walked because he's walking our shoes. He knows our sorrows, our heartaches, our troubles. It continues saying, "But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." And in verse 16 of Hebrews 4 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need." The veil was torn from top to bottom. We have direct access to God. We'll never be put on hold. There's no answering machine in heaven. It's just a wonderful, wonderful verse.

The third thing is the person. And this is really important. He says, "For to you do I pray," the last part of verse 2, "my king and my God, for to you do I pray." Who's the you? Well, we know it's Yahweh. Five times in Psalm 5 we have the use of Yahweh, and Lance talked about it, I think last Sunday. It's used 6,519 times in the Old Testament. The first time was in Genesis when the day the Lord, Lord God made the earth. But here in verse 2, we have an interesting saying. Yahweh is also called "my king" and "my God." We know he's our God, but he uses the word "king" because God rules and God reigns. This is used three times in Psalms, Psalms 5 here, that wonderful chapter in Psalms 84:3, and in Psalms 144:1, 145:1, it just says, "I will extol you, my God and king."

There is only one true God, and he alone is who we are to pray to. There are no verses in the Bible to pray to anyone else except God. You know, we are seeing a very stark increase in Mariology, and that's because the pope, who just recently died, has propagated Mariology. And I've seen online that Catholic theologians are debating, arguing, trying to defend, defend the veneration of the worship of Mary. In fact, as I was driving to work this morning listening to KFI radio, they were taking a poll about which of the patron saints that you pray to. And people were calling in saying, "Oh, Francis of Assisi," or "Apostle Paul." So do the Catholics worship Mary? Well, I've got eight questions for our Catholic friends, and I didn't write this, but I got it from another commentator.

Catholics, they sing hymns to Mary, and Luke chapter 4, verse 8 says that we are to worship the Lord our God and him only. Number two, they still believe she's a virgin, and yet my Bible in Matthew 13:55 tells us clearly that Mary had other children. They bow down and kiss her statues. Jonah 2:8 warns against paying any regard to other idols. And they pray to her and ask for intercession, and 1st Timothy 2:5 says there is one God and one mediator between God and man, and that mediator is Christ Jesus. They believe she is sinless. Number six, Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They call her the Queen of the Universe, and Luke 1:47, Mary herself speaks, says that "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior." They believe that she converts sinners, and Acts 4:12 says salvation is found in no one else. There is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved. And lastly, they believe she hears their prayers, and Deuteronomy 18:11 says that we are not to inquire of the dead.

So do Catholics worship Mary? Yes, they do, and they need to stop. And those prayers that Catholics are praying are not being answered because God is a king and he's the one true God, and they're not praying to him if they're praying to Mary.

Let's look at the period, sub-point number D. Okay, it says, "In the morning you hear my voice; in the morning," so you've got that repeated phrase, which carries the idea that as soon as it's morning and every morning, the psalmist has a morning quiet time with God, and I hope that you do. I've used that illustration before, one missionary once said, "No Bible, no breakfast." I personally like my coffee and my mug and my Bible. But one author said, "A resolution to give God the fittest time of the day for devotional approach when the body is rested and the brain untired, when the outlook is fresh and the world has not yet been pressed in on the innermost life." And J.C. Ryle said that we need to speak to God in the morning before you speak to the world, and then you need to speak to God at night after you've been in the world. And I love that quote. So every one of us needs to get up in the morning and have a time with the Lord because you're going to go out and face the enemies of the world, and we need to be prayed up with the full armor of God.

And number five sub-point, we have the promise. David ends with verse three saying, "I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch." The prayer has an expectant spirit. This means the psalmist was praying in faith. He laid his request before God and expects God to answer. Now the answer might be yes, the answer might be no, the answer might be wait, but the word "watch" here has a sense of looking with eager expectation. David has the confidence that his prayer has gone in the very throne room of God, and he waits in expectation for God to answer it. God's character is unchanging, unwavering, unshifting, unshakable. So Psalm 5 gives us confidence that God will answer our prayers, and we are to eagerly watch how the Lord will answer those prayers, and when he does, offer him a sacrifice of praise.

So I hope that when you pray, I hope that you pray with an open Bible. Okay, when you read your Bible, it ought to cause you to pray, including the Psalms. When you read a chapter, what does it say about God? And what do I learn about reading today? And then you pray. Are there any attributes mentioned? If you look at Psalm 86:5, it talks about grace and mercy and truth. Is there a sin mentioned that we need to confess? Does the passage mention kings or rulers or leaders? Every time I get one of those passages, I know I need to pray for the current president and the current vice president. Is there a command you obey? And I could go on and on and on. But as you read your Bible, the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray for certain people, certain individuals. Bible reading and prayer go together. Don't rush it. Sit quietly and patiently for the Lord.

Some of you may say, "Well, you only have one child. I have two, three, four, five, and I have work." But you all have probably heard of the example of Susannah Wesley. Let me read just a little bit about her life. Early in her life, Susannah Wesley vowed that she would never spend more time in leisure entertainment than she did in prayer and Bible study. Even amidst the most complex and busy years of her life as a mother, now she had 19 children, I believe that eight of them died, so at some point, I know when she died, nine of them were still alive. So she has somewhere between nine and eleven children. She still scheduled two hours a day for fellowship with God and time in his Word, and she adhered to that schedule faithfully.

The challenge for her was finding a place of privacy in a house filled overflowing with children. Well, the challenge, I'm sorry, Mother Wesley's solution to that was to bring her Bible to her favorite chair, and she would throw her apron over her long head, forming sort of a tent. This became something akin to the tent of meeting that you'd have in the Old Testament tabernacle. But every kid, every person in the household knew, including the domestic helpers, and the children knew well to respect this signal that when mom put her apron over her head, she was studying the Bible, she was praying, and that she was not to be disturbed except if there was an emergency. There was privacy in her little tent. She interceded for her husband and children, and she plumbed the deep mysteries of God in the Scriptures. This holy discipline equipped her with a thorough and profound knowledge of God.

And you probably know that two of her boys changed the world. Charles would write over 6,000 hymns, Charles Wesley, and John Wesley would be the father of Methodism. So she was a great example to her children, and I hope you parents are examples to your children. I think one reason we see a decline in prayer is because parents aren't modeling and aren't teaching it to their children today.

Let's move on to paragraph two, the relationship of God to the wicked, verses four to six. We now go from the God who hears our prayers in verses one to three to the relationship of God to the wicked in verses four to six. Now in paragraph two, verses four to six, David says "you," "you," three times, speaking of God and his relationship to the wicked. David's going to reflect on the sinfulness of man and the fact that God will not hear the prayers of the ungodly. So we have five sub-points there.

Types of sin. You know, we constantly need to be reminded how God views sin, and David helps us here. I think there's seven different words for sin. He says in verse four, "wickedness." In another part of verse four, he says "evil." In verse five, he says "the boastful" or maybe your Bible says "arrogant," and then he also says "evildoers" in verse five. In verse six, he says "those who speak lies." And the last part of verse six, he says "bloodthirsty and deceitful men," different kinds of sins he mentions.

How does God view those sins? Well, number one, he says in verse four, God does not delight in or take pleasure in wickedness. God is repulsed by the evil wherever he sees it, and we need to be repulsed by it also. Number two, God doesn't allow evil to dwell in his presence. The word "dwell" there in verse four means to sojourn or visit. It's a picture of a wandering traveler passing through and living in a tent. And God is so incompatible with sin that he won't even, the most temporary coexistence is utterly impossible. And you all know the verse of Habakkuk 1:13, "You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong."

Number three, God doesn't allow the boastful to stand before him. In 1st Peter 5:5, it says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." You would think of the in the parable of the the Pharisee. He talks, and I think I counted 35 words. And yet the tax collector only says seven words: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." He was, the tax collector was humble. The Pharisee was so proud, his prayer only went to the roof of the temple.

Number four, God hates all evildoers. The new Legacy Standard Bible, some of you have, the new translation says "workers of iniquity." You've heard the false statement, "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." That's wrong. This evildoers in the psalm are people who sin as a way of life. They're workers of iniquity. They're working at sin every day.

And number five, God destroys those who tell lies in verse six. Do you remember that wonderful chapter in Isaiah 6? We won't turn there tonight. I'm sure you're familiar with it, when Isaiah saw God in his glory sitting on the throne. Remember in verse 5, Isaiah cried out, "Woe to me! For I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." So when the most righteous man in all of Israel saw God on the throne, he was immediately aware of the uncleanliness of his lips and the fellow Israelites. How serious is God about hating lies? Revelation 22:15 says that those who practice lies will be kept out of heaven.

And lastly, number six, God abhors wickedness. That word "abhors" means to loathe. You have a repugnance of sin. It's because many states have abolished the death penalty. I think the last time the death penalty was actually exercised in our state of California was 2006. So we tend to forget how much God hates the bloodshed. The fifth commandment is, "Thou shalt not kill." And Numbers 35:31 says the penalty for murder is death. But notice also how the words grow in intensity. It says "does not take pleasure," "hates," "destroys," and "abhors." You see this list and they grow and increasingly God hates it. We see the holiness of God and we see his hatred of sin.

These thoughts are not just born out of a deep sense of sinfulness of sin. Our world today does not speak enough of sin and its consequences. So the world, the church, pastors often soften the message and it's compromised. I wrote this down a long time ago, and I don't know the message, but it's from Pastor Lance. And he told us that sin is Satanic, 1st John 3:8. Sin is lawlessness, 1st John 3:4. Sin is a passing pleasure, Hebrews 11:25. Sin is deceitful, Hebrews 3:13. Sin entangles, Hebrews 12:1. Sin enslaves, John 8:34. Sin stings, 1st Corinthians 15:56. Sin kills, Romans 5:12. And sin damns, 1st Corinthians 6:9.

It was Paul Washer who said, "The mark of a true believer is not sinless perfection, but a new repugnance for sin, a greater sensitivity to sin, a vehement zeal to fight against sin, and a humble contrition because of sin, and lastly, a willingness to confess sin."

And lastly, C, God has no pleasure in wickedness. He says, "For you're not a God who delights in wickedness." You know, the gods of the nations, the Egyptian gods, the Roman gods, the Greek gods, they had gods who delighted in blood and lust and sinful practices. These gods in Greece and Rome and Egypt found all kinds of pleasure in sinful practice with their gods. Not so the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1st John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in him there is no darkness." Jesus wept over the sins of Jerusalem in Luke 19, verse 41. The Holy Spirit is grieved over sins in Ephesians 4:30. And God the Father was sorry that he made mankind. He says, "I regret that I have made mankind" in Genesis 6, verse 7.

It was C.S. Lewis who said, "We don't hate sin enough to get upset at the wickedness and the godlessness around us." We're bombarded, as we are, by so much evil and violence. We've gotten accustomed to the darkness.

Next, God does not tolerate wickedness. He says, "Evil may not dwell with you." God cannot dwell, cannot, and cannot tolerate it. Twice in our Bible, in Isaiah 6 and Revelation, the angels say, "Holy, holy, holy. The whole earth, the holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." Evil can't dwell with God, and the same should be true in our personal and spiritual lives. That's why it's impossible for a genuine believer to continue in an ongoing lifestyle of sin. 1st John 3:9 says, "No one born of God makes it a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God." It was Spurgeon who said, "Rest assured, Christ will not live in the parlor of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts."

Next, and lastly, fourthly, God hates wickedness. Okay, he says, "The boastful can't stand before your eyes, you hate all evildoers." Here we see condemnation of all who speak lightly or tolerate sin. You know, we see it in evangelical circles today. It's called antinomianism, law versus grace. We see it in the Catholic Church where they divide venial sins and mortal sins. And we see it in today's church in the United States, it just has no general hatred of sin.

So in verses one to three, David's prayer went into the very throne room of God. But in verses four to six, the prayers of the wicked are not. There's a lot of people praying. You know, every day there's a tragedy, and if you go on social media, everybody will put out there, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you." Who's praying? Because God is not listening to a lot of those prayers. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." Proverbs 15:29 says, "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous." And in John 9, interesting, the blind man is healed, and they're grilling him, and they're asking him about it, and he says in verse 31, "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."

And of course, Isaiah 59, verses 1 to 2, you probably heard this: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear." That tells us God can hear. God can hear every prayer if he wants to of all 8 billion people on the earth if he wants to. But verse 2 says, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear." Isaiah says God's ear can hear because he's omniscient. He knows they're praying. The problem is the wickedness of the one praying. Because of that wickedness, God does not hear their prayer. What this means is God is not going to listen to any of those who flout his law.

Now you might ask, "There is one prayer of a wicked person can pray that God will listen to, and that's the prayer of repentance." We have a great example in 1st Kings chapter 21, verses 17 to 29, of the wicked king Ahab. You remember him? Absolutely wicked king. But when the prophet comes to him and he hears the words of judgment, Ahab repents and puts sackcloth on. The Lord sees your repentance and declares that his judgment will not fall on Ahab, but Ahab's descendants. So you also could consider the Ninevites in Jonah who repented, and God relented from the disaster that he was going to bring. God knows and hears all things, but only the prayer of the wicked which God will hear is a prayer of genuine repentance.

Now some of you might feel tonight that God isn't answering your prayers. You need to examine yourself to see if you're in the faith, 2nd Corinthians 13:5. And you need to confess your sins. 1st John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let's move on to point number three. We got to move quickly. So we saw in verses one to three, the word "my" five times. In verses four to six, we saw the word "you" three times. And now here in verses seven to eight, we're going to see the pronoun "I" three times, giving the purpose of the psalmist. David says four things about God who hears our prayer.

First off, he talks about God's mercy in verse seven. He says, "But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house." The NASB says "graciousness," the New King James Bible says "mercy." And I like the mercy translation best. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Sinners can find acceptance with God who hears our prayers if they come to him when they repent and believe, as David had. Only because of God's abundant mercy are we saved, and it leads us to enter God's house, as the verse says. It's by the mercy of God alone that any human can approach God. The tax collector, as I mentioned before, in Luke 18 knew this when he cried out, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

Because we have God's mercy, and if you have his salvation, it ought to cause you to fear God. I think in Psalms I see the words about fearing God 19 times, and then in the book of Proverbs I see verses about fearing God 19 times. And I know Lance has written a book, you can buy that book in the tape library if you want, about fearing the Lord. We give that out of the new members' class. But I recently got an article from Virgil Walker, one man I follow on social media, and let me just read you what he talks about the fear of the Lord.

First off, he says, "Many Christians today are missing one thing: the fear of the Lord. Why have we lost it? And why does its absence weaken the church? Many think the fear of God is outdated. Some say God is love, we shouldn't fear him. Others assume that it's just an Old Testament thing. But the Bible teaches us that godly fear is essential to faith, and those without it really don't know him."

Number two, he said, "What the fear of the Lord is not. It's not a cringing terror that drives us away from God. It's not a servile fear like that of a beaten slave. It's not an Old Testament concept that's been replaced by grace. Instead, it's deep reverence, a trembling joy before a holy God." He says, "A low view of God leads to a low life."

Number three, he says, "The fear of the Lord is in two categories. Number one, there's a sinful fear, like Adam in the garden hiding from God, or the demons trembling in James 2. Number two, it's a holy fear, like Isaiah before God's throne, which I mentioned in Isaiah 6, or the disciples after Jesus calmed the storm in Mark chapter 4. We believers are called to fear the second way, a holy fear before God's throne and look at Jesus, not the sinful fear like Adam in the garden."

Number four, and I'd never heard this before, "Jesus feared the Lord. That's right. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 2, you look it up, it prophesied that the Messiah would be filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. So if Jesus feared the Father, why don't we?"

Number five, "What happens when we don't fear the Lord? We have casual worship. We have apathy towards sin. We have a small view of God. We make foolish decisions. Romans 3:18 describes the wicked, it says, 'There is no fear of the Lord before their eyes.' So without the fear of the Lord, Christianity becomes casual, shallow, and powerless."

And number six, he said, "Here's the test to you. Do you fear, really fear the Lord? He says, 'Do you hate sin and its consequences? Do you approach God casually or reverently? Do you obey quickly and joyfully? Does God's holiness move you to worship?' If these aren't true of you, ask God to give you a holy fear."

So David had a holy fear of God, and we should. And number C, God's righteousness in verse eight. He says, "Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies." You know, we've gone verse one to seven is actually preparing us. This is the first actual petition in the psalm: "Lead me." It's the first imperative in the psalm. So he, and David, what is the petition? That God would lead him not in David's own righteousness, which he knows is worthless, but in God's righteousness. And lastly, if he's following God in God's righteousness, he will follow God. He says at the last part of verse eight, "Make your way straight before me."

Because of God's mercy, we fear God. Because of his righteousness, we follow God. Here we have a prayer of the righteous man. He appeals to the faithfulness of God. He wants to be led by God in God's righteousness, which means according to your faithfulness to those who trust in you. If God should fail him, it would give occasion for his enemies to mock and blaspheme God. But God would never fail David, and that would never happen. Psalm 119:105, I'm sure your children know this, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

Let's look at the last, I'm sorry, the fourth paragraph, the rejection of the wicked. So once again, David's going to go back to talking about the wicked in these two verses. Two things there: God's enemies are wicked, and God's enemies are cursed. Earlier in verse 6, David described the wicked as those who told lies. Now here in verse 10, he describes them in terms of their wicked speech. The words wicked cannot be trusted. Their words are destructive, and those who follow them will perish. Does this verse sound familiar? Probably does, because it's from Romans. Apostle Paul will quote this in Romans chapter 3, that paragraph, verses 10 to 18, where he gives the summary of the great sins of the human race. So Paul got part of that from Psalm 5, verse 9. God's enemies are wicked.

He also says God's enemies are cursed. Here we have the first imprecatory verse in the book of Psalms. Got to the fifth psalm before we have imprecatory verse. You may remember last year we looked at Psalm 58, and Psalm 58 is an entire psalm dealing with imprecatory prayers. And they're easy to spot when you read the Psalms. You see here, "Let them fall by their own counsel." He's calling out to God to judge the wicked. It's a prayer asking God's just judgment on the wicked. The New NIV says, "Let their intrigues be their downfall." You know, prayers like this present a problem for a lot of people. I hope that if you don't understand imprecatory prayers, you'll get the message on Psalm 58.

And God is concerned about those who rebel, Psalm 2. And David's request is for God's condemnation of their sin and that they can't justify their sinful behavior. You know, I mentioned that I pray every day that God would destroy Hamas. Not that Israel is righteous, Israel is not, it's a time of the Gentiles. But I pray that God would destroy Hamas. And I also pray that God would destroy the five generals in Myanmar who slaughter and destroy, kill people every day. I'm not going to partake of it, but I ask God, "If it be your will, to do it." That's an imprecatory prayer, and that's what God is praying here, that David's enemies would be destroyed.

Let's move to the last paragraph. And this is the final stanza of our psalm, and with almost every psalm, with the exception of Psalm 88, all the psalms have a joyous ending or a praise or some adoration at the ending. And two things: God is our joy, and God is our shield. This is the first of 70 references in Psalms to singing. And why is David singing? Well, joy is expressed by shouting and singing, and he's doing that because he knows God will hear his prayer. God will answer his prayer. John 16:24 says, "Until now you have asked for nothing. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." Philippians 1:4 says, Paul says, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy." There's joy in prayer. There's great joy when we finish praying. We say "Amen," knowing that you've given God your problems, your trials, your sufferings, your anxieties. It's like saying, "Here, God, take it," and there's joy.

You know, many years ago when Christ Community Church was just starting, we had a brother named Omar here, and he taught the first prayer class at Christ Community Church. And he gave us a prayer chart, and if you took Gil's class last November, you might have got this chart. You're welcome to come up and get a copy later. But Omar passed that chart out, and it's just a chart where you pray for 12 different things, five minutes for 12 different things, in a circle. And I took that to India, and I didn't have a wife, I didn't have a kid, I didn't have anything to do because I was waiting for my Indian pastor to come, so I was trying to learn the language, so I would pray one hour every morning. That was the most blessed, joyful time of my life. I was praying for a wife. God answered that prayer quickly. But you never felt so close, the more time you pray in prayer, there's joy. I never felt so close to God. But today we get busy, but that's just one example if you want to look at it. But it was a joyful time. Do you finish your prayer time with joy? I hope you do. David did.

And then lastly here, he says, "God is our shield." God is our shield. "For you bless the righteous, O Lord, you cover him as a favor with your shield." Unlike the wicked, who God does not hear their prayer, God does hear the prayer of the righteous. And he gives us mercy and his righteousness when he saved us. When we pray, if we do it right, we should feel joy. And one of the reasons we should feel joy, as David has said here, is that God is our shield. God is our shield is mentioned 18 times in the Psalms. Psalm 3:3 says, "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head."

You know, I was reading my Old Testament reading this morning, and I was in 1st Samuel 23, and David is running here, David is running there, Saul is coming after him, Saul is chasing him here. David asked if the men of Keilah would give him up, and David inquires of the Lord, and the Lord says, "They'll give you up." So Dave is running everywhere. But then you get to verse 14, and it says, "David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and you remain in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day." And then it says, "But God did not give him into his hand." And I love that. God is a shield about David, and God is a shield about us. James Boice says, "God puts his shield of protection around the righteous. Therefore, the righteous put their trust in him."

You know, at the bottom of your outline, there's a model of prayer. We teach this in our Fundamentals of Faith class, Gil teaches us in our prayer class, and I've been teaching it. My wife is teaching it to the women in Thailand. It's, and maybe it's very simple for you, but this is just a model, and there's many different models of prayer. You have the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6. There's all kinds of prayer models out there. There's all kinds of books about prayer. But if you're not familiar with this, just revise it tonight or retell it tonight.

A stands for adoration. Do you begin your prayers with some adoration? Or do you begin your prayers with, "God, I need this," or "God, help me with this"? We need to spend some time in adoration, praising God, and the easiest way is for his attributes. I mentioned Psalm 86:5. I think Psalm 86:15, at least there's five attributes. So when I see verses about God's wrath, God's justice, God's omniscience, God's mercy, God's grace, it's easy to give God adoration for those attributes. But we should begin our prayer with adoration, just a few minutes.

Secondly, confession. We mentioned 1st John 1:9. We need to admit to God our sins when you be honest and humble and confess those sins before God.

And thirdly, thanksgiving. We need to tell God how grateful you are for everything, even in times of difficulty and trouble.

And lastly, supplication. This should be the last one. Unfortunately, this is what we spend most of our time doing. We make specific requests. And you know, if you just, if in your prayer time, just think of the people in Christ Community Church, the widows, those who've undergone chemotherapy, those who are going to have operations. Pastor Lance is going to have an operation on his hip, he's going to have his hip replaced on May 23rd. So you guys need to start praying, okay? May 23rd for that. But things like that, you just go through the congregation.

A couple weeks ago, I didn't have a Sunday school class to teach, so I went to the library first service where we have a team praying, and you're welcome to come. They pray in the library first service, they pray in the library second service. So I went to the library to pray. And Dave Chopra was leading it, and he handed all of us a sticky note or a cue card, and I got four names of four people in the church to pray for, and then everybody got four names. So I prayed for the four people, and I thought that was great. There's just so much and so many people and so many things we can pray for, and I could go on and on and on about that.

John Wesley said, "Give me 100 men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth." This quote tells us that there's power in just a few dedicated people. Just a few dedicated prayer warriors of Christ Community Church can do great works. Christ Community Church is not a big church. I'm guessing there's about a hundred people here tonight. On Sundays, you know, three to four hundred. But may God look down upon this church and hear the prayers of the prayer warriors. And with much prayer, there's much power, as David says in Psalm 5.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for letting us look briefly at Psalm 5. And Father, I pray that the people of Christ Community Church, they don't have to come to the library and pray, they don't have to come Wednesday nights at 6:30. They can pray in their quiet time in their morning. But Father, may you see Christ Community Church as a powerful, prayerful church. And Father, may you fill our pews with people, fill our people with knowledge. May you help us reach the lost here in West Covina, Baldwin Park, and Irwindale. May you help us to strengthen families and for children to obey their parents. Use this church in a mighty way, and we all know it begins with prayer. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.