A Study in Psalms - Psalm 86

Good evening. I want to welcome you back to

our 7th Psalm this summer that we're looking at.

You turn to Psalm 86 tonight, Psalm 86.

I have a couple of announcements.

We have a church wide potluck on June 29th.

If you haven't signed up, but I know there's over 100 people

that have signed up, please sign up as soon as possible because

they got to order, they got to know how much chicken to order.

So they want you to order, sign up tonight or Sunday so they can

get the order in for that. VBS starts next Tuesday.

So if your kids or grandkids haven't signed up, please get

them signed up. And Rodger Flores will be

teaching a class on Wednesday night, July 2nd on how to defend

the faith. You can sign up for that in the

lobby too. So we just sang, I think the

greatest hymn ever recorded ever sung, Amazing Grace.

And I think you know about the writer of it, John Newton, that

he was a slave trader and I could talk a lot about his life,

but he, you know, he was a slave trader.

And in 191754 after becoming violently I'll on a sea voyage,

he abandoned his life as a slave trader and he devoted his life

to God's service. He was ordained as a Anglican

priest in the year 1764 and he became quite a popular preacher

and hymn writer. I'm told he wrote over 280 hymns

and among them the great one, Amazing Grace.

But I'm going to give you 8 things about the hymn Amazing

Grace you might not know. OK, I didn't.

I just got this from an author here and he mentions 8 things

you didn't know about this great hymn.

Amazing Grace #1 The Library of Congress has a collection of

over 3000 recordings of Amazing Grace.

These recordings are made on vinyl, cassette tape, CDs and

other media between 1930 and the present time.

This collection includes every imaginable genre of classical

music, to country, to gospel, to rap to world music #2 One of the

six verses. I'm sorry, one of the verses of

Amazing Grace was actually stolen.

The original version of Amazing Grace had 6 verses, but in 1910,

an enterprising hymn book publisher named Edwin Othello

Exel replaced the last three verses with the one that we just

finished. When we've been there 10,000

years, right? Shining as a sun.

He took that from a hymn called Jerusalem Our Happy Home, which

apparently had over 70 verses, so he probably thought nobody

would notice it if he borrowed that.

That last verse for Amazing Grace and #3 Plain Amazing Grace

on bagpipes is a recent innovation.

When I die, Tim's responsibility will be to my funeral here, my

celebration service. Tim will have to find a bagpiper

to play Amazing Grace at my funeral, but apparently that's

very new. It was only in 1972 that the

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards record an Amazing Grace on

bagpipes, and that version charted on the Billboard top for

4:40 for eight weeks. The original title wasn't

Amazing Grace number four. The first title was called

Faith's Review and Expectation, and it was written for a new New

Year's Day sermon. And then #5 we don't know the

original tune to Amazing Grace because I'm not a musician, but

there were, there were different hymn books, tune books, and they

would mix and match different songs.

So they've gone back in the archives and apparently some of

the tunes are very different than what we have.

And number six, Amazing Grace became a very popular African

American spiritual. Though interesting, it was

written by a former slave trader.

Amazing Grace has long been cherished by African American

churches as a black gospel song and there have been powerful

performances by different people over the year, including Aretha

Franklin, Whitney Phillips and many others.

Yet the words were written by a former slave ship captain named

John Newton, 2 decades after he left the slave trade when he was

an Anglican minister in the English Midlands.

He would later move to London and he would make a.

Key. Contribution to abolish the

slave trade in England, Whitney Phillips said.

I believe God wanted that song written just the way it was

written so that we would be reminded that as a Christian,

whether black or white, we are connected by God's.

Amazing. Grace and #7 which was

interesting to me. Amazing Grace is actually a

paraphrase of the words of King David.

When John Newton wrote The Amazing Grace, he wrote it to

accompany a sermon on New Year's Day. 1773 and the text of that

sermon was first Chronicles chapter 17 verses 16 and 17 and

1 Chronicles 17:16

that's the passage where Nathan goes to David and tells David

that God's promise that you will have a son to sit on your throne

forever. So David went before the Lord

and he said who am IO Lord God and what is my house that that

was brought me here through. In other words, David's

responding Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a

Wretch like me. He was a murderous, adulterous

king who had found mercy and forgiveness.

And now God promised he would extend his grace through David's

descendants. That grace ultimately would be

fulfilled in Jesus Christ as the greater Son of David.

And lastly and #8 Amazing Grace is a spiritual practice.

When John Newton wrote to him, he was part of his regular

practice of self examination. He would pause at key moments to

consider his sins and God's mercies in the past and make

confession and receive forgiveness in the present, he

wrote in his diary on January 1773.

I am now in the 49th year of my age and may expect in the course

of a few years at most to go, whence I shall no more return.

May Thy grace keep me always waiting to lab point, and change

shall come. Let's read Psalm 86 tonight.

We have a superscription that says a prayer of David.

There's one other Psalm, Psalm 17, that has the same

superscription, 2 psalms that are called a Prayer of David.

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and

needy. Preserve my life, for I am

godly. Save your servant who trusts in

you. You are my God.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for You do I cry all the day.

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do

I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and

forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call

upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer.

Listen to my plea for grace in the day of my trouble.

I call upon you for you. Answer me.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any

works like yours. All the nations you have made

shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify

Your name, for You are great and do wondrous things, You alone

our God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that

I may walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your

name. I give thanks to You, O Lord my

God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name forever,

for great is your steadfast love toward me.

You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol, O God.

Insolent men have risen up against me.

A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not see You

before them. But you, O Lord, are a God,

merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast

love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to

me. Give your strength to your

servant and save the son of your maidservant.

Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see

and be put to shame, because you, O Lord, have helped me and

comforted me. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you tonight that we can read this great

Psalm. Father, You are gracious and you

are compassionate and you are loving.

And I pray that everybody here tonight would have saving faith,

saving faith that they'd have Jesus Christ in their heart.

And may we learn more about David's Psalm tonight.

May we leave here tonight being thankful for grace and being

ready to tell people about grace in Jesus name, Amen.

I said that we had a superscription, and I mentioned

that one other Psalm, Psalm 17, calls it a prayer of David.

And this Psalm is found in Book 3.

There's five books in the book of Psalms, and book 3 consists

of only 17 psalms. And this is the only one in Book

3 by David. So one commentator called it the

lonely prayer of David, the type of Psalm.

It's a lament. And I know what some of you are

thinking. Oh no, another lament.

Seems like every Psalm we do as a lament.

Well, most of the Psalms are laments, right?

But I think you're going to see tonight that this is a lot

different than just a normal lament.

So I'll, I'll wait and you can see it in just a few minutes.

You have three points tonight. I hope you have an outline.

David's appeal, OK, David's adoration and David's

adversaries. And we'll start with David's

appeal versus one to seven. David's going to make an appeal

to God. Now David's in trouble, but we

don't know why until much, much later in the Psalm.

So he's going to say 4 things here.

Grant my prayer, guard my life, gladden my soul, and give me

assurance. So First off, he says grant my

prayer in verse 1. And I want you to notice a few

things here. First off, when we read this

Psalm, you might not notice it right away 'cause you'd have to

read it in Hebrew. But the names of God, the names

of God. In Psalms 86, Yahweh is

mentioned four times in verses 1/6, 11, and 17.

Yahweh is God, our Savior, God our Redeemer.

Then the name for God, Elohim is mentioned four times in verse 2,

verse 10, verse 12, and verse 14.

And Elohim means God is the creator, the sustainer, the

provider. And then in verse 15, we have

the name for God L, which is just a generic name for God.

But then we have the the name of God Adonai 7 times in verse

3458912 and 15. And Adonai means God is the

master, the owner. And then if you look at like

verse 9, it says in verse 9 the name he says and you shall

glorify your name. And that says that three times

in verse 9, verse 11. And verse 12 and then you have

the emphatic second person pronoun you 16 times.

So if you added up all those, God's name is mentioned at least

35 times in 17 verses. So the point is that the

psalmist focuses more on God than his problem and the prayer

that we think it is. But notice the names in English

he says, oh Lord, that's Yahweh. He says in verse 20, you my God.

He then says, oh Lord, in verse 3 that's Adonai.

And then he says oh God in verse 10, that's Elohim.

And then he says, oh Lord my God.

So the way he uses the names of God.

The second thing I want you to notice is that the name that

David uses for himself. He uses a lot of different names

for God, but in verses. 2, 4 and 16 he calls himself a servant

verse two save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God. Now a better translation would

be slave. That new translation, the legacy

standard Bible, which I mentioned a lot, uses the change

the name of servant in all the New Testament passages to slave,

John MacArthur says. You know, a servant can quit, a

servant can walk away and get a new master, but a slave cannot

quit. David is a slave of God as we

are slaves of Jesus Christ. So it's interesting how David

calls himself a slave in contrast to God.

And then I want to mention David's statement in verse 2.

He says, for I am godly. When you first read that, it may

sound like a prideful statement, but it's not.

There are translations that say I am holy.

I think the new living translation says I am devoted to

you, but this is not a prideful statement.

It's a declaration that David is the son of the covenant.

He belongs entirely to the Lord. David is pleading for help on

the basis of the covenant relationship with the Lord.

And we kind of do the same when we say in Jesus name, I pray.

So it's not a prideful statement.

And then the fourth thing I want you to notice in this Psalm, and

we'll go through them, the imperatives.

What's an imperative? Well, it's a command, it's an

exhortation, it's an entreaty. And in this Psalm there are 15

of them. So David is going to give 15

commands to God, 15 entreaties to God in 17 verses.

So David knows the names of God and he knows the attributes of

God which we'll look later, and he can command, ask, cry, or beg

God for certain. Things.

So he says incline your ear. That's the first imperative.

Incline your ear 15 times in Psalms we see this words incline

your ear. It's anthropomorphism because

God doesn't actually have an ear.

It's figurative language. God is omnipresent.

He doesn't need to incline his ear.

He he hears every word of every human in the whole world.

One example, Psalm 17 six says I call upon you for you will

answer me. Oh God, incline your.

Ear to hear my words. The second imperative follows

immediately in verse one and it says, answer me.

That's the second imperative. I looked in the Psalms and I

found at least 20 times the psalmist cries out, Answer me.

Psalms 13 says Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God, light

up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.

Interesting, He says in verse one, answer me.

And if you go to verse 7, he says in the day of trouble, I

call upon you for you. Answer me, then let's look at

some point to guard my life. Verse 2, he says preserve my

life. That's the third imperative.

Some translations say guard my life or protect my life, but the

third imperative is preserve my life.

Again, we don't know what the trouble is and we won't find out

till many verses later. The 4th imperative, he just says

save or save your servant. That's in Psalms over 50 Times

Now the psalmist calls out, you know, to be saved at least 50

times In Psalm 69, one it says save me, O God, for the waters

have come up to my neck. And I've talked about this

before. When we see the word salvation

or save an Old Testament, it's talking about being delivered or

or asking deliverance. You know the Philippian jailer

in Acts chapter 16 verse 30 said what must I do to be saved?

Acts 16:30

That Philippian jailers talking about salvation, but here David

is talking about being saved from some crisis or some war or

some something that's going on the 3rd subpoint.

He says gladden my soul in verses 3 and 4.

And here we have imperative #5 He says, be gracious to me.

And the there are certain translations that some of you

may have that say be merciful to me, but most of the better

translation, the SV, the LSV, the NSV say the word gracious.

And I think that's a better translation because mercy is the

act of withholding deserved punishment, while grace is the

in. The act of endowing unmerited

favor. And David's here is asking God

for unmerited favor. I don't deserve it, God, but

please give me this favor. Help me.

He's crying out. God gives us gifts we don't

deserve, and that's what David's crying out.

So he says here in verse 5, verse 3, be gracious to me and

He'll say it again in verse 16, be gracious to me.

And then in verse 6, He asked for grace in my translation.

And then he mentions verse 15, grace.

So four times in this Psalm we have grace, and that's why I

title it the Psalm. Of grace tonight when you look

through the the Psalms many times, he says in Psalm 62, be

gracious to me, O Yahweh, for I am pining away.

Psalms 913 be gracious to me, O Yahweh, see my affliction.

Psalms 2516 turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone

and afflicted. Psalm 31 Nine be gracious to me,

O Yahweh, for I am in distress. Psalms 56 One be gracious to me,

O God, for man has trampled on me.

So anytime that you feel you're pining away, your suffering

afflictions, your lone, you're in distress or being trampled

on, you can do what David did and cry out.

Be gracious to me, God. Then we have the 6th imperative

gladdened my soul or gladdened the soul of your servant and

there's four. And the NSP says make the soul

of your servant be joyful instead of.

Literally saying make me happy, make me joyful.

God in the middle of a crisis of some type.

You know, the heart of the Psalm is that God would be gracious to

the Psalm. And David knew well the promises

of God, the verses here, verses 1 and 2, they would go back to

Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 to 27, where God spoke to Moses and

Numbers 6:24–27

he said, speak to Aaron and his son, saying, thus she shall

bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord

bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine

upon you, and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will

bless them. That's what David is is

referring back to. And then subpoint #4 give me

assurance in verses 5 and 7. And here he he says.

For you, O Lord, our good and forgiving about and steadfast

love to all who call upon you. This is the Old Testament

equivalent of Romans 1013. Romans 10/13 says For everyone

who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Verse 5 is one of the most beautiful verses in in Psalms 86

and even the Bible because God is described in triplet.

Here he's described as good, ready to forgive, and abundant

in steadfast love. And then he says in verse 6

imperative #7 give ear. So in verse 1, he asked God to

incline his ear, and here in verse 6, he says give ear.

And then David's going to say, listen to my plea for grace.

So imperative #8 is listen now God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent. He knows all things.

But David wants assurance of God answering prayer.

And that's why he keeps repeating those.

You know, a few weeks ago or last month, we looked at Psalms

5 and Lord willing, you learn something about prayer.

But I think tonight David has a very important lesson for us.

And James Boyce, one of my favorite authors on the Psalms,

points out something that Charles Spurgeon pointed out.

And that's when we pray to God we should use arguments.

Now you're wondering, what do you mean arguments?

Well, maybe the word appeal is better.

But if Spurgeon uses arguments, I think we can use arguments.

We can we can express to God the reason why he should answer our

prayers. This isn't for God's benefit,

but it's for ours. You know, if we can't think of

reasons for God to answer our prayers, it's probably the case

that our reasons for asking are wrong and need to be revised.

Like we may say God I need a new car, or God, I need a new job

and you leave it at that. But what are the reasons you're

asking for that? We'll notice in Psalms 86 what

David does 8 times. He's going to use the word for

it's preposition and eight times David answers his prayers by

giving sound arguments to God. Why you should answer my prayer.

They're really easy to find. You just got to look for the

word for it's a preposition, which means because so 8 times

they're there. So the first four are based upon

David and his need. In verse one, David says, for I

am poor and needy. He's crying out for mercy there

#2 in verse 2 he says, for I am godly.

David's saying, you know I'm devoted to you.

I'm a child of yours, God. In verse three he says, for to

you do I cry all the day? David's crying out to the God

who answers prayer. And then in verse four he says,

for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul?

He's crying out to the one true God, the only God who can answer

his prayers. So there's four reasons based

upon his knee. Then secondly, there are four

reasons based upon God and God's character.

In verse 7 he says, for you answer me.

It reminds me of James 516. The prayer of a righteous man is

powerful and effective prayer works.

And then in verse 10 he says, for you are great and do

wondrous things. God is constantly doing good

things each and every day. And then verse 13 he says for

great is your steadfast love. You know, I'm a child of God,

I'm saved and I'm redeemed. And then verse 17, my Bible

actually says because but if you want to switch to the word for

same thing because or for you Lord have helped me and comfort

in me. You've helped me in the past.

He's saying help me in the present.

So I hope you look at all those fours and you can understand

what David's doing. You can argue, as Spurgeon says,

with God, don't just give him your prayer request.

Give me a new job, you know, give me a new house.

Give me give them the reason for it and and justify it.

Or maybe you're asking for the wrong thing.

So, you know, can there be any greater gift in the world than

the gift of grace? And is there anybody beyond the

reach of God's grace? I think.

Not somebody on social media put out something and I saw this and

it said the type of people God has used.

Noah was once a drunk. Abraham was an old man.

Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was sometimes a liar.

Leah was not attractive. Joseph had been abused.

Moses stuttered. Gideon was often afraid.

Sampson was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute.

Jeremiah and Timothy were young. David was an adulterous

murderer. Elijah doubted.

Life's value. Isaiah once preached naked.

Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow.

Job went bankrupt. Peter denied Christ three times.

The disciples fell asleep while praying.

Martha worried about everything. Mary Magdalene.

Let's just say she had a bad reputation.

The Samaritan woman had multiple divorces.

Zacchaeus was a small man. Paul persecuted believers.

Timothy had an ulcer. Lazarus was once dead.

Do you think God can use you if he?

Used all those people cannot we say like David said, God be

gracious to me. We go from David's appeal in

verses one to seven to David's adoration in verses 8 to 13

point #2 David's adoration. And you know, you know the

prayer model. We talked about it in Psalms 5.

You can model prayer A for adoration, C for confession, T

for Thanksgiving, S for supplication here and here David

has adoration in the second paragraph of his prayer.

And so we have three points here, The greatness of God, the

guidance of God, and the goodness of God.

So begins in in verses 8 to 10 to talk about the greatness of

God. And the first thing he comes

across is he wants everybody to know that there's only one true

God. He says there is none like you

among the gods. Now, that's small G Those would

be false gods in Exodus 810, which would be the second

plague, the plague of frogs. Moses said to Pharaoh, be as it

you. Say so that you may know that

there is no one like the Lord our God.

Then in Exodus 914, the 7th plague, which was hail, he Moses

said, for this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself

and on your servants and your people, so that you may know

that there is none like me in all the earth.

There's only a one true God. And then he says, O Lord, nor

are there any works like yours. Not only is the only the one

true God, He's the Creator God in Exodus 1511, which was a song

of Moses, they're singing who is like you, O Lord, O Lord among

the gods, small, the false gods, who is like you, majestic and

holiness, awesome, glorious in deeds, doing wonders.

There's no God that can do the wonders and works of God because

they're false gods. And then he says in verse 9, All

the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O

Lord, and they shall glorify your name.

Some commentators have taken this verse 9 that there should

be a messianic Psalm because it points to that great day and

Revelation 9. I think Revelation 79 is one of

my favorite verses of anticipating someday in heaven

when we stand there. It says in Revelation 79.

After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one

could number, from every nation, tribe, people and languages

standing for the throne and before the Lamb.

Clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and

crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who

sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the

elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on

their faces before the throne and worship God, saying Amen,

blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and honor and

power, and might be to our God forever and ever.

Amen. So all the nations someday will

come and bow and worship for the God, all the elect.

And then he says in verse 10, just a summary statement.

For you are great and do wondrous things.

You alone are God. There's no one else.

So he's talking about the greatness of God.

And then he moves on to the guidance of God.

And so now we have another imperative in verse 11.

Teach me your way. You know, we talked about this

in Psalms 27, didn't we? That even though David is is

lamenting about his enemies and seeking deliverance, he still

takes time to pray to God that God will teach him his ways and

give him an undivided heart. You know, let's be honest, most

of our prayer requests we see God immediately to answer some

emergency or need. Seldom do we pray God teach us

when we're praying, right? So David knew his heart was

capable of wandering and you know he would sin grievously

later and he knew he needed to go in God's way.

So if you remember when we talked about Psalm 27, we said

that great Psalm 119 mentions teach us, teach me your statutes

10 times. I won't read them all.

Psalm 1/19/12 says blessed are you, O Yahweh, teach me your

statutes. Psalms 1/19/68 you are good and

do good. Teach me your statutes.

Psalms One 19135 make your face shine upon your slave and teach

me your statutes. Psalms One 19171 Let my lips

pour forth praise for you. Teach me your statutes.

So true biblical wisdom consists of right thinking, join with

right believing, resulting in right living.

I mentioned in one of the messages, I think it was Psalms

27, that AW Tozer had that great quote that Satan's greatest

weapon. Is man's ignorance of the word

of God and you know he says David says in in verse 11 after

he says teach me, O Lord, that I may walk.

In your truth, you know David says says it here and Hezekiah

that great king would say in Second Kings 20, remember Isaiah

went to Hezekiah and says Hezekiah, you're going to die.

Get your house in order. And then Hezekiah would weep

before the Lord, and he would say to say to God, he's saying

Second Kings 20 verse 13. Remember now, O Yahweh, I

2 Kings 20:13

beseech you, how I have walked before you.

In truth. He says exactly what David says.

I walk with a whole heart. I've done what is good in your

sight. And Hezekiah wept greatly so.

He, he, he, he wants. David wants to be taught by God.

He wants to know the truth so he can walk in the truth.

And then we have the 10th imperative here.

Unite my heart to fear your name.

Unite my heart. Unite my heart means I just want

to have an undivided heart that is wholly fixed upon you, God.

And so Proverbs 10, Proverbs 910 says the fear of the Lord is the

beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One is

insight. So Dave is asking to be taught.

He's asking to know the truth, that he would fear God's name.

We know that the Holy Spirit teaches us, helps us on our

daily walk and helps us to fear the Lord.

And let's look at the goodness of God in verses 12 to 13.

David already said for you, O Lord our good in verse 5.

And here he just ends with giving thanks with a whole heart

and glorifying your name forever.

Last week when we finished Psalm 79, we finished by saying that

was ASAP. But ASAP said to give thanks

forever and give praise fervently when we.

Finished Psalm 79, but here in verse 12, David is giving thanks

and glorifying God's name forever.

Why? Well because God showed his love

to David time and time again, rescuing him.

God is so good and worthy of our adoration.

Let's look at point #3 David's adversaries.

And we have 3 sub points here. The arrogant persecute me, the

Almighty protects me and the assurance that God gives me.

So David made an appeal in .1 for God to listen to him, and

then .2 he gave adoration to God yet.

Notice he hasn't actually petitioned God for why he's

praying yet. So he's given 13 verses and he

hasn't actually given the actual prayer request yet.

So that's a really good lesson for us, isn't it?

You know, when we pray, it's usually we go right to the

request. God keep me safe.

I'm driving to church tonight. God, please heal my sister.

God, give me a new job. We, we, we don't give him the

adoration. We don't give him the the what?

David's doing 13 verses. So finally after 13 verses, we

see the reason why David wrote this Psalm.

And he says in verse 14 insolent men have risen up against me.

A band of ruthless men are seeking his life.

You know, we don't know the occasion.

We can assume maybe Saul is chasing him.

We don't know, though. But as with most of David's

Psalms, there's always some enemy somewhere trying to kill

him. And that's because David is

God's chosen servant and Satan will do whatever he will use

Saul. He will use Israel's enemies to

try to kill David or destroy him.

So the arrogant are persecuting him and David has cried out for

help in verse 14. But notice verse 15.

What a contrast. The Almighty will protect me.

What a contrast. Verse 14 speaks of the ungodly.

Well, verse 15 speaks of our great God.

Does this verse sound familiar? But you, O Lord our God,

merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love,

steadfast love and faithfulness. It's a little bit like verse 5,

but this verse is a confession based upon Exodus 34 verse 6,

Exodus 34:6

which is one of the most copied repeated verses in all the

Bible. Exodus 34, verse 6.

Exodus 34:6

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, Now this is God

speaking about himself in Exodus 34, six, the Lord the Lord, a

God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and a bounty in

steadfast love and faithfulness. So it's first said in Exodus 34,

six Nehemiah Chapter 9, verse 17, we'll quote it.

Nehemiah 9:17

And that's a prayer, by the way. Psalms one O 3, verse 8, we'll

quote this verse. Psalms 116, which we'll look at

in a couple weeks. Verse 5 quotes this.

Psalm 145, verse 8 quotes this verse.

Psalms 145:8

And lastly, oh, I'm sorry, Joel 213 quotes it.

And lastly, you know who knew it?

Jonah. Jonah 4, verse 2.

Jonah 4:2

So this is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible from

Exodus 34, six that God talks about himself and his character.

But turn to me with the Jonah. I think you know the story of

Jonah, right? Jonah four.

And we'll just look at verses 1 and 2 because Jonah's going to

quote this verse and you know the story of Jonah, right?

Chapter 1, he flees to Tarsus, disobeys God, right?

Chapter 2 He's swallowed by a fish and ultimately repents, and

a fish spits him on dry. Land.

Chapter 3, the greatest revival in the history of the world, an

entire city of pagans from the king, the greatest to the least

repents maybe 600,000 to 1,000,000 people.

So you come to chapter 4 and you think it would be a time of

rejoicing, celebrating, right? Well, no, because it says in

chapter 4 of Jonah 4 verse one. But it displeased Jonah

exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said,

Oh Lord, is this this what I said when I was yet in my

country? This is why I made haste to flee

to Tarsus and notice what he says.

For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow

to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from

disaster. So Jonah quotes Exodus 34, six

and also Psalms 86 verse 15. I love how Jonah says, I knew

Psalms 86:15

you, I know you God, I know you're merciful, you're

gracious, you're slow to anger and you just gave salvation to

an entire city, the most ruthless pagans at that time in

the world. That's why Jonah didn't want to

go to Tarsus. This was a a city, Nineveh.

If you read history, they slaughtered so many countries

and so many people. They would cut the heads off of

all the people and they would stack them in pyramids at the

front gate of all the countries these they went to.

So it's no wonder, Jonah. Didn't want to go there.

But Jonah knows that God is gracious and merciful, slow to

anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, and he didn't want

that. So chapter 4 is interesting.

So you know, this I believe is Psalms 86.

Verse 15 is one of the greatest verses in the Bible.

And you say, well, they're all great, but it teaches us so much

about God. You could preach a whole sermon

on this one verse. He says God is merciful, mercy

is God giving us. Is God not giving us what we

deserve? Then he also says grace and a

lot of people put mercy and grace together, but grace is God

giving us something we do not deserve.

We deserve death. We deserve the penalty of hell.

But God is full of grace and he gives us salvation.

He gives us help. Then he says, slow to anger.

That's an attribute of God. And that highlights the patience

of God, the willingness of God to delay judgment.

God could judge anybody tonight. Today he does that, but he's

also very slow in in in his anger.

And it gives people an opportunity to repent and turn

back to God. And then he mentions the

steadfast love of God. You know, for God so loved the

world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever

believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

And then #5 he talks about the faithfulness of God, His

unwavering commitment to His own nature, His word, and His

promises. So, you know, every time you

read your Bible, every time you read your Bible, you need to ask

questions like, is there a sin I need to confess?

Is there a promise I need to claim?

Is there a principle I learn? But the most important thing is

ask the question, what does this chapter, this paragraph, or this

verse teach me about God? Now, if you're in the New

Testament, what does it teach me about Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

Not that they aren't in the Old Testament, but the Old Testament

is mostly about God. So every time you read your

Bible, you know you ought to have a pen and paper when you

read your Bible 2 or a notebook. But ask yourself, maybe it's

just one verse, maybe it's a paragraph.

What does this teach me about God?

And you see. Here Psalms 86. 15-5 Attributes

about our great God, 5 characteristics about our great

God. But if you go back to Psalms 86

and let me go back. There's a lot more and it's

interesting. That how well.

David knows them, but Psalms 86 and.

I may not even have them all. But I mentioned he talks about

grace in verses 3. And 15 and 16 and if you have an

ESV translation in verse 6 and then he says in verse 2, who

save your servant? Who trusts in you?

Well, David could trust in God. Because.

God is infinite. We're fine.

We're finite. You know.

He's the creator, we're the creature, but he also trusts in

God because God is immutable. God doesn't change, right?

And then he says in verse 5. God is.

Good God is always good, and He always gives good gifts, right?

And then he says in verse 4. Forgiving.

Forgiving would go to the holiness of God.

It would go to the justice of God.

That's another attribute. And then of course steadfast

love in verse 513 and 15. And then in verse 8 he says.

There's no God. Like you, that's the

transcendence of God. God transcends his creation and

everything there is under it. And then in verse 10 he says,

you are great and you do wonderful things that would

speak to the sovereignty of God. And then he says in verse 11.

Teach. Me your ways that would teach to

the wisdom of God because God is all wise and we want we we can

learn some of that wisdom and then he talks about truth.

I want to walk in truth in verse. 11 God is truth, that's

another attribute of God. And then we mentioned in verse

15. Mercy, slow to anger, grace and

patience and faithfulness there. And in verse 16 he talks about

God. 'S strength, that would be the

Nippon omnipotence of God, the power of God, and verse 17 he

says. You have helped.

Me and you know me. That would be omniscience of

God, and if he added all those up together, it would just go to

the incomprehensibility of God. It's almost impossible to

understand who God is, but the more we look.

At the. Psalm.

The more we look at Scripture, we learn about God.

You know, when I when I see all these attributes of God, it

makes me want to sing that hymn. And we sing this hymn here.

I stand in awe of you. We sing that on Sunday quite

often. And the first first words say

about God. You are beautiful beyond

description, too marvelous for works words, too wonderful for

comprehension, like nothing ever seen.

Or heard. Who can grasp your infinite

wisdom? Who can phantom the depth of

your love? Excuse me?

Like mess. Up your page, you are beautiful

beyond description. Majesty A throned above.

So you see, even though David is writing.

This Psalm about a crisis, he waits till verse 14 to tell us

about his crisis. So this Psalm is more about God,

his character. His.

Names and his attributes. Knowing these attributes, the.

Apostle Paul would say in the New Testament, in Romans 2,

four. Or do you presume?

That. The riches and kindness and

forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is.

Meant to lead you to repentance and let's look at some Point C

the. Assurance that God gives us

verses 16 and 17. Here David is crying out for

God's favor, God's strength, and God's deliverance.

So we have imperatives #11 which he says turn to me, turn to me

in verse 16. And then he has the repetitive

1. Be.

Gracious to me again, that's the 12th imperative.

So in verse 3. David could say be gracious to

me. And now verse 16, David says it

again. Grace might be the sweetest and

most beautiful word in the available vocabulary.

So we can see why David is continually at crying out for

God to be gracious to him. Grace is a favor from God we

don't deserve. But David says be gracious to

me, so he cries out for God's favor in verse. 16 Then he says,

Ask for God's strength there. He says, Give strength to your

sermon. So give strength to your servant

is the 13th imperative that we have in this Psalm, and when I

read that it reminds. Me what Isaiah said about God

says to Isaiah and Isaiah. 40 verse 21 to 31 Very common

Isaiah 40:21–31

passage. Have you not known?

Have you not? Heard the Lord is the

everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is

unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and

to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youth shall faint and be. Weary young men shall fall

exhausted, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their

strength. They shall mount up with wings

of eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not be faint.

I think I mentioned once more 30 years ago when the youth group

of Christ Community Church, we would Tom smaller worship

leader, would have us sing that song in Isaiah. 40 We would sing

that. So David is calling out for

God's strength to be able to fight his enemies.

So he calls for God's favor, he calls for God's strength, and

then he calls for God's deliverance.

So imperative #14 he says. Save.

Or, he says, save the son. Of your.

Maidservant, which is the same imperative as #4 so be gracious

to me as listed. Twice.

Save as listed twice and what he says save, save the the son of

your maidservant. That's an interesting word usage

of word. Psalm 116, verse 16 says O.

Psalms 116:16

Lord, I am your. Servant, I am your servant, the

son of your maidservant. What does that mean?

Well, children. Born.

To slaves were considered especially faithful because

they're brought up in the master's house.

So David was the Lord's faithful.

Servant, and it was the master's duty to.

Protect. Him and to deliver him from this

trouble that. He's in.

And the number four? God's assurance.

God's assurance. Here we have the last imperative

#15 He says. Show me a sign of your favor,

God, OK, Because he. Wants that.

He wants two things. Here, he says for those who hate

me may see and be put to shame. So he.

Wants condemnation for the enemies.

He wants his enemies to be put to shame.

And then he says, Lord, you've helped.

Me and comforted me David just wants comfort there's two things

he wants condemnation for his enemies and comfort for me so

let's just talk an. Application ending I mentioned

about praying, mentioned about looking at the names of God, the

attributes of God. But let's just talk about grace

#1 grace. We get the word chorus from

that, which means to rejoice. We get the English word charity

from it. It was Augustine who said.

Beggars. Need charity even as sinners

need grace, for we are all spiritual poppers outside of

Christ, but God gives where he finds empty hands.

So it's a word which you know, means many different things.

Some people say that the word grace is probably the greatest

word in scriptures, even greater than love, because grace is love

in action. And then there are many.

Types of Grace 11 commentator I read listed 15 types of grace.

I think that may be a little bit too many, but I'll just review

four types of. Grace.

With you tonight. The First off, of course, is.

Common. Grace This is the grace that God

gives to all mankind, believers and unbelievers, Jesus said in

Matthew 545. So you may be sons of your.

Father. Who is in heaven?

For He makes the sunrise on evil, and on the good he.

Sends. Rain on the just and on the

unjust. Every time I read that verse, I

think of of India, I think of Thailand, I think of Myanmar.

God gives rain because there's 3 1/2 billion people.

Almost half the people in the world eat rice last.

Week I had a pastor from. Myanmar at my house.

He's studying at the Masters seminary and you know, he wants

rice for breakfast, he wants rice for lunch, and he wants

rice for dinner. Some of the Filipinos here might

understand that tonight, but God gives grace to half the people

in the world, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, to grow rice.

Almost 4 billion people, they don't know him, but that's

common grace. God gives grace.

He gives us grace every day to unbelievers.

He doesn't know anybody. Another day of life, He could

judge them and send them to hell instantly.

But God gives common grace. But that common grace does not

save you. And that leads us to the second

grace, and that's saving grace. And I think Tim read the verse

tonight. You know, Ephesians 28 and 9.

For by grace you can save through faith.

This is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by

works, so that no one can boast. So saving grace initiates our.

Journey, God gives us the grace and we need that saving grace if

we're to be saved. And I trust tonight that every

person here has saving grace. If not, see me afterwards or if

you have any questions. But once we have saving grace,

we then have sanctifying grace and this is the grace that

transforms us to be in the likeness of Jesus. 2nd

Corinthians 13 is that, but First Thessalonians 4 three says

this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain

from sexual immorality, and Titus 2:11 and 12:00.

Titus 2:11

Says. For the grace of God has

appeared, bringing salvation for all.

People. Training us to renounce

ungodliness, worldly passions and to live self controlled,

upright and godly lives in the present age.

So there's common grace, There's saving grace, there's

sanctifying grace, and then there's sustaining grace.

And I think that's what David is crying out in this Psalm 86.

He says in Psalms 86, three, be gracious to me, O Lord, He says

in Psalms 8616, turn to me and be gracious to me.

And this is what Philippians. Paul.

Would say in Philippians 1/6 and I'm sure of this that he that's

God or the Holy Spirit who began a good work in you will.

Bring it. To completion on the day of

Christ so we can cry out. For.

Sustaining grace. This is the grace that helps us

through trials, through persecutions, through suffering.

We can say to God, be gracious to me like David when he says be

gracious to me for I am poor and needy.

Be gracious to me for I am godly.

Be gracious to me for to you I cry all the day.

Be gracious to me for you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

Be gracious to me for you. Answer.

Me. Be gracious to me, for you are

great and do wondrous things. Be gracious to me, for great is

your steadfast love. Be gracious.

To me, for you O. Lord have helped me and

comforted me. So just a little bit about Grace

and the third. Thing tonight we need to get to

know this God. Of grace.

So you got a homework assignment.

You need to memorize Psalms 86 verse 15, which I said is one of

Psalms 86:15

the greatest verses, if not one of the greatest verses in Psalms

or the Old Testament in the Bible.

But you, O Lord, are a God, merciful and gracious, slow to

anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Memorize that verse, meditate upon that verse and the five

attributes and you could just, you can meditate on that verse

for hours at a time. And #4 we can leave here

tonight. Proclaiming God's grace.

To other people. We're going to have vacation

Bible school next week. I hope you pray for the

children, the parents, the grandparents who bring kids that

they would know God's saving grace.

We were passing out Flyers on Saturday.

And as I'm walking up the street, I noticed that, you

know, most of the homes over there, I think are older people

and a lot of them are Asian, Chinese.

I don't know. And I'm assuming you know how

hard it is for an older person to come to Christ.

And when when I was driving around making a map to pass out

the Flyers, there were like 50 to 100 people walking,

exercising, and most of them were Asian.

And I'm looking at a lot of them.

They're old. And then how can we reach them

for Christ? Because they've probably been a

Buddhist for 7080 years, a lot of them.

But we can try to proclaim to them God's grace.

And we need to. So may Vacation Bible School

lead people to Christ. In one month from yesterday,

we'll be in Argentina, 19 people from Christ Community Church.

And we're going to blame God's grace because you know, Lance

has said from this pulpit many times, there's only two

religions in the world, evangelical Christianity, that

believes it's salvation through grace alone, through Jesus

Christ alone, or all the religions of the.

World. Jews have their commandments,

Buddhists have their five pillars, Muslims have their five

pillars. You know, even there's

Christians that have works. So it's either by grace or by

works. 2 religions Galatians 216 says yet we know that a person

is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus

Christ, so we also have believed.

In Jesus Christ in order to be justified by faith in Christ and

not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will

be justified. So may we leave here tonight

proclaiming grace to others as we leave.

Let's pray. Father, thank you tonight for

Psalms 86. It's we can just talk about your

names. We can talk about your

attributes and then we see David can give.

You 15 commands God because you are so gracious to.

US. Father, you gave us common

grace, but I believe you gave everyone here saving grace, and

I pray that everyone here today would know that Jesus Christ is

Lord and Savior and that they believe in Him and confess in

Him and have Jesus Christ in their heart tonight.

Father, we ask that you help. Us with that sustaining grace,

that we would be holy. And there not be anything in

our. Lives.

That would cause you to look in shame upon us.

May we live holy lives with that sanctifying grace.

And then, Father, we ask for anybody.

Tonight. Who's undergoing a time of

difficulty, a time of trouble? Father, there are many prayer

requests in the in the prayer. There are many people hurting in

our church or friends and family, but we pray, as David

said, we could cry out to God. Be gracious to me.

And May God answer that and give us grace, sustaining grace, till

that great day he comes. In Jesus name, Amen.