Sermon on Psalm 5:1-12. Other relevant texts: Romans 3
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm
G.S. Munro. Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, Jan 3, 1999.

Is it worth praying? Most western Christians apparently don't think so, if the practice of prayer is anything to go by. We pray seldom and randomly. If anything shows up the shallowness of our relationship with the Lord, it is our prayer life. We must surely think that prayer is not worth the effort, since so many of us spend so little time at it. But if we learn anything from this psalm today, let it be this - that we have a God who hears our prayers. A God worth praying to. A God worth calling upon from the bottom of our hearts. But we must learn to do so by approaching him with a humble heart, trusting not in our own goodness, but in his mercy.

This Psalm tells us a lot about the nature and character of our God. And it tells us about ourselves, and the way we get right with God and enjoy a close relationship with him. My job this morning is merely to highlight what this psalm teaches about God and us. Your job is to go home and meditate on it and others like it, and make it your own prayer, your own heartfelt desire, as you call upon God. Because the Psalms should impact not just our intellects, but our emotions, our attitudes, and our whole lifestyle.

Like most of the psalms, this is an intensely personal prayer. The psalmist, in this case David, struggles with God, himself and life. He lifts up before God what is on his heart, and I think that's why the Psalms are probably the most read part of the bible. Even after 3000 years, we can immediately relate to this kind of personal faith struggle, as we try to make sense of life around us in the light of our faith in a loving and good God.

We cannot read very far in the Psalms without drawing the conclusion that the psalmist seems to have been reading our mail. How is it that after centuries have passed we find a man who lived in a different time and culture expressing our innermost feelings, fears, and hopes? The answer, of course, is that we are reading the Scriptures, which are the work of God himself. He knows the heart of Man, and he inspired them and made them infallible and inerrant, so as to be a word to us from Him.

There are two types of people in this psalm, and in psalms and proverbs generally. The righteous, who are in a right relationship with God, and the unrighteous who rebel against God. This psalm falls naturally into four parts. And it alternates between the righteous person and the unrighteous person. Part 1, verses 1 to 3, is about the righteous person, then verses 4 to 6 are about the unrighteous, then verses 7 and 8 are about the righteous, then 9 and 10 the unrighteous, and finally verses 11 and 12 the righteous again. At least, that's how it appeared to me when I first read the psalm. However, it's not quite as simple as that. There's a bit of a surprise in store, as we shall see shortly.

David opens this song, this poem, this prayer, with these heartfelt words:

1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.

Now David is a king himself. Yet, he acknowleges that the Lord is his King and his God. Many ancient rulers thought they were themselves gods, and even a few modern ones are like that. The King of Israel was different. He ruled under God's rule. He knew his place before the Lord, and he cast down his crown in front of him. We must do the same. We cannot expect God to hear our prayers if we come proudly wearing the crown of control over our own life. We must acknowlege that we are not the ruler in our life - we must give that right up to God. That is perhaps the first and most basic principle of prayer. The bible says that God will not hear us if we regard iniquity in our heart, and the chief of all iniquities is to think that we can run our life our own way without regard to God. David says here in verse 5, "the arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all that do wrong." He is our God and King, and we must humble ourselves before him and not be proud. That is the first secret of developing a good prayer life.

Next, I want you to notice what David brings to the Lord. He brings his sighing. These are things that deeply trouble his spirit. So many of David's psalms are like that - he laments what life has brought him, he laments the chaos and grief his own sinfulness has caused. He cries out in sickness. And he cries out with joy at the great triumphs of life and the ordinary everyday pleasures that he encounters as gifts from God. The psalms engage our emotional life in a very direct way.

Now you may or may not be a very demonstrative, emotionally-charged person. Some people are more emotional than others. The psalms are not teaching us that we have to make a great show of our emotions to be truly spiritual. But what they do teach is that it's a godly thing for us to bring all the things that affect our whole life, including our emotions, before the Lord in prayer. And we should do that every day. What better way to start each day than by talking to God and bringing your current state of mind and your needs before him?

David says "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

Is that the quality of relationship you have with the Lord? Do you treat Him as your closest friend? When you have something that causes you great joy or great sorrow, and you want to share it, who is the first person you naturally run to? Is it your spouse, or a parent, a special friend? Brother or sister? God is closer to us than a brother, the bible says. He should be our first port of call when we want to share what's on our mind, whether it's what's troubling us or what we're happy about.

If that's not true of you, then why not work out how you can unbusy yourself enough to spend more time alone with the Lord, praying to Him and listening to Him in His Word? It's never too late to begin afresh with prayer. If you've given up the habit of praying regularly and often, then start again - God is still there, he hasn't gone anywhere. And great joy awaits you if you are prepared to put in the effort.

Okay, so far in this psalm we have seen a model for prayer that David gives us. A model of humbling yourself before God, of taking off the crown of your life and submitting to him. Of bringing everything that matters to you before God in simple, heartfelt sighings. You don't have to have fancy words or any particular posture, all that is necessary is a humble trust in God, and just to tell him what's on your mind, ask him for your needs and wait for his reply. That's the way the righteous person relates to God.

Now David goes on in verses 4 to 6, and also later in verses 9 and 10, to describe the unrighteous person. At first I thought that the next section was a contrast to David himself, who is righteous and prays to God. But then I realised that this is not so at all. Let's look at what David says. Verse 4.

4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.

Now that sounds like David is describing his enemies doesn't it? And he is of course - in verse 9 and 10 he describes them further and asks God to punish them, and in verse 8 he says, "Lead me O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies…" The main thing on his mind as he writes these words is that his enemies are giving him a hard time.

But there is something deeper here. David's contrast is not just between himself and his enemies. He is not just saying that he is a good person and that his enemies are bad people. If he were doing that, we would expect verse 7 to continue, "But I, because of my great goodness, will come into your house…" But instead he says, "But I, BY YOUR GREAT MERCY will come into your house...."

You see the contrast is not between David the good person and his enemies the bad people. It is between David the forgiven person and his enemies who have not asked for forgiveness. Who have not humbled themselves before God and bowed down to him in reverence.

Look again at verses 4 to 6. What kind of person do we find there? "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell." They are wicked - that is, they sin, they do wrong. "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You destroy those who tell lies." And, "bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors."

Now think. Who is David describing here? This man, the great poet king of Israel, the man who writes these words, is the same man who lusted after Bathsheba, and wove a web of deceit and lies that led him eventually to murder her husband to cover up his sin! These words perfectly describe the life of David himself! A bloodthirsty and deceitful man! Now whether he wrote this before or after the sin with Bathsheba, we do not know. But even before that time he had done plenty of wrong things. And verse 7 makes it plain that verses 4 to 6 are not just describing other wicked people, but David himself. David is posing a problem, which he answers in verse 7 with God's mercy.

Can you see how David's thoughts progress? In the first 3 verses he says he is lifting up his heart to God in prayer. But then he recalls how God is just and does not take delight in evil. But David himself is evil. And that is maybe the number one reason we don't pray more, isn't it? Because we feel ourselves to be unclean. Because we know that when we come into God's presence, the question of our sins has to come up. God's purity and holiness make us a little uncomfortable, when we remember that lustful thought we just had, or that unresolved argument with our husband, or the hurtful thing we said to our child, or that we haven't rung our mother for three weeks or that we had too much drink at the New Year's Eve party. Or those lies we told to cover up any or all of the above!

No, David is not just talking about his enemies here. He's talking about himself. And that's the way the New Testament interprets this psalm too. You may have noticed from the reading we had from Romans chapter 3, that the apostle Paul quotes from Psalm 5, along with some other verses from the Old testament. He quotes from verse 9, the bit about the throat of the wicked being like an open grave, and their tongues speaking deceit. And his application is that this is what every person is like deep down. He says in verse 9 of Romans 3, "Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin." And in verses 19 and 20, after he finishes quoting from the Old testament about how bad people are, he says this -

"Now, we know that whatever the law says (that is, whatever the Old Testament says), it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law, rather, through the law, we become conscious of sin."

Now I want to come back to Romans in a minute. But going back to Psalm 5, can you see that is what David is saying too? Just look again at some of the characteristics of the wicked - Verse 5 - you hate all who do wrong. And isn't that everyone? Romans says, quoting from Psalm 14, "there is no one who does good, not even one." And what about verse 6 of Psalm 5? "You destroy those who tell lies." Hands up anyone here who has never told a lie? So this includes you, and all of us, doesn't it? We are the wicked that these verses describe. And God will destroy us unless something is done to change the situation.

David wants to pray to God, but then he recalls how wicked mankind is, including he, David. And how God can't stand to be in the same place as wicked people. So how can he pray to God? How can he go to God's Temple if he is wicked? What sets him apart from other sinners? Well the answer is in verse 7 and 8. These verses form the very centre of the poem, and that is usually the most important part of Hebrew poetry. This is the punchline if you like.

7 But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies-
make straight your way before me.

Notice the three things that set David apart from his enemies. First, he experiences God's mercy. He wants to pray, yet he knows he's a sinner and God is holy and can't stand sin. But he also knows that God is merciful, and he trusts in that mercy. Second - he reveres God, submitting to him and bowing humbly before him. And third, he asks God to lead him, not in his own righteousness, but in God's righteousness.

Look back to Romans chapter three, and you'll see that is exactly what God says there too. Let's read verses 21 to 24.

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Do you want to have a right relationship with God? Do you want to be able to pray to him like David does here, and bring all your requests before him and feel his loving presence closer than any other? You cannot do it by trying to be self righteous. You cannot do it by pretending that you are good enough to stand in God's presence. We do not stand, we kneel in humility as we ask forgiveness for our sins, and place our trust in Jesus who died in our place. Paul goes on to say, "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Have you transferred your trust from your own goodness to that of Jesus Christ? He is God's righteousness made known to us. He died for our sins, and his death is a sacrifice that takes away our sin and allows us free access to God.

There are two paths open before us here. If we keep trusting in our own goodness to save us, then our destiny will be that of the wicked, in verse 10 of Psalm 5, where David prays,

10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

If you continue in rebellion against God, in the end you will be banished from His loving presence forever. The bible calls that Hell.

But if you submit to God and trust in his righteousness, his great mercy, then His favour rests upon you, and David's prayer for the righteous in verses 11 and 12 describes your destiny:

11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.