Cast Me Not Away/Resore Unto Me

Resuming the Study of Psalm 51: The Need for a Human Example of Penitence

0:02 Turn with me to the 51st Psalm.

0:08 Checking over my notes on this series, we've been considering, I find that the last time we considered this was way back in August 27th. And with this series that we've had for nine or ten weeks on the subject of the local church, we have not been considering the 51st Psalm. But we resume our studies there tonight and the Lord willing, we'll continue in this portion of the Word of God until either I succumb and bring one or two Christmas messages or just go right through until we finish.

0:43 As we discovered this morning in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 where Paul commends the Thessalonian church for their following the example of the servants of Christ and of the Lord Jesus Christ and the principle contained in that commendation that we human beings being imitative creatures, God has ordered that we should follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we should follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow the example of others as they follow Christ. Perhaps in a peculiar way, in this matter of what it means to be a true penitent, we need an example, a human example, more than in any other area. For in a real sense, it's the only area in which the Lord Jesus can't be our example, for He never sinned.

1:24 So He cannot be our example of a penitent. And all the more necessary, therefore, that we have some very clear human examples of what it means to be penitent. Now that God commands sinners, to repent is clear. That God commands the saints to be penitent is clear.

1:40 That God exhorts us to be sorrowful for sin is clear. He says in James, be afflicted and mourn and weep. That God calls us to rend our hearts and not our garments in the prophecy of Joel. It's found throughout the entire scripture.

1:55 Exhortations to an attitude of penitence and to the act of repentance. But now what does that mean? Well, God in His goodness has taken the precept, the command, and has embodied it in the flesh and blood substance of the actual experience of repentance and penitence of many of the eminent saints in the scripture. You have the great penitential prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9, and the great prayer of Ezra in Ezra 9, and the great prayer of Nehemiah in Nehemiah 9.

2:25 And then, of course, this perhaps which is the most graphic and helpful of all the penitential psalms, the 51st psalm. So that you, you and I in our repentance are to emulate not the sin of David, but the repentance of David. Seeing the example of his sin, that's a negative example. We're to shun it.

Review of Psalm 51: The Precipitator, Refuge, and Substance of Confession

2:46 Seeing the example of his repentance by the grace of God, we are to follow it. Now just to bring our thoughts together that we might consider together the text tonight, let me remind you of what we've seen in this chapter thus far. We've seen that the thing that precipitated the 51st psalm, was the sending by God of Nathan to David, who didn't deal with the indirect insinuations, but sticking his finger right in the face of the king, said, thou art the man. And in a real sense, we never enter into the 51st psalm until we've been wounded of God.

3:25 And God took the initiative with David as he does with sinners, and as he does with his own. And if it were not for his mercy to continually send us Nathans that prick the church, the conscience that is grown callous, and to stir up the heart that is grown indifferent, we would be of all men most miserable. But how gracious is the Lord to take just a phrase from a hymn, a little circumstance in life, a little word from a friend, just something we read in the newspaper, a phrase we may see in the scripture, in a book, and this becomes God's Nathan to pierce our hearts, and to bring us to the place where we're now disposed to cry out to the Lord in true penitence. Having then, experienced the ministry of Nathan, what is the convicted sinner's only refuge?

4:10 And David tells us in the first verse, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. The only attribute of God that will give a sinner comfort in the state of his conviction is the mercy and the lovingkindness of God. Even the sovereignty of God gives you no comfort here. In fact, it will give you terrors.

4:33 And we must learn what attributes of God's we need to focus our faith upon at given times. When you feel that all is giving way around you, and that the world itself is about to burst at the seams, then you find great comfort in the purposes of God that are sure, and you let faith feed upon His sovereignty. Then there are times when your heart is smitten with a sense of your sinfulness, and your uncleanness, and your unworthiness, and you cringe, as it were, at the very thought of even approaching God. Well, that's when you need to focus faith upon this attribute of His mercy as David does here.

5:11 Then, having done this, he acknowledges what he wants from God in verse 2, Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. What he wants is not so much a restoration of peace and joy, but he wants cleansing from the guilt and the defilement of his sin. True confession always involves a longing to deal with the root of the problem, not the fruits.

5:38 Man in his natural state would like to have the fruits of his problem solved, but it's only by grace that men want the root of the problem dealt with. And so David comes crying that he'll be washed, that he'll be cleansed. Then we have in verses 3, 4, and 5 the substance of true confession, an honest acknowledgment of the sin. I acknowledge my transgression.

6:00 My sin is ever before me. He didn't call it mistake, failure, shortcoming, psychological tension, he said sin. That's it, Lord. What you call it, I call it.

6:11 All true confession involves honest acknowledgment of the sin. Verse 4, the basic essence of sin, criminal offense against God, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Verse 5, he confesses that he acknowledges the root of his sin. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6:35 And all true confession must involve to a greater or lesser degree these elements, honest acknowledgment of the sin, a frank recognition of the true nature of sin as against God, and then that humbling confession of the root of sin. It's not rooted in the environmental factors that triggered it, but Lord, the roots are in me. I am a sinner from my very conception. A confession of the biblical doctrine of complete and total depravity of the human being.

Transition to Psalm 51:11-12: David's Concern for Sin's Personal Effects

7:06 The nature. Then in verses 6 through 10, David, as it were, at least I find it difficult to see that there's any specific outline or order of his thoughts, but it seems like in reoccurring waves he's pleading with God now in ever widening circles to change the figure that God may deal with some of the fruits of the sin in his life. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Make me to hear joy and gladness.

7:33 Hide thy face from my sins, created. Give me a clean heart, O God. And those verses we've looked at in some detail. Now, this brings us to verses 11 and 12, which will be the object of our study tonight.

7:48 Now, in these verses, in a peculiar way, David is praying that God will do something with regard to the results of his sin. This comes near the end of his prayer. There's no mention of his own personal problems that have arisen out of his sin until verse 8. That's the first mention when he says, Make me to hear joy.

8:07 Up till then, his prayer is completely occupied with dealing with the sin itself. I acknowledge my sin. It's rooted in my depraved nature. Purge me.

8:18 Cleanse me. Wash me. Now, he prays, Make me to hear joy, in verse 8. And then he returns to that theme of asking God to restore that which sin had robbed him of and ask God to do something in terms of the effects of sin in his own life.

8:35 So his prayer in verse 11, Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. We might call these two verses, the theme of them, that David is concerned about the personal effects of sin and he's longing that some of these effects be undone. Verse 11 is negative.

9:05 Cast me, not away. Take not thy spirit. Verse 12 is positive. Restore and uphold me.

Exposition of 'Cast Me Not Away From Thy Presence': The Realized Presence of God

9:13 Now, let's just look at the verses and see what they say and trust that the Lord will say some things to us that will be helpful in our present situation and in all the future situations where we'll need the truth embodied in these two verses. Verse 11 then. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Now, what does he mean when he says cast me not away from thy presence?

9:42 Isn't this the same David who penned the 139th song? Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Where shall I hide myself from the presence of God? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.

9:54 If I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. Has he forgotten the doctrine of sin? Of Scripture that God is omnipresent as Jeremiah says?

10:11 Do not I fill heaven and earth? Has David forgotten this in the great agony of his soul and the turmoil and tension of his mind as he cries out to God? Has he somehow forgotten who God is? No.

10:22 No, David knows full well the doctrine of the omnipresence of God. He gave us the greatest statement of it in the 139th song. Well, then what is he praying when he says cast me not away from thy presence? Well, the only way I know to answer that with any degree of authority is let Scripture interpret Scripture.

10:42 And so we'll look at several passages where this phrase is used elsewhere and perhaps we can get some idea of what David had in mind when he prayed this particular petition. Will you turn please to 2 Kings,

10:56 2 Kings, chapter 13, verses 22 and 23.

11:14 2 Kings, 13, 22 and 23. But Hazel, king of Sinai, Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. The Lord was gracious unto them and he had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his presence as yet. As yet.

11:41 Now notice there's a relationship between God keeping his covenant promise to the nation of Israel and this matter of casting them from his presence. Keep that in mind and turn over to chapter 24 of the same book, 2 Kings, chapter 24 and verse 20.

12:02 2 Kings 24 and verse 20.

12:07 Perhaps we should back up to verse 19 speaking of another of the kings of Israel and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done for through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Here God's giving up his people to go into exile and into captivity is called a casting them out of his presence. Then there's the same similar reference in Jeremiah chapter 7 and verse 15 a little bit different wording used but perhaps these three references together will give us some idea of what David had in mind when he prayed. Now God is speaking through the prophet to the nation of Israel the judgment of God about to fall upon them they're about to go into captivity into Babylon and this is the prophecy that Jeremiah gives them in verse 14 therefore will I do unto this house which is called by my name wherein ye trust and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers as I've done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast all your brethren even the people the whole seed of Ephraim. You see the ten northern tribes had already gone into captivity. God called that

13:33 giving them up to captivity and going into subjection to a heathen nation a casting out of his presence and now he threatens the same to the two southern tribes to Judah and says I will do the same with you. How does this begin to give you some idea of what David was praying about in this particular passage? He says in essence O God what I've done is such that I deserve to be cast out of that relationship of thy protection of the smile of thy favor of the awareness of thy presence and protection and nearness for you see as long as Israel was settled in Jerusalem Jerusalem that comes out again and again in these psalms and in the prophets and in the hymns of praise as you find particularly in the latter psalms in the later psalms those psalms of ascent that they would sing Jerusalem became the symbol of the apple of God's eye and God had promised that he would watch over his people and that that would be his peculiar dwelling place so that it symbolized his tender concern his protection his love his care for his people and for God to cast them out of that place and send them into heathen lands is to cast them out of his presence not that they get out of his sight in a literal way for he fills heaven and earth not that he gets that they get out of the realm of his control but you see when they were there and their captors tormented

15:02 they said sing us the songs of Zion sing us the songs of Zion and they said oh we've hung our harps up upon willows how can we sing the songs of Zion in the land of our captivity for you see to be there was a reminder that the frown of God was upon them instead of his smile that instead of his protection he had drawn back the protective wall and allowed the heathen nations to come in and invade their very home their very sanctuary and raise it to the ground and so when David prays cast me not away from thy presence I believe what he's praying about is this oh Lord don't take from me thy realized presence the experienced presence of God whereby I can bask under the smile of thy face where I can rest in the consciousness that thine eye is upon me where I can feel the warmth of thy heart as a child who is ripped from the presence of his mother is out of the sphere of realized protection love and communion and oh how that little child is disturbed when cruelly torn from the breast of its mother that's the place of warmth of protection that's the place of concern of communion so David's prayer is Lord don't do this my sin deserves it thy grace has not yet brought it about oh Lord may thy mercy prevent it he doesn't say Lord I'm not Lord I've been cast out return me but he says

16:30 Lord now that I see my sin now that you've pricked and wounded my heart and awakened my slumbering conscience by the visit of Nathan I see this sin as against thee and thee only as heinous sin in thy sight I've been lying under the power of this sin for this almost entire year at least and oh Lord if ever one who had such light as you've been pleased to give me such blessing as you've been pleased to shower upon me if ever a sin deserved to have a man cast from your presence so Lord my sin deserves it but thy grace has not yet thy grace has borne with me so that I'm not yet cast out oh may thy mercy prevent it now I trust you see the application to us as God's people for one who is known the blessing of the realized presence of God to whom the smile of God is something more than a little poetic phrase to whom the awareness of the eye of God guiding us as he says in the Psalms I will guide thee with mine eye the person to whom the warmth of God's heart is something more than just a nebulous religious concept but has been a living reality the greatest pain to that person is to have that withdrawn cast me not away from thy presence and yet the person who knows that recognizes that sin is such that it deserves that that's why he can pray this Lord cast me not away

17:59 from thy presence my sin deserves it and the man under conviction makes me feel that I forfeited all right to ever have the smile of God upon me again have you known that terrible conflicted soul when your conscience is smitten you know you've sinned and you know the Lord Jesus is there as your great high priest and he bids you come and yet you feel the fact that you've fallen beneath the power of this sin before which you may have fallen a dozen or a hundred times is such that the guilt pressing upon your conscience you say it can't be it can't be that God will ever smile again it can't be that God will ever let me know the glance of his eye again and the warmth of his heart I feel I deserve to be utterly cast out of his presence and yet the very fact that I find myself concerned and exercised and longing to be back in his presence gives me hope to believe that he hasn't forsaken me and so there's that tension of wanting to draw nigh and yet conviction that keeps us from drawing you know what I'm talking about do you know this experimentally then you ought to be able to pray the 51st Psalm cast me not away from thy presence there's also a word of application to you who are not saved oh listen to me adult young person one day God will cast great multitudes out of his presence and hell has for its intensest flame the separation of the soul from God

Exposition of 'Take Not Thy Holy Spirit From Me': The Spirit's Empowering Ministries

19:25 and the prayer then will be too late don't treat lightly dear young people and adults who are not savingly joined to Christ your relationship to him so his prayer here is don't take away from me realized communion moving on to the next phrase and take not thy Holy Spirit from me this is the second of the negative petitions now no doubt David did not see as clearly as we see the truth of Ephesians 4.30 that by the Holy Spirit we are sealed unto the day of redemption Ephesians 1.13 that the Holy Spirit as the seal of God to us is a seal that is called in Ephesians 1.13 the down payment of the full inheritance but though David did not see as clearly as we see the permanency of the sealing work of the Holy Spirit I would like to raise a voice of protest that we do not dispensationalize away this petition I quote from Mr. Schofield who says page 624 no believer in this dispensation should pray take not thy spirit from me is that so now this is not to poke fun at Mr. Schofield Pope it's not a place to poke fun to be smart but you see multitudes who believe that statement as though that's the actual truth

20:53 oh since we're sealed to the day of redemption no matter what we do we're sealed we don't need to pray take not thy Holy Spirit if we have the Spirit we have the Spirit is that so beloved I believe God's put the 51st Psalm here for us to pray the whole Psalm not just part of it and what is David praying about here he's not praying primarily about the Spirit being withdrawn as the pledge of his eternal salvation the very context forbids that for he's saying Lord if you'll do what I'm asking you to do the result will be verse 13 then will I teach transgressors thy ways he's thinking of the work of the Spirit in his positive imparting of the graces and gifts and joys that make a man an effective and vibrant witness as a child of God what is David praying about I believe this is what David's praying about David realized that a quenched and aggrieved spirit becomes in measure a withdrawn spirit now we must not think of the Holy Spirit in terms of spatial terms like we do if I'm in your house I'm in it if I'm not in it I'm not and so people say wait a minute if the Holy Spirit's within me he's in me if he's not he's not I can't have more of the Spirit well you see you can't think of the Holy Spirit in terms of the space concepts that govern us Paul prays for Christians in Ephesians 1 that God would grant them the Spirit of Wisdom he already said they were sealed by the Spirit and yet he prays they might have the Spirit well how do you figure that

22:21 well when you and I puny little creatures of the dust finite creatures when you get big enough to contain all of God then you can talk that way there never comes a time when we cannot experience more adequate and full supplies of the Spirit Paul uses that very term the supply of the Spirit Philippians 1.19 he says this shall turn to my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ well Paul don't you have the Spirit sure I wrote Romans 8.9 Paul says if any man have not the Spirit none of his well Paul if you have the Spirit what are you talking about the supply of the Spirit and Paul would say look will you get away from a wooden handling of these concepts we're dealing with God sure I have the Spirit but I need ever increasing supplies of the Spirit's grace and ministry the Bible uses terms like the Spirit coming upon me upon people who are already indwelt by the Spirit the Spirit being poured out upon people that doesn't mean that God actually has a bucket and the Holy Spirit is poured out like water no so we cannot press into a wooden kind of unnatural interpretation these concepts that are spiritual what David realized is what every one of you who's a true Christian realizes when you sin and have a controversy with God and grieve and quench the Spirit in an area of sanctification you do not experience His blessed ministries in the other areas of your life

23:50 the Bible becomes a closed book He is no longer to you the Spirit of illumination right?

24:01 and you get on your knees to pray and He is no longer the Spirit of grace and of supplication and so you mouth your sweet little praises but you know you haven't taken hold of God because there's a controversy with God now that may not be the only reason for a brassy heavens but that's one of the reasons and God's a good man He declares that your sins have separated between you and your God so that He will not hear if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear then He's the Spirit of witness and of testimony and you know what it's like to try to crank up some kind of a witness and testimony to others when you have a conscious controversy with God and that's what David is talking about here Lord take not Thy Spirit from me in His abounding overflowing graces and gifts and ministries as the Spirit of illumination the Spirit of light the Spirit of light the Spirit of comfort the Spirit of wisdom the Spirit of power the Spirit of prayer the Spirit of light O Lord take not Thy Spirit from me John Newton knew what he was talking about when he wrote how tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see sweet prospects sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me they're still sweet out there but I can't appreciate them anymore the midsummer sun shines but thin the fields strive in vain to live gay but when I'm happy in Him December is as pleasant as May that's the truth he's talking about the consciousness

25:30 of a withdrawn spirit still indwelt by the Spirit yes but it is mighty operations empowering filling overflowing notice David is not concerned about his child the prophet had told him your child's gonna die he doesn't pray take not the child later on he prays that it might please God to spare him he's not praying about his reputation but he prays that God would not withdraw his spirit by whom alone he knows he can live as a child of God so in that first petition his prayer is don't take away realized communion cast me not away from thy presence now he prays don't take away the conscious support of thy spirit take not thy spirit from me let me ask you something professing child of God what do you fear most as a Christian you see what David's fear was that his sin would not blot his reputation ruin him financially or louse him up physically or tear him up emotionally his greatest fear was that his sin would rob him of realized communion and the conscious support and enablement of the Holy Spirit now is that what you fear more than anything else hmm do you fear that my dear friend prayed that day

26:59 in the study up in the old place and I'll never forget it oh God don't take your hand off me for a moment I'll go back to the hog I've never forgotten for here was a man who feared more than anything else that God would withdraw the conscious support anything Lord but not a clouded face and a withdrawn spirit is that what you fear hmm I fear perhaps some of you don't fear that but it's only the man who fears it who knows what it is to maintain the unclouded face and the conscious support of the Spirit of God if you don't fear it the devil will see to it that by subtlety going about as a roaring lion you'll get so accustomed to the clouded face you'll forget what it was like to know his smile to feel the beat of his heart you'll forget what it's like to know the conscious communications of his spirit making real the things of Christ making your soul feed with relish upon the things of God you'll get so you can come Sunday after Sunday and go away unblessed you'll get so you can get accustomed to going day after day and never frequenting the place of prayer

Exposition of 'Restore Unto Me the Joy of Thy Salvation': Joy Inseparable from Holiness

28:26 oh what a frightful place to be may God help us to fear what David feared cast me not away take not thy spirit well let's hurry on to the second verse here verse 12 now the positive having prayed the two what we might call negative positions now the positive restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit restore unto me the joy of thy salvation someone has said and rightly said a child of God knows no true and solid joy but the joy of God's salvation joy in his Savior and in the expectation of eternal life by willful sin we forfeit this joy and deprive ourselves of it our evidences can't help but be clouded and our hopes shaken when we give occasion to doubt the reality of our salvation how can we expect the joy of it you see when we give occasion to doubt the reality of our salvation how can we expect the joy of it for you see salvation David realized was not simply deliverance from the guilt of sin which would result in an averting of judgment to come oh no salvation is never limited in terms of something

29:54 future at the judgment but salvation is God's mighty work in delivering us from sin its dominion its power and its consequences and in that order and there's no one who will be delivered from the consequences of sin in the world to come but who has known something of deliverance from the power and dominion of sin in the world that now is justification and sanctification are inseparable and so when David prays restore unto me the joy of thy salvation what's he asking God to do is he asking God to make him happy in the assurance that he won't go to hell when he dies even though he's still got this sin undoubted no no no David realized that God's salvation involves past, present, future and he had some problems in the present here he was lying under the power and dominion of this sin for almost a year and how can a man who knows what the Bible says about what salvation is God's mighty work in delivering men not only from the penalty but increasingly from the power and dominion and one day out there from the very presence of sin how can he have any joy in the salvation of God when he doesn't see that salvation being operative in him it's like trying to rejoice you got a thousand bucks when you're not sure you've got it you can't when you know you've got it and you see it there in your hands alright well David began to wonder well here the salvation of God delivers a man from the dominion as well as from the penalty

31:22 and one day from the presence of sin and here I'm lying under the dominion of this sin so he begins to have problems in the realm of assurance and he ought to for as this author has so clearly said when we give occasion to doubt the reality of our salvation how can we expect the joy of it so David was not asking for joy while he still remained under the power of his lust oh no now that he's repudiated his sin and by the grace of God he's turned from it and fully acknowledged it for what he is for what it is he's asking God to give him back now that joy which attends the possession of God's salvation so that as he once again knows the work of God's grace in his heart enabling him to be a conqueror over sin he shall know the joy of the salvation of God which has brought that conquering power now it's a real problem to even talk in our day of this matter of the relationship of assurance of salvation to a holy life because it's just not entered the thinking of the average evangelical in our day that assurance of salvation and the possession of salvation are two different things now the Bible clearly teaches that those who are joined to Christ are joined with him forever and as Toplady has said so beautifully more happy but not more secure the saints in heaven in that beautiful hymn of debtor to mercy alone but now the possession of salvation and my understanding that I do possess it is another thing

32:51 this is the realm of assurance and assurance may fluctuate and Bishop Ryle says so beautifully in his sermon chapter on assurance if you don't have that book holiness I commend it to you and the chapter on assurance is a classic worth the price of the book just that chapter that there is this inseparable relationship between holiness and assurance and the man who has the most assurance and joy of salvation is the man who by the grace of God is enjoying the most fruits of that salvation so when David lost his evidences as the old writers would say he lost his joy and rightly so you show me the man or woman fellow or girl who's lying under the power of lust lying under the power of some reigning sin in his life and can talk about joy in the Lord and I'll show you a man who's a bald faced liar that can't be the joy of salvation for the joy of salvation is attendant with the presence and power of salvation and that involves deliverance not only from the guilt but from the dominion and the power of sin so as David as it were by the grace of God gets back in the way of holiness he prays that once again he'll be back in the way of joy notice now he acknowledges that God must restore that joy here's the terrible deceitfulness of sin in promising us some kind of carnal happiness it robs us of that which we cannot get back again

34:21 as one of the old writers has said so quaintly it's easy running downhill but oh how hard to run back uphill we can go out of a life of the conscious presence of God on horseback one of the old writers says we come back on foot scratching away at an inch at a time that's the way it is and David found it Lord I've got the ability as it were to forfeit my joy but Lord I can't bring it back will thou not restore unto me the joy of thy salvation you see David wasn't guilty of this cute little way of just trying to put on a few of the white sister's records with a nice beat in it and make him self feel good again and say well I come on back again we're sailing home you know sailing home no beloved there's something more to it than this here's a man broken waiting crying pleading oh God you'll restore the joy and then he pleads uphold me with thy free spirit now this last phrase is a difficult one you'll notice the words with thy are in italics that means the old King James translated want to let you know that those two words weren't in the original and they put them in there to try to give what they felt was the sense of the verse so this phrase can mean one of two things either David is praying uphold me with thy free spirit Lord I do not only ask for the restoration of joy

Exposition of 'Uphold Me With Thy Free Spirit': Preservation and Steadfastness

35:49 but for the preservation of joy Lord it's not enough that you restore me to a place of present salvation you've got to keep me restore me keep me isn't that what we pray in the Lord's prayer lead us not into temptation I mean forgive us our debts as we forgive others restore us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil restore me preserve me that could be what David is praying here if this is the proper translation uphold me with thy free spirit having forgiven me and restored me now O Lord uphold me what's he saying he's saying Lord I acknowledge that gunpowder gets no less susceptible to sparks simply because time passes as long as the gunpowder is wet it's safe but Lord though it's been lying there wet for a year once it dries it's just as susceptible to the sparks as ever and Lord though you've restored and cleansed me and forgiven me and given back the joy of thy salvation Lord unless you uphold me I can go right back and do the same thing tomorrow Paul says in Philippians 3 3 we are the true circumcision who worship God by the Spirit who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh

37:15 no confidence in the flesh and oh how painfully David had to learn that lesson how he had to learn look at Peter how he had to learn when the Lord said Peter you're going to break at the point of your strongest characteristic you're brave outspoken Peter you're going to act like a little cowering shriveling coward and you're going to deny me oh Lord no not that not that I might speak out where I shouldn't I might go lopping off a few ears I can imagine me doing that but deny you never why denial that's that's the weakness of a timid man of the backward man Lord that's not my area the Lord said I'll show you you've got to learn to discover yourself Peter you'll never be able to help others until you discover yourself before that little chicken over there sounds off three times three times you're going to deny Peter in the whole press of that situation apparently had forgotten the words of Christ until having cursed and sworn that cock crew and then Nathan came and he went better you see that rooster was Peter's Nathan for it says when he heard the cock crow he remembered slumbering conscience came alive again he remembered the words of Christ and he came to a discovery of himself and then you notice how in his letters

38:44 the theme of being watchful comes out be watchful be sober be vigilant your adversary is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom you may devour he urged the saints of God to recognize not only must God restore but he must preserve so if that's the meaning of this phrase then that's what David is praying for but there's another possible translation could be translated this way uphold me with a princely free or liberal spirit small s not referring to the Holy Spirit but David asking God to do something in his own spirit to make his own spirit steadfast princely and if that's the case then what David is saying Lord when I did what I did and I committed the sins that I did commit in that instant my spirit was a groveling low ignoble spirit bound by lust and passion acting like the dregs of the earth Lord give me a princely spirit give me a regal spirit that stands beneath thy scepter and beneath thy law and that gladly responds to thy commands give me a spirit that will cheerfully obey thy law that will not stoop to a mean or to a base act perhaps that's what David was praying in either case both truths are taught in the scripture that we must not only pray that God will uphold

40:14 us by the Holy Spirit but that by his grace he would strengthen us in our spirits I pray God that your whole body soul and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ you see God strengthens the work that he's begun and he strengthens us with might by his spirit where? in the inner man God actually does a work of strengthening our spirits by his spirit this idea you see what I call the funnel theory of the Christian life that we're just sort of an empty shell and Christ so invades us that nothing happens to us except that Christ lives through it creates all kinds of bondage no no God begins the work of his grace in the whole man and he carries on that work of grace just as he illuminates the mind as Paul says in Romans 2 that your minds be continually transformed the renewing of your mind not Christ's mind your mind you think God is actually at work in my mind yes he is to make it more and more after the likeness of the mind of Christ what about my spirit left to itself unstable fickle to strengthen me with might by his spirit in the inner man he strengthens me though the outward man perished Paul says the inner man is what strengthened day by day so what he's praying for here perhaps is that God will do that work

Concluding Application: The Path to Joy and Holy Fears

41:42 in his spirit to give him a steadfast spirit a spirit that will purpose to walk in the ways of God now again let me in closing ask you one or two questions as we face this text of these two verses that are before us tonight do you have the joy of God's salvation tonight I'm not asking you you're clicking your heels and making footprints on the walls when you get home but I'm asking do you have something of what the Bible means speaks when it says the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost do you have something of the joy of his salvation well you see you can't have the joy of his salvation unless you have something of his salvation well what is that well initially it's the awareness that my sins are blotted out for the sake of Christ if I've come in repentance and faith my sins are blotted out but then it's also the awareness that in the present hour in spite of all my weakness and failure and shortcomings and the rest I know something of the present tense salvation of God thank God I'm not all that I'm not all that I should be but thank God I'm not what I once was there's some measure of progress by the grace of God and the path of the just is as the dawning of the day shines more and more like the sun coming up there in Proverbs 4 is it verse 18 the path of the just is as the shining

43:12 dawning of the day that shineth more and more unto the perfect day and so I can have the joy that he is at work in me both to will and to do of his good pleasure and I can have the joy of his salvation now if you don't have that joy why don't you well it's either because you don't have that salvation initially or there's some point at which the outworking of that salvation has hit some snags in your life and there's no way to get back into the place of joy than to do what David did deal with the issues that have quenched and grieved the spirit whose fruit is what? love joy as well as peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance as we saw in our catechetical instruction we're real sharpies at this we grieve the Holy Spirit and quench him over here and yet we still want his blessed ministry of comfort and instruction and illumination and joy giving over here we like to play games with God don't we we say Lord I'm not about ready to face that issue but I sure would like to be happy in the meantime so Lord make me happy so we put on a few records or go to a nice lively meeting no that isn't the way you get happy get back to the place of joy you can't grieve and quench the spirit here and expect his mighty effervescent if I may use the word without being irreverent ministries over here so if you would have fullness of joy you must to the present degree of light that God has given you

44:41 and the issues he's brought to your attention through the word you must be walking in the way of holiness righteousness and peace have kissed each other so if there is no joy I exhort you tonight to go to the place where the joy was lost and ask God once again to restore the joy of his salvation and then to make your spirit a steadfast spirit then I close with asking this last question do you fear more than anything else the loss of these things that David feared the loss of the presence of God the smile of God the spirit of God the joy of God the preservation protection of God it's amazing isn't it how we become so carnal not only in our joys but in our fears and we fear loss of job loss of reputation loss of possessions loss of this loss of that and yet to our shame we can live many times days on end with the loss of the things that David mentions and it never causes us one bit of concern oh may God forgive us for our carnal fears and impart to our hearts holy fears wouldn't it be wonderful to have a church of people that feared more than anything else that God might withdraw his conscious smile wouldn't it be wonderful to have a people filled with real holy fear

46:11 a people who feared that we might gather on a Sunday and God might not be with us in the presence and power of the Holy Ghost who feared it so much that we trembled to come to church without having cried to God that he would send his spirit and power amongst us who feared it so much that we would not dare enter his presence in one another's presence with any conscious controversies with the Lord or with each other oh to be baptized with such holy fears for those who fear these things are those who by the grace of God generally don't experience them but those who don't fear them are the very ones who are enmeshed in them if you're down on the bottom tonight and you can't even reach up and touch the bottom start with the first verse will you have mercy upon me oh God plead his mercy face your sin trace it to its roots call it what God calls it look to him and his appointed way of forgiveness purge me with this purge me in the appointed way the sprinkling of the blood of Christ and then having dealt with the sin you plead with him to restore the joy to uphold you with his spirit and then you'll be able to say as David did then will I teach transgressors thy ways I'll have a testimony again my lips will be opened in praise to thee in thy presence and in the presence of men it's not a very glamorous pathway

47:39 it's not a deep kind of mysterious hard deep deep hard to grasp there it is may God give us grace to walk in his ways to the glory of his name and the profit of our own hearts let us pray oh father forgive us we pray for our carnal fears make us like David