Guidelines

The Preacher's Burden and the Purpose of the Study

0:01 Now before we come to our second study in the announced subject assigned to me, namely cultivating communion with God from the Psalms, I want to say something that generally speaking only a preacher can fully understand so that you may better know how to pray for those who minister the word of God to you and even pray for the one who stands in that posture in this hour. When we come to the ministry of the word, as I trust we came in the previous hour, and

0:40 the servant of God gives himself in the totality of his redeemed humanity to preach to us, and we listen with the totality of our redeemed humanity, giving to the preacher. As God's mouthpiece, mind, and emotions, and the concentration even of our physical faculties, that impress made by the word is such that if God has spoken to us, the last thing in the world we want to do is to be speaking to others. We want to find a place to get alone with God and to pray.

1:22 And I frankly say I would rather be back in my home. I would rather be back in my home. I would rather be back in my motel room praying than standing here and preaching. To have to shut down the impresses made from the previous hour and to seek to open up afresh my own mind and spirit to the impress of the things that I have prepared is not what I would like to do, but believing that God has sovereignly ordered the arrangement of our time together as we pray.

1:56 We trust God and depend upon his Holy Spirit. I believe he will help us all that we may be open to the voice of God through the ministry of this hour, that I may know that ministry as I attempt to preach to you, and that nothing of God's purpose and the pressure of the word of God from the previous hour will be lost in the process. Now in taking up the subject assigned. Cultivating communion with God from the Psalms, what I attempted to do last evening was to raise and to answer two very basic questions.

Review of Previous Questions and Leupold's Summary

2:40 Question one, why are the Psalms uniquely helpful in the cultivation of our communion with God? And I gave three basic parts of the answer to that question. And secondly, what are the prerequisites for a profitable use of the Psalms in cultivating our communion with God? And perhaps the best way to distill the thrust of what we considered under those two questions is for me to simply read several paragraphs from the conclusion of Leupold's very helpful commentary on the Psalms.

3:25 And this is a conclusion of his introduction in which he writes, There does not seem to be any situation in life for which the Psalms do not provide both light and guidance. We are struck by the fact that there is really nothing that is new under the sun. We have yet to hear of men who have turned for a walk under the sun. We do not know how to do so.

3:54 But at the end of his introduction in which he writes, there does not seem to be any situation in life for which the Psalms do not provide both light and guidance. or guidance to the Psalms, and have not found it. This may be partly due to the fact that the tone of this book is always stimulating. Or it may be because the insights and the comforts of the Psalms are always so much to the point.

4:14 They are not the fruit of abstract meditations. They did not grow out of the study of the scholar. Rather, they were born out of real-life situations. They are often wet with tears and with the blood of their human authors.

4:35 This again may be due to the fact that the Psalms continually carry the reader into the immediate presence of God. They do not refer to him in the abstract. God is not a God of the distance to the psalmist. All the Psalms were prayed on the steps of the throne of mercy.

4:57 The light that emanates from that presence somehow gives light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Oft times the Psalms become the superlative utterance of our own deepest needs. This may sometimes work in such a fashion that Psalms that have long lain, dormant, suddenly break into life and become meaningful for us. At such times they strike us almost as if they had been providentially created

Guideline 1: Look for Jesus Christ in the Psalms (Biblical Basis)

5:36 for our own individual use by the wise providence of God. I say that is a distillation in great measure of the things I sought to set before you, last night, with respect to those two basic questions. Now in the hour before us this morning, what I propose to do is to set before you what I'm calling some basic guidelines for the profitable use of the Psalms in cultivating our communion with God.

6:13 These are basic guidelines for the profitable use of the Psalms in cultivating, your communion with God. And as time permits, I want to lay out three such guidelines, in each case demonstrating the biblical basis for the guideline and then, secondly, seeking to illustrate that guideline from the Psalms themselves. And the first guideline is this. As you read the Psalms,

6:52 Look for and expect to find the Lord Jesus Christ himself set before you. As you read the Psalms, look for and expect to find the Lord Jesus Christ himself set before you. Now, what is the biblical basis for this guideline? Well, I answer in two categories of response.

7:20 First of all, from the words of our Lord himself, and then the example of the inspired penman of the New Testament. From the words of our Lord himself, perhaps you've already anticipated the text to which I will refer, Luke chapter 24. In Luke chapter 24, we have this segment of the record of our Lord's post-resurrection ministry. And Luke records in verse 44, And he, that is Jesus, said unto them,

7:59 These are my words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. In other words, our Lord is telling them, From what I'm now about to unfold before you, I have already spoken in your presence. Specifically, I have told you that everything written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.

8:42 And if you'll turn back to Luke chapter 18, you see a record of the very thing to which our Lord is making reference. Luke 18 and verse 31. And he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man. For he shall be delivered up to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.

9:18 And they shall scourge and kill him. And the third day he shall rise again. Language could not be clearer that all of the prophecies of the Old Testament that went before him were now of necessity to be fulfilled. And they were to find fulfillment particularly in those central acts of his own redemptive activity by which he would secure the salvation of his people.

9:50 Yet in spite... Yet in spite of the clarity of our Lord's words, in spite of the fact that he is underscoring the necessity of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in these very events, look at verse 34.

10:07 And they understood none of these things. And this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things, which were said. Now Luke could not be more plain that the simple, clear, straightforward assertions of our Lord met with a blank stare on the part of his inner circle of disciples. They perceived not.

10:40 They understood not. And the lack of perception was not that our Lord was speaking in parabolic language, or was speaking in a...

10:52 or was speaking in a manner deliberately calculated to veil the true significance. He spoke in the plainest, bluntest forms concerning his coming suffering. He demonstrated the necessity of these things in the light of all of the Old Testament scriptures. Now in the setting recorded in Luke chapter 24, he says, These are the words which I spoke with you while I was yet with you, that all things must...

11:22 all needs be fulfilled that are written in Moses and in the Psalms and the Prophets concerning me. But now what happens? Verse 45. Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures.

11:40 And he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission, and that the redemption of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. So what our Lord says in this particular setting, with the exception of this additional emphasis, that on the ground of his accomplished redemptive work, the gospel must now go forth among all the nations, he does not tell them anything new. He says, I'm telling you now what I told you before. But the difference now...

12:22 The profound difference is that our Lord exercised a powerful ministry upon their spiritual cognitive faculties described here as the opening of their mind that they might understand the scriptures. And no little part of that activity was enabling them to see that they might understand the scriptures. And no little part of that activity was enabling them to see that not only in the law of Moses and in the prophets was the Lord Jesus present

13:01 and were his central saving redemptive activities delineated, but that also in the psalm there was that which spoke of himself. And now their minds were opened to understand. And furthermore, he had told them in the upper room discourse that after his departure, the spirit of truth would be given unto them and he would have even an additional ministry of leading them into all of the truth, that he would not speak of himself,

13:45 that he would testify of Christ. And so from the words of our Lord Jesus, himself, we should expect when turning to the book of Psalms to find our Savior there because he himself said he was there. The spirit of Christ that spoke through the human authors of the Psalms was continually pointing to himself before he was actually manifested in time for the redemption, for the redemption of his people. And as our Lord says, you search the scriptures

14:29 because in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me. No little part of those scriptures which testify of him is or are to be found in that section that we call the book of Psalms. So in the Psalms, we should expect to find our Lord Jesus, as we prayerfully, reflectively read them. But not only is the basis for this guideline to be found in the words of our Lord himself, but in the penman of the New Testament.

Guideline 1: Look for Jesus Christ in the Psalms (New Testament Example)

15:09 When the Spirit of God was given to them and operated in them, not only as ordinary believers under the new covenant, but in their unique capacity as the very instruments through which God would give us in scripturated, revelatory data, it is amazing how they see Christ in the Psalms. Let me illustrate it from just one chapter of the New Testament, and I refer to Hebrews chapter 1. In Hebrews chapter 1,

15:48 excuse me, would someone please get me a glass of water, I had one here, but I think it got removed. I would appreciate it. Hebrews chapter 1. Here in Hebrews 1, as the writer to the Hebrews is demonstrating that Christ is God's final word to men, and is setting forth the glory of Christ greater than the angels, notice verse 5.

16:25 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, then quoting from Psalm 2 and verse 7, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Indicating that Psalm 2 and verse 7 is a direct reference to the unique identity of Messiah as God's unique Son. Furthermore, in Hebrews 1 and verse 8, it says, but of the Son, he says, and then he quotes directly from Psalm 45 and verse 6. Thy throne, O God,

17:08 is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. In this Psalm, some would limit simply to a celebration of a king and of a king's marriage.

17:34 We find the inspired author of Hebrews saying that this points us directly to Christ in the uniqueness of his identity as the one who is addressed as God. And then in verse 10, And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you continue. They shall all wax old as does a garment, and as a mantle you will roll them up as in a garment they shall be changed.

18:09 But you are the same, and your years shall not fail. This is a direct quote from Psalm 102, verse 25 and following, in which the work of creation contrasted with the transitory nature of all that is created, the Creator, the changeless Creator is here designated as none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, greater than the angels who themselves are created beings. And then in verse 13, a direct quote from Psalm 110 in verse 1, But of which of the angels said he at any time,

18:53 Sit on my right hand till I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. In this one chapter in demonstrating Christ's greatness above the angels, no fewer than four distinct quotes from the book of Psalms. Surely the Psalms are pointing us again and again to our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. Now this principle could be illustrated from many other passages in the New Testament epistles and also the Gospels, but suffice it to say that since the book of Psalms

19:38 is quoted or alluded to more frequently in the New Testament than any other book in the Old Testament, and since Jesus Christ is the great theme of both Testaments, surely there is solid biblical warrant for this guideline as you read the Psalms, look for and expect to find your Lord Jesus Christ, Himself set before you. Now I am not saying, as some have said, that in every single Psalm,

20:21 Christ is the explicit focus of that particular Psalm. Christ is always the subject speaking in the Psalms, in that, in the language of 1 Peter 1.10, it is the Spirit of Christ in all of the inspired penmen who speaks, and though He is the subject speaking, He is not always the explicit object spoken about. And though it may sound very spiritual and very Christ honoring to say that Christ is somehow to be found

21:04 as the explicit object of every Psalm and every portion of the Word of God, I say it is an insult to the wisdom of Christ, to put Christ where He did not put Himself. And it is to rob the people of God of the ability to handle the Scriptures responsibly, and to negate the divinely intended purpose of many of the Scriptures to take the position that their ultimate focal point must be Christ Himself. For example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, speaking of a whole segment of the book of Exodus,

21:47 the wilderness wanderings, Paul, by the way, Paul by the Spirit says, These things happened unto them by way of example to the intent that we should so trust Christ that we will not sin as they sinned. No, that isn't what it says. It says, These things happened unto them by way of example to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. These things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come.

22:27 The primary purpose of the record of the sins of the wilderness generation, according to the Holy Ghost, is to be admonitory data to new covenant believers. Now, of course, because it is admonitory data to new covenant believers, when they fear before the record of the sins of that wilderness generation, they are to go to Christ for strength to overcome. They are to ask the Lord Jesus by the power of His Spirit to enable them to mortify those sins. All of that is true.

23:10 But to say that Christ in some dimension of His own personal glory or work is the explicit focus of all the Old Testament Scriptures is to fly into the face of the apostolic use of the Old Testament Scriptures. But on the other hand, to say that Christ is only present in those few Psalms that are intensely and densely prophetic and clearly point to Him is surely to fall far short of the use of the Psalms that we find in this one chapter of the book of Hebrews, where in Psalms upon their first reading

23:54 we would not expect the Lord Jesus was there. We find when we turn to the New Testament He is indeed there. Hence this first guideline for your profitable use of the Psalms. As you read the Psalms, look for and expect to find the Lord Jesus Christ Himself set before you.

Guideline 1: Illustrating Christ in the Psalms

24:23 Now having given the biblical basis for that guideline, let me seek to illustrate it briefly from the Psalms. First, behold your Lord in the obvious and explicit prophecies concerning Him that are found in the Psalms. Behold Him in the obvious and explicit prophecies concerning Him. On the day of Pentecost when Peter is preaching, we read in Acts chapter 2 when he is about to establish the validity of the claims of the resurrection

25:05 as essential to Jesus of Nazareth fulfilling the prophecies respecting Messiah. He quotes from the Psalms, Psalm 16 to be particular, to be specific, verse 25. For David said concerning Him, I beheld the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.

25:35 Moreover my flesh shall dwell in hope because you will not leave my soul unto Hades, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption. You made known unto me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your countenance. Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us unto this day.

26:02 Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to Him that of the fruit of His loins He would set one upon His throne, He foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of Christ. And you see here Peter is taking this portion of the 16th Psalm and says it is a prophecy of the resurrection of Messiah. And we have based upon this apostolic precedent the encouragement to read the Psalms seeking to behold our Lord

26:46 in those obvious and explicit prophecies concerning Him. Psalm 2, Psalm 22 His plaintive cry from the cross. Psalm 45, Psalm 69 quoted or alluded to no fewer than six times in the New Testament with direct reference to the Lord Jesus. Psalm 72 the reign of the righteous King which cannot find its ultimate fulfillment even in the glorious reign of King Solomon.

27:25 Psalm 110 which both our Lord and the Apostles apply on several occasions in the New Testament directly to the Lord Jesus. And when you come to those Psalms drink in what they say by way of prophetic utterance concerning your Lord because in the New Testament rarely do you find more than just a snippet with respect to its fulfillment. And we need to go back to the fountain from which to change the imagery that cup of refreshment was taken and there to find that larger pool of prophetic utterance pointing forward

28:10 to our Lord Jesus Christ. So in seeking to illustrate this guideline of expecting and looking for your Lord Jesus in the Psalms I say behold Him in the obvious and explicit prophecies concerning Him. But secondly behold your Lord particularly in the Davidic and Royal Psalms. Behold your Lord particularly in the Davidic and Royal Psalms.

28:43 There is no question that David as King in Zion the man after God's own heart is a divinely identified type of the Lord Jesus. So much so that in some of the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah Messiah is actually called David. For example in Ezekiel 34 verses 23 and 24 the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 34 after condemning the false shepherds God points to the true the great the final shepherd

29:28 whom He will send to His people. And in verse 23 we read and I will set up one shepherd over them and He shall fill them and He shall feed them even My servant David He shall feed them and be their shepherd and I the Lord will be their God and My servant David Prince among them I the Lord have spoken it. A similar reference in Ezekiel 37 24 and 25 Now is God here saying that He is actually going to resurrect David and make him the royal king over His people

30:12 in the messianic age? Of course not. But the one raised up is so identified with David not only as being the seed of David and the one who supremely was the man after God's own heart but who in coming to His messianic reign and in the administration of that reign will have many aspects that were reflected backward on the life and ministry of David as God's righteous king. So when you come into such psalms as Psalm 21

30:57 and Psalm 22 and psalms of that nature that are distinctly connected with David and his reign you should expect that in the outpouring of David's cries to God cries that often came in the midst of opposition to His person and to His reign to remember that you are being taken as it were into the prayer room of the Lord Jesus Himself. For surely if He takes the Psalm of David Psalm 22 and in experience of David His own desertion and makes the words of David His own

31:41 at the pinnacle of His suffering under the horrors of the wrath of God breaking in billows over His soul if He does not scruple to take the very words of David my God my God why hast Thou forsaken me I cry unto You in the day and in the night season I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not I am not silent and looks back upon the experience of the fathers who trusted and were helped but now He finds Himself a worm and no man who has not been taken deeper into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings by a prayerful

32:25 reflective reading of Psalm 22? Well in the same way the Royal and Davidic Psalms will often capture for us us dimensions of our lord's struggles our lord's exercise of soul as he seeks to do the will of his father in coming to the place of exaltation through his horrible baptism of opposition and then even from his place of exaltation the kings of the earth continue to conspire against

33:04 the lord and against his anointed and we are allowed as it were into some of the secrets of our lord's heart as we thus read those davidic and royal psalms i heartily recommend if you can come across it the commentary in the tyndale series by kinder on psalm 1 psalms 1 through 72 and he has a most balanced statement concerning this aspect that i'm attempting to set before you he writes we have seen that the new

33:41 testament draws material of this kind from from some 15 psalms that is materials that point to the identity of jesus as messiah but a closer look at the way these are handled will suggest that they are regarded as samples of a much larger corpus it would scarcely seem too much to infer from this treatment that wherever david or the davidic king appears in the psalter except where he is confessing

34:19 failure to live up to his calling he foreshadows in some degree the messiah and then he demonstrates that from some of the passages that i've already quoted from the new testament he says summarizes by saying we seem to be justified in saying of david and his fellow psalmists what was said of moses and his generation these things happen to them to because or significantly we see the davidic king in the face of the nations whom he is to subdue

34:57 psalm 2 9 we see him in the face of his people whom he guides with the skillful ness of his hands psalm 78 72 or whose bride the beauty of whom he will greatly desire psalm 45 11 or his god whose authority he wields psalm 110 and verse 2 david does not emerge faultless from the psalter any more than from the historical records when he asserts his righteousness for example 18

35:35 20 and following it is only relative for he is a forgiven man psalm 32 1 one who is greatly sinned psalm 51 but as the perfect kingdom is foreshadowed by a limited and imperfect one so the perfect man capital m is typified by a sinner whose sufferings faith sovereignty and sonship he the lord jesus utterly transcends and i would encourage you in your reading of the psalms i am not speaking to my brethren now principles of preaching the psalms there another whole

36:19 series of studies would be necessary but the child of god coming to the psalms with a view to cultivating his communion with god i say look for and expect to find your lord jesus in these three psalms and牧 in this psalms

36:56 man or the ideal covenant keeper. Behold your Lord in those portions of the Psalms which describe the righteous man or the ideal covenant keeper. For example, in Psalm 40, and we have New Testament warrant for saying that this has a direct application to the Lord Jesus. In Psalm 40, the Psalm that begins with the testimony quoted in the previous hour, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also

37:40 out of a horrible pit and out of a miry clay and set my feet upon a rock. It is in this Psalm that we read these words. Verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come. In the role of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within

38:03 my heart. I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly. Lo, I will not refrain my lips. These words are directly applied to our Lord Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10. And I at times have asked the children, what do you think were

38:24 the last words of the pre-incarnate, the unfleshed second person of the Godhead when he left the presence of his father and came to Mary's womb and there took to himself a true human soul and body? What were the last words that he said? And I at times have asked the children, what do you think were the last words that he uttered in that face-to-face immediacy with his father? Well, Hebrews tells us, Lo, I come, a body. You have prepared me. I delight to do thy will, O my God.

39:06 You see, in this delighting to do the will of God, David could say that as a redeemed sinner who had been given a new heart. Whose heart of stone had been removed in terms of the language of new covenant experience. Yet it is this very same David who had been brought into a situation that demanded that he cry to God for mercy and pardon and forgiveness. And there is only one who can say without any reservation, any qualification, any equivocation, can say it without

39:50 ever having to follow the confession with the acknowledgment of sin or failure. Lo, I am come. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Only one. And that is our

40:07 blessed Lord, who even in the unspeakable mystery of Gethsemane, when everything in his holy sanctified human will, has been done. And that is our blessed Lord, who even in the unspeakable mystery of Gethsemane, when everything in his holy sanctified human will, has been done. And that is our Aversion to fronting the unleashed fury of the wrath of his father. And he prays, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

40:36 Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He was not saying, nevertheless, I'll knuckle under, let thy will be done to me. No, what he's saying, nevertheless, in spite of that holy aversion of my holy human soul to the horrible mystery of drinking the cup of unleashed fury against imputed sin. Not my will, but thy will be done, not to me, but thy will be done by me with all of the energy.

41:19 And the vigor of my soul. Hence he walks out of Gethsemane with princely and goes to all of the shame of Gabbatha and then Golgotha and bless God, the open tomb. So I urge you, my dear brothers and sisters, seek to behold your Lord in those portions of the Psalms which describe the righteous man, the ideal covenant keeper. And there.

41:56 See the Lord Jesus as he is set before us. Read Psalm 1 in this light. Oh, the blessedness of the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, who does not stand in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Who supremely fulfills that description?

42:24 But the holy and the righteous one. Admire and worship and praise and gaze upon your Lord Jesus as the perfect fulfillment of the righteous ideal of Psalm 1. And then, as the scripture says, Beholding is in a mirror of the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into that same image from one stage of glory to another. And he that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked, and whom He foreknew He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.

43:01 Then you pray, O Lord, as You perfectly fulfilled this standard of the blessedness of what man was meant to be. So, Lord Jesus, in Your strength and power, make me more and more to turn away from every bit of the advice of the ungodly. Give me a sensitivity to recognize when I am standing in the way with sinners and to forsake that way. And, O Lord Jesus, bring every thought captive to Your obedience that I shall never think as the scoffer.

43:38 Make me like Yourself as You are portrayed here in this ideal man of Psalm 1. In Psalm 15, who shall ascend into the hill of God? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity or sworn deceitfully, who among us is prepared to say, That's what we are, imperfection?

44:06 But there is one who could say those words without any reservation. His hands were ever clean, His heart ever single and pure. And you behold the Lord Jesus, the One who, in any circumstance, can lift up His heart unto His Father and know that He immediately has access. I know, Father, Thou hearest Me.

44:34 Always. Why? He never needed to pause to ask for the cleansing of His hands and the purifying of His heart. He lived with clean hands and a pure heart and could ascend in a millisecond of conscious concentration of mind into the very immediate, peculiar, intimate presence of His Father because He was the righteous man.

45:06 And so I would urge you, and if I don't get time to flesh out the other principles, I trust I've persuaded your judgment of this. Read the Psalms, looking for and expecting to find in them your Lord Jesus Christ. Your Lord Jesus Christ. Your Lord Jesus Christ.

Guideline 2: Read Psalms with New Covenant Light and Privileges (Biblical Basis)

45:26 Particularly behold Him in the obvious and explicit prophecies concerning Him. Behold Him in the Davidic and royal psalms. Behold Him in the portions of the psalms which describe the righteous man, the ideal covenant keeper. But then secondly, and this is absolutely crucial,

45:51 the second guideline I would lay before you is this. As you read this, as you read the Psalms, bring to your reading the greater light and the enlarged privileges which are yours as a believer under the new covenant. As you read the Psalms, bring to your reading the greater light and the enlarged privileges which are yours as a believer under the new covenant.

46:26 Now again, I'll follow the same outline. The biblical basis for the guideline, the guideline illustrated from the Psalms. On what basis do I give this guideline? Well, let me say I trust that everyone here holds tenaciously to the truth that the people of God are basically one in every epoch of God's redemptive grace and activity. All are lost in Adam. Any who are redeemed are redeemed

47:00 in Christ. Any and all who are justified are justified on the grounds of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, a righteousness received in Christ by faith alone. If you have any question about that, simply read Romans chapter 4, where Paul, establishes that thesis, pointing to Abraham before the giving of the law, David after the giving of the law, in establishing the truth at the ground of a sinner's acceptance has always

47:37 been the same. However, however, in terms of light and intelligently enjoyed privilege, there is progression, and, enlargement and i'm not speaking now of the new covenant community that's another whole block of biblical data and theological issues but i'm speaking of the individual believer you remember what jesus said in matthew 11 and verse 11 concerning john the baptist

48:16 verily i say unto you among them that are born of women there has not arisen a greater than john the baptist of those born of women john stands at the head of the list in the estimation of christ yet he that is but little or lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he knows our lord a closet dispensation list no he was mediator of the new covenant and no one understood more fully and clearly than did he

49:00 did he that under the new covenant that new thing of which john was the forerunner there would be light and privilege far exceeding the light and privilege of those under the old covenant even to those who are what we might call the first slings of the new covenant community in the upper room discourse he says to them it's necessary that i go away the full blessings of light and privilege of union and communion with me and with the father and with one another all of these things must await my departure and the descent of the spirit

49:44 greater light greater privilege will come to you when all of the blessings of the new covenant are finally locked into place and that was not all done in a day or a week it happened over that epoch with the forerunner with the final word of revelation chapter twenty two that epoch has been ushered in and therefore when we read and sing the psalm says amines of cultivating our communion with god we are not

50:22 simply to seek to discover the historical situation which originally gave birth to the song and and try to put ourselves where David or Asaph happened to be when they penned the psalm, as though Bethlehem never occurred, as though Golgotha never transpired, as though there were no open tomb, no ascension amidst the clouds, no descent of the Spirit, and no completed canon of the New Testament.

50:57 No. We are to read the psalms in the full blazing light of Bethlehem, of Golgotha, of the resurrection, of Pentecost, and of a completed written revelation given to us by the Spirit of God. You see, we are not children in an age of tutelage, but according to Galatians chapter 4, verses 10, 3 to 6, we are children who have the status of adopted sons.

51:37 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world, but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son, not just the Holy Spirit generically, by whom alone Abraham and Moses and the patriarchs were regenerate. None of them lived the way they lived, under some self-help scheme,

52:18 this nonsense that Old Testament saints only had the Spirit on them and we had the Spirit in us. It's ludicrous.

52:28 No, these men knew God. They knew God by the regenerating work of the Spirit, but they did not know the Spirit as the Spirit of the Son. The Son had not yet been manifested in space-time history. The eternal Word had not taken to Himself a true human soul and body in Mary's womb.

52:49 He had not accomplished His redemptive work in time, gone to the right hand of the Father, and as the crowning attestation of His identity as Messiah, received the promise of the Spirit and sent Him down upon His church and upon His people to be with them forever. But now that He has, that Spirit is given to all believers, enabling us to address God with filial liberty and confidence, enabling us to cry, Abba, the Aramaic form of Father. And while I know that some find it distasteful, to say the closest parallel is Daddy,

53:33 perhaps at least we can say Dad. There's something about the word Dad. When my sons-in-law began to call me Dad, I knew I was in their hearts.

53:48 And the Spirit of God who comes to indwell us, enables us to address God with felt internal spiritual affinity in terms of what He really is to us. He is Father. So thou art no longer. No longer a bond-servant, but a son.

Guideline 2: Illustrating New Covenant Light (Death and Pardon)

54:06 And if a son, then an heir through God. And therefore, when we come to read the Psalms, how are we to read them? We are to read them in the light of the greater privileges and enlarged understanding that is ours as believers under the New Covenant. Now let me illustrate this from the Psalms very quickly in just two specific areas.

54:33 First of all, the greater measure of light and understanding surrounding death, the intermediate state, and our final glorification. Almost every conservative, evangelical, and reformed scholar who has written a commentary on the Psalms is careful to point out that in those Psalms where the issue of what lies beyond the grave is addressed, there are a few places where the light seems to break out for a moment like a flash-bulb. But there is no floodlight over the grave. It's not emblazoned in permanent illumination.

55:17 And you find in some of those Psalms an aversion to death. In the grave there is no remembrance of you. Shall the dead praise you? Well, you see, in this whole area we read in 2 Timothy 1.10

55:33 the critical word Christ has brought life and immortality through the Gospel. He hasn't brought them into existence through the Gospel, but He's brought them to light. No longer is there a flash-bulb going on here and there in the prophetic insight of one of the writers. Christ has come, and now He has emblazoned with permanent life, light, life and immortality.

56:07 So then, we pick up Psalm 23, and we come to these words, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord. Now, what did David know when he wrote those words?

56:40 I'm not sure, but one thing I know that he didn't know. He could not speak those words with the light of such passages as John 14. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. In my Father's house are many dwelling places.

56:58 If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. So when I read Psalm 23, I read it in the light of John 14.

57:23 I read it in the light of 2 Corinthians 5, 8. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I read it in the light of Philippians 1, 23. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.

57:41 I read it in the light of 1 Thessalonians 4, 14-18, and 1 Corinthians 15. You see, Christ, through His gospel, through His own death and resurrection, and the inspired apostolic commentary upon the significance of that death and resurrection, Christ being first fruits of all who sleep, we now have the greater light that is blazing over the darkness of the tomb and the grave. And you and I are to read those Psalms

58:20 in the light of that greater privilege and understanding. We could say that with many other passages, but one other area by way of illustrating this guideline, the greater measure of light and understanding we have concerning the ground of a sinner's pardon and acceptance before God in Christ. Read the Psalms with this greater measure of light and understanding concerning the ground of a sinner's pardon and acceptance before God in Christ. Let me illustrate.

59:01 We take Psalm 32. In which the Psalmist speaks of the blessednesses of the man who is a forgiven and a pardoned sinner. Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

59:19 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. If you are praying through that Psalm and reflecting on the blessedness of being forgiven, are you simply to read it with the measure of understanding that David may have had? No! Bring to it the full light of Romans chapter 5.

59:43 That through the obedience of the one, God has perfected a righteousness that is put to the account of every believer. That there is not only the non-imputation of sin, there is the imputation of the perfect record of the Son of God. Read it in the light of Galatians 3.13.

60:07 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree. Read it in the light of 2 Corinthians 5.21.

60:21 For he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. And if David's heart comes near the bursting point with his measure of understanding of the grounds of forgiveness and pardon, being outside of himself in the doing and the work of another, what should our hearts feel when they bring to the felt sense of forgiveness the light and the glory of an accomplished redemption? Likewise, in the ongoing struggle with sin, when we have fallen grievously

61:06 and sinned to the crippling of our souls, we need to read Psalm 51 in the light of 1 John 2.2. If any man sin, we have at the point when we least think we would have and most keenly feel that righteously we shouldn't have. If any man sin, precisely at that point, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is propitiation for our sins.

61:44 He embodies in his place all the virtue of his turning away of the wrath of God. Several weeks ago, when seeking to get in a praying form on a Sunday morning and feeling such distance, there was one man who asked me to open a door in his heart and utter a verse that became the open door for me. Hebrews 9.22 Now to appear before the face of God for us.

62:18 If ever there was a time I was tempted to do as some of our brethren in certain ecclesiastical circles and feel that if God gives you a text with power and prayer, preach on it, I was tempted to set aside all the hours of preparation. now to appear before the face of God for us and all the glory of knowing that whatever sins have plagued my life and now sting my conscience I can come into the presence of God with an advocate who appears before the face of God for me not to say amen to my condemning conscience and

63:00 bury me in despair but to point in the language the graphic language of Wesley to his five bleeding wounds that he bears received on Calvary they pour effectual prayers they strongly plead for me forgive him oh forgive they cry nor let that ransomed sinner die oh child of God read the psalms with the greater measure of light and understanding concerning the ground of a sinner's pardon and acceptance before God in Christ I've tried to illustrate it from Psalm 32 Psalm 51 Psalm 103

63:45 a psalm of pure praise bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits well stop at that point and then read Romans 8 and start praising him for the benefits delineated in Romans 8 you're no longer under condemnation you're no longer held in the realm of the flesh but in the realm of the spirit you have been given the spirit of sonship you're an heir of God in a joined heir with Christ you have assistance in your present infirmity of not being able to pray you have the pledge of a resurrected

64:27 body you have the promise of no separation read Romans 8 and then come back to Psalm 103 and begin to say bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits pray through the psalm in the light of the glorious privileges of a believer under the new covenant well I'm going to take three minutes and end right at the hour the third guideline and I'll just articulate it and I'll leave your imagination to exegete it as you read the psalms

Guideline 3: Understand the Hebrew Temperament and Poetic Expression

65:04 as you read the psalms remember they reflect the language of the Hebrew temperament inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion finding expression with poetic intensity and liberty he said Pastor Martin that's too big a mouthful I can't even write the first half of it well I tried to reduce it but I couldn't so if you come up with a psalm that's too big a mouthful the better way of saying it help me out this is the first time around with this material as you read

65:42 the psalms remember they reflect the language of the Hebrew temperament inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion and finding expression with poetic intensity and liberty what do I mean by the Hebrew temperament I mean a temperament that God sent to me and I'm going to read the psalms the psalms remember they reflect the language of the Hebrew temperament inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion finding expression with poetic intensity and liberty what do I mean by the

66:07 sovereignly molded and framed that was in contrast to some of us of more reserved temperamental backgrounds that was in touch with the stuff of the real world was not detached and philosophic but was earthy that was in constant touch with the real world so much so that it became a great hindrance to the progress of the gospel

66:37 in the first century the Jews are asking for signs the Greeks they want lofty thoughts they seek for wisdom fly by some scintillating philosophical dirigibles and you'll get their attention but not the Hebrews they say we don't want stuff up there we want stuff that's happening down here we want this tangible physical world to show the impact of the reality of your message and that Hebrew temperament that reflects the

67:07 God formed the nation to reflect his own may I say it reverently his own temperament God is not a stoic God is a feeling God and though his feelings have nothing of the sinful dimensions with which all of our emotions are tainted I'm not embarrassed to read it grieved God at his heart that he had made man and I'm in

67:39 God must be irritated when he reads the commentators who say this doesn't mean that God felt anything like human grief well if it didn't why does he tell us that it grieved him at his heart it grieved him he rejoices when our Lord Jesus gives the parables of the lost coin the lost sheep the lost son what's he illustrating said that God incarnate is welcoming sinners with joy and he says if you only knew the heart of God you wouldn't do that there is joy in God's heart in the presence of the angels we always say there's joy in the angels no there's joy in the

68:19 presence of the angels god is like the shepherd who calls the angels to rejoice with him and share in his joy like the woman who's found her lost coin and calls her friend and the father who calls the household god rejoices god grieves and i believe he molded the hebrew temperament to reflect his own heart his own temperament and in his own inscrutable sovereignty he used such people of that temperament and then allowed them to come under deep religious passion or agitation passion and agitation touching the great issues of the soul's relationship to god to heaven to hell

69:01 to the great concerns of the moral administration of the world and the government of god in a world ofaped sin and evil. God took the Hebrew temperament, allowed individuals upon whom he laid his hand to be inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion, and then directed them to express themselves in the Psalms, not in prose, but in poetic intensity and liberty. And isn't that the mark of all poetry, regardless of its form? There is an intensity of language and a liberty of

69:41 language that is inappropriate to prose. And so when you read about hills dancing and fields clapping their hands and mountains skipping, you realize here's the intensity and the liberty of poetry. And you see, poetry is aimed not primarily to illuminate the mind, but to move the soul.

70:08 It has a peculiar benefit. I can stand here and say, we all ought to say, Lord Jesus, I love you and I thirst for you. But what is there about the words, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men, from the best bliss that earth imparts, we turn unfilled to thee again. Well, you see, God ordained that the greatest, densest, most powerful body of revelatory data, in which we have direct address to God, should be couched in

70:45 the form of poetic intensity and liberty by people of Hebrew temperament, inflamed or deeply agitated with religious passion. Therefore, if you're not prepared to have your heart stretched and your tear ducts opened, and your feet be made dead, you're not prepared to have your heart stretched and your tear ducts opened, and your feet be made dead, and your feet be made dead, you better put a sign over the Psalms, do not enter here. But if you want to dance for joy, and weep for joy, and hang your head in holy mourning, and be drawn out of yourself in

71:27 adoration and worship, when your own words fail you by their poverty, welcome to the Psalms, and to a passionate Hebrew heart, expressing itself in the liberty, and intensity of poetry, and the Psalms will be your companion till the Lord takes you to a better place. Well, I said I could only just give you the heading and leave to you to work out the implications, and I've taken four more minutes than what I said I would take. May the Lord bless us and help us as we seek by his grace to have the spirit of the Bereans to search the scriptures with respect to these things. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

72:15 Our Father, how we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the richness of it, and how we pray that you will take this portion of your word, this section of your word in which you have given us this broad spectrum of the cries, and sighs, and shouts, and longings, and perplexities of your people through the ages, and cause each one of us to be a part of your life. We pray that you will allow us to determine that we shall dig into them as never before, that our communion with you may be heightened and expanded, and take on all forms of new

72:59 dimensions of reality. O Lord, stretch our hearts, we pray. Have mercy upon us. Unite our hearts to fear your name. Draw us, and we will run after you.

73:16 Seal to us all that we have been privileged to hear from your word this morning. Sanctify our conversation about the tables. May we be those who, fearing you, speak often one to another. May we speak one to another this day in psalms and hymns, singing and making melody in our hearts unto you, and speaking words seasoned with grace one to another.

73:44 Hear our prayer and receive it. Receive our thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.