Instruct, teach, and guide
Key Passage: Psalm 32:8
Date: January 2, 2023
Turn your Bibles to Psalms chapter number 32, if you would, please. Psalm 32. And we’re going to look at that verse. We briefly mentioned it this morning at the end, Psalm 32, and verse number eight. And we’re just going to go through this verse fairly quick and then go back and get the context. So Psalm 32:8 is where we’re starting at tonight in the Bible.
Now I’m just looking at. Praise Lord for great people. I’m just great people in our church and faithful people. Out of all of America, you and people like you gathered across American churches. Now those are great people.
And that’s what’s made America. God’s made America great, but he’s made it great because of those people. And praise the Lord for that, that tribe, if you will. And I look back to see the Stovers. They were in her church for years and years, 15 years. Wow. Someone mentioned this morning. And just blessing to have them back today. And it kind of reminds you of old times a little bit. I had to do something almost for just reminiscence sake. I asked him about Green Bay. I had to ask him because that’s just kind of, you know, that’s what it always was, you know? And he always said they’re going to be all right this year, and that’s what he said again this morning, and they usually are, so amen for that.
But good to see you out tonight. Would you please stand if you would as I read God’s word together? Psalm 32 and verse number 8. Psalm 32 and verse number eight.
And the Bible says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go. I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Would you pray and ask the Lord to speak to your heart as I do the same? Lord, many, Father, these people heard me many times. Lord, I’ve got nothing for them, Lord, but you do. And so I preach your word, and your spirit would come through tonight and feed us, give us what we need, grow us. Lord, I pray that people will be more equipped to go out and shine for you because of tonight. And when we think about next Sunday and all those things, we ask for your blessings on that. But for tonight, Lord, would you meet with us for this brief time? And we’ll thank you for what you do, Lord. And it’s in Jesus name we ask. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. There are three words very interesting God says it’ll do for you. He says instruct, teach, and guide. Have you been around here for a while? You know, I like to really see the first time a word is used, and so often that adds a lot of meaning to it. It’s very interesting. Look at this word instruct. God says, instruct you.
And the first time that is mentioned, it’s talking about when God gave the law. It’s kind of rehearsing a little bit. It’s in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 4:36. But he’s rehearsing when God gave those commandments to Moses. And it says, “And out of heaven, he made thee to hear his voice that he might instruct thee.”
So the first word, first time this word instruct is used, it’s talking about the voice of God. How many out there you like to hear the voice of God? And that’s something. I mean, you can’t explain it. It’s not audible. If it was audible, we’d still be running. Amen. You don’t talk about it, but you know it’s the voice of God. It’s sometimes so crystal clear. It’s funny when the voice of God speaks to some, they cry. Some, they like to shout and raise their hands a little bit. Not right or wrong, but just nothing like hearing from the voice of God. God’s saying, “I’ll instruct thee.” You’ll hear my voice. I’ll speak to you. I’ll lead you.
By the way, it’d be so good, good young people. You ever think about it? It’s amazing to me, but all of the, for the most part, all the major decisions of life you make when you’re young. So in a lot of times, you’ve not gained the wisdom of years, but God for some reason says, I just want the system to be where when you’re young, it wasn’t to be good when you’re young to have the instruction and teaching and guidance of God.
And maybe middle age—I’m trying to put myself in that category. I don’t want to be in the next category, you know—but the kids are grown in that thing that dominated so much of your time and attention, raising kids. You don’t have it anymore. And so you’re trying to kind of shift gears and find out where your happy spot is, if you will. And yet, you know, you’ve got kids and grandkids watching, so you’ll be right for them. And wouldn’t it be good at that stage, middle age, to have the instruction, teaching, and guidance of God?
Of course, we don’t have anybody in the next category. We don’t have anybody in the older category. Not at all. I mean, I—not at all. Brother Warren’s looking at me like that big liar up there. But, you know, by the time you reach that category, you realize how important decisions are. They matter. And there’s consequences for them. And you want to finish strong. That’s a great desire. That’s a great desire. And it wouldn’t be wonderful at that stage of life to have the instruction and the teaching and the guidance of God. That’s what he says.
Instruction is talking about hearing God’s voice. And teach: He’ll instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go. The first time the word teach is used, it is actually the Lord speaking with Moses when he’s calling him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said, “Lord, I don’t know what in the world to say. I stutter anyway,” you know, and he’s kind of arguing with God. And Exodus 4:12, God says, “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.”
Nothing like hearing from the voice of God, but there’s nothing like when God uses you to say the right thing, maybe to help someone or guide someone or encourage someone. Nothing like that. And God says, I’ll teach you how to speak to people to be influenced for Christ. I mean, would someone say, “Only one life, so soon will pass; only what’s done for Christ will last.” And if God has used you to make an impact, make a difference in someone’s life, wouldn’t it be a blessing? I said, I’ll teach you. It has to do it. Maybe you make a difference in someone. What to say to people, whether it be your children, grandchildren, or a stranger at Walmart you’ll witness to. But teach, he said, I’ll instruct you, I’ll teach you.
Then he said, I’ll guide thee with mine eye. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in real life, but you’ve seen it in videos on TV, whatnot. They have that mouse in that maze, and the cheese is way down there, and they’ve got all the different, you know, places they can go. Some of your ladies are like, “I don’t want to ever see that in real life anyway. I mean, I’ll just leave that long,” you know.
But you see it, and you’re looking from top down, and you see if they go that way, it’s going to end in the dead end, so they’ve got to come all the way back, and then they’ve got to go this way. You see it from the top down, and you know, “Hey, dummy, go that way,” you know, that type of thing. And it’s talking about with God’s eyes. He sees it from the top down. You can see the beginning, you can see the end, you can see all the in-between. God’s the same way. God says, I can guide you. He can make us miss dead ends. He can guide us where we don’t waste years of our life. He’ll instruct us, he’ll teach us, and he’ll guide us with his eye.
How many out there, would you like that? I would like that a whole lot. I’ll raise both hands on that right there. I mean, I’m all about that. That’d be wonderful. Now, here’s my mind. My mind goes to all right. Who is this promise to? Is that for me? Is it just automatically mine? What about this? What’s the context here? So let’s just take a little time tonight, maybe a touch of a Bible study, and let’s just find out who this promise of instruct, teach, and guide is for. I like to be one of those right there, I mean? I like to be that right there.
Let’s go back to the very first verse of this Psalm, and maybe even in your Bible it’s got a little header before it, and my Bible says, “A Psalm of David.” You got that? You got that? Good. So we know David’s the one that penned it. Seems fairly clear in this one here.
“Maschil,” some of you’ll have that in your Bible. That’s a Hebrew word for having to do with instruction. It’s a Psalm of Instruction. But let’s look at this thing. Let’s just try to, all right, what’s the context? What’s going on? We want to claim verse 8. Who is it for? How do we claim it? Verse number one. It says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
Stop and just talk about it here a little bit. Some will say this Psalm is a repentant—a repentant Psalm. I beg to differ a little bit. I believe it’s after you have repentance, repentance, and you’ve gotten forgiveness now.
Now, let’s just think about that a little bit. We know David is the one that penned it. And now David, he’s to the point, he’s gotten forgiveness. His sins are covered by the blood of the coming Lamb for him, all right? Now, let’s just think about David. David, he had many sins, but the one we think of so often is David and Bathsheba. You remember he had the affair with Bathsheba, and then he was trying to hide it. And so, and she was expecting him. And so you remember Uriah? He brought Uriah back and tried to get Uriah to be with his wife? And it just didn’t turn out like he wanted it to. And by the way, it’s amazing how one sin leads to another sin if you don’t get it right. That’s always the way sin is, always. And that’s what happens in David’s life. And eventually, David basically has Uriah murdered. You know the story. How many of you know the story out there? You know the story. A vast majority of it, you do. And by the way, Wednesday nights, we’re covering the life of David. We’ll be here pretty soon in the life of David on Wednesday nights. But he has Uriah killed. And remember what happens? What happens? He thinks, “Well, I kind of got it covered,” if you will. And yet we’ll read a little bit later on about what was going on inside of David during that time. I believe it reveals it in this Psalm here.
But what happens? The old prophet, the old preacher Nathan, comes to David. And he says, “Hey, David, you got a minute or two? I’ve got a good story for you.” It’s amazing how he is a wise preacher. He just framed that thing just right. And I always think it’s very important how you deliver a message from God. Nathan was wise about it. “Let me tell you a story.” David says, “Sure, I always got time for a good story.”
And so Nathan tells him this story about the farmer. He had all kind of sheep. He had money. He was rich. He just—sheep farmer, basically—had sheep all over the place. They didn’t talk about that poor man? That only had one. And it really wasn’t a farm; it was a pet. We know a little bit about that because Sarah, many of you know Sarah, she bought a lamb, and we raised that thing to sheep. We had that. It was our sheep. I mean, that crazy thing had been in our house before we enlarged or remodeled, whatever. Actually, I brought it in for a sermon illustration. I don’t want to do it on the new carpet, so I did it on the old carpet, amen. You know.
Praise the Lord, no accidents happened when we used that sheep. But Snowball, Snowball’s our pet, so I can relate a little bit to this poor guy. In fact, the Bible talks about how that sheep would come in in the house and everything; it was their pet. But the rich guy, he wanted to have lamb chops. How many ever had lamb chops before? They’re pretty good. How many ever had whatever you call it, gyro, giroe, or giroe, whatever? Anybody ever? Yeah, that’s pretty good stuff, especially we got real lamb meat in there. And anyway, he wanted it. He wanted it, gyro, whatever you call it. He wanted one of those. And so, so, you know, can’t get to, you know, somebody’s got to. And so instead of taking one of his sheep, he—remember—he got that poor guy’s sheep, and he killed him and had lamb chops.
And old Nathan said, “David, what do you think? What’d I do with a guy like that?” David’s getting mad by this time. I mean, he is a good storyteller, that Nathan was. David’s, “Man, we ought to get that guy.” Whoever that guy is, I’m going to get him. Remember what Nathan said? “Hey, big boy, you’re the guy.” Here’s the good thing about David: David said, “You’re right.”
That’s when God used David to pen Psalm 51. Maybe would you just look over there real quickly in Psalm 51 real quickly here? This is the repentant Psalm. I’m not saying it’s the only one, but Psalm 51 is the most known one. And David’s confessing his sin over here in Psalm 51. And let’s just look at the first three verses. David says, “O God, have mercy upon me, according to thy lovingkindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.”
We won’t read the whole thing, but it’s just David’s just—he’s getting right with God. He’s owning up to it. He’s confessing his sin. He’s making things right. And he’s—he’s having just—just getting right with the Lord. “I’m the one in need, and it’s my fault, and I’m the one who created me a clean heart,” and so on. All for the song. I’m just a wonderful song.
I believe that, maybe if we were to put it in order, maybe it would be Psalm 51 and then Psalm 32. David’s getting right by God, he’s repenting, and now he’s got the forgiveness of God, the cleansing of God.
Let’s go back over to Psalm 32 now. It’s after he’s gotten forgiveness, after he’s gotten cleansing from God. And that’s what he’s talking about there in verse number one. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Then he says, “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
You see, when you get real honest with God, you don’t have trickery and deceiving things going on your heart, real feelings towards others or whatever. You don’t have all that in your heart. You’re clean, you’re fresh, you’re right. That comes after you repent and you just seek the Lord, his forgiveness, and it’s cleansing, and God grants it. And now…
He said, “There’s blessed,” happy, many will call it. And there is no guile. It’s amazing. He keeps going here. And I believe he talks a little bit in the next two verses about that time period where he was trying to hide his sin, trying to hide his affair and his murder and all that.
And verse number three, “When I kept silence, I was just trying to keep it all hidden, secret. My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” It’s just—have you ever been just so convicted or so down that your bones, you just feel like they’re aging? I mean, what happens when you get older to your bones? Well, they lose their density, they lose their strength. An old Uncle Arthur comes in. Anybody know anything about that? Yeah. And your bones and your joints, they ache in the morning, they ache at the noon time, they ache in the evening, they just ache all the time, you know. And you just hurt.
And David says, “My bones, they just got old real quick. I was trying to be silent. I didn’t want to make things right. I was just trying to hide it all.” And he said, “I’ll tell you what, my bones wax old through my roaring.” I was fussy, mad at the world, mean old guy. My roaring all, and my bones just waxed old. He’s convicted. He wasn’t right.
Verse number four, “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.” Just not right with God, it doesn’t matter if you just got a brand new house, new car. Still, at nighttime, you’re just not happy, and you feel like you have a thousand pounds on your back. When you’re convicted, you’re worried all the time about what’s going to happen. If you did just get a new car, you’re afraid you’re going to wreck it. You get a new house, you worry about a tornado coming through all the time. You just always—you’ve got 1,000 pounds on your back. That’s what’s going on with David. He said, day and night, his hand was heavy upon me. You’re just convicted. You’ve got to wait on you.
Then he says, “My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” Selah. Just pause. Take a minute and think about that. This summer was a pretty good summer as far as rain. Typically about August, everything dries up around here. And typically if you walk out this front sidewalk, you’ll see exactly where the rocks are underneath the ground because it’s brown. Those spots—everything just dries up. This year we’ve had rain go through pretty good, and unfortunately, it’s made the grass continue to grow. Anybody want to say amen on that? Unfortunately, there you know. And so we have to cut the grass. Cutting season has been long this year. But but typically, you know, in the summer, come around August, it gets real dry.
I’m at California. What about those fires? You know, we were—we were there not too long ago. It’s amazing. I was just brown. You’re like, “I understand how the fires can spread so quickly.” Summertime this season. And David says, “When I didn’t want to get things right, I was trying to keep it all silent,” and he said, “I just—I was shriveling up and drying up. I had no youthfulness, no zeal about me. I just—just like a drought was coming in my life. And I just dried up and stale and browned and everything dying, if you will, in my life.”
Verse number five, it changes. Look at verse number five, if you would there. Psalm 32, look at verse number five. “For I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Selah.
Oh, what a difference when you just get real honest. What a difference when you just acknowledge. By the way, all of us have to do this unless you’re perfect. And there’s only one that’s there, friend. And all of us must do to just acknowledge, “Hey, I got problems. I got sins.” And when we get thoroughly right with God and allow God to point out the iniquity in our life, we just get thoroughly right with God. That’s what happened with David.
It’s interesting, guy. It’s been a while back, but I met with two men pretty close to each other. One was still in jail. The other one had just gotten out of jail. And both men said the same thing. Very interesting. Both men said, both saved, just had some vices in their life. Both men said the same thing. They said about the best thing that was for me when I was there, when I was put in solitary confinement. And they said when I was there for days, nobody else, no phones, no nothing, just alone, me and God. Both men said that’s when I had to get real honest about where I was and why I was there. And it’s good for me, they said. Both men said that about the same thing. And look, friend, it’s so much better if we can get there before we get put where they were.
It’s so easy for us just to kind of fly through our devotions. “Well, I have my devotions. Read my Bible, prayed, done it, did, you know, went to church, heard the preacher, slept through another message.” Don’t say amen there.
David, he said, finally, I just acknowledged who and what I was. Wasn’t blaming anybody and pointing my finger. I just said, “Hey, I got some real issues.” Not blaming anybody, not blaming my parents anymore, my kids anymore, anybody else, my spouse anymore, just me. And David got there. That’s when he started getting the forgiveness of God, the cleansing of God. I can—I ask you, when’s the last time you were at that point? The last time you just felt like me and God met, and he pointed some things out? We’re so much closer now. God got some things, got the air cleared a little bit between us. That’s what he’s talking about.
Now let’s keep going. Verse number six, if you would please, verse number six. He says, “For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.” Don’t wait till it’s too late, if you will. “Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”
When you get thoroughly right with God, you seek for him while he may be found, and you get close to you. You get the air clear between you and God. He said, “Look, even the floods can’t get you then.”
You know, the flood didn’t hurt Noah at all? Why? Noah’s in the ark. The ark is a picture of Jesus. And actually, when the waters came, it’s funny, the Church of Christ would go over there at 1 Peter 3 and talk about that and how the waters and know that—wait a second, the waters won’t kill everybody, you know? Got a problem there, you know? No, but those that were in the ark of Jesus, to say, you know, the waters just lifted the ark up. Just lifted Noah up. And when you’re right with God, even the floods can’t come into you. You just—even the floods kind of lift you up a little bit. You have a refuge, a place to go. And that’s this man, once he gets right with the Lord.
Verse number seven, “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” Selah. Well, when you get that point, you’ve got things right with God. You just got totally honest about yourself and where you’re at and why you’re there and all those things. And you get thoroughly right with God. Then you get, “I got a hiding place. I got a place to go.”
You ever had it where you just can’t wait to get alone with God? It’s not a drudgery. All right. All right. “I got to have a devotion. I got to go get alone. Got to have my quiet time,” you know. But you just can’t wait to get along with God. That’s not always—understand, there’s seasons, in season, out of season. But you ought to have that at least periodically when you just can’t wait to get in there. “I got a hiding place. I got so many problems. I can’t wait to get that hiding place and get alone with God, give all them to him. He’s got them all. He’s going to take care of them. I got a place of refuge.” That’s when you just get thoroughly right with God. And he gets songs of deliverance. You ever heard of that song, “For I’m Sheltered in the Arms of God”? “I’ll let the storms come, the wind, the rain. That’s all right, all right. I’m sheltered in the arms of God.” That’s kind of what he’s talking about there. My God’s songs delivers. He’s got it.
Then our verse, then our verse, there it is, right there, verse number eight. You get there, you get right by God, and you learn to confess and make things, confess things, and get them under the blood of Jesus Christ, and he says, “I will instruct thee.” You’ll hear the voice of God. “I’ll teach thee.” He’ll tell you what to say. You want to make a difference at work? He’ll tell you how to do that. “He’ll guide thee with his eye.” He sees all the different mazes and the traps and the dead ends. And yet he sees the cheese at the end, too. He’ll know how to guide you to that. He’ll guide you with his eye.
Verse number nine is the interesting verse. “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee,” lest you get close to being like them, if you will.
I heard a story about a man that he just had a mule, and his mule would pull his wagon for him, you know. And every time they got out there on his wagon, he had a board in the back of it, and before he even got gone by, he’d just go get the board and he’d go out there to the mule, and he’d hit the mule over the head with that board. Someone said, “Why?” You know, he hadn’t even took off. He hadn’t done anything wrong yet. He said, “This mule was so stubborn, I got to get his attention right off the bat. Now he’s listening to me.”
And look, if I’m going to have the instruction, teaching, and guidance of God, I can’t be like that. I have written in the margin of my Bible by that verse right there: “How hard or easy is it for God to lead me?” Does he have to—sometimes, sometimes God does lead like this, but sometimes the only way God can lead, he’s just to slam a door closed on us. Ever having the door slammed on it? It hits your nose. There’s not a good thing, you know. Is that the only way God can lead me? How easy or how hard is it?
Look, if I want the instruction and teaching and guidance of God, be ye not as a horse or the mule. They have to put that metal in their mouth and just—you know how you’ve ever seen a horse? They don’t like that thing. They get used to it, especially when you first put it in there. They kind of fight it a little bit. They don’t want that thing in there. How would you like something in your mouth all the time? I don’t believe in all these nose and everything piercing, you know, got them all over the face and all that. But my goodness, even if I was in all that stuff, I wouldn’t want one of those things in my tongue. You can’t eat fried chicken with your tongue pierced. I mean, come on, you know. I just have problems with that in a lot of ways, you know. But these horses, they’ve got to have bits in their mouth all the time because they’re so powerful and so stubborn, and that’s the only way you can control them, guide them. And I’m not going to have the instruction and teaching and guidance of God, but I’m like that. Just talking about, don’t be like that.
Now, verse number 10, we’re almost to the end. He says, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” Can I know—I’m just reading and paused and talk about that? Everybody sins. Come on now. All of us do. I say, “Well, I don’t do such and such. I don’t do such and such.” Yeah, but you do do such and such. I mean, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us, 1 John 1:8 says. By the way, sometimes we do get deceived because we just think we don’t sin. We’re far from it. So it’s not necessarily talking there. It’s about the wicked, about somebody that doesn’t sin anymore because you’re not going to get to sin as perfection. You go to heaven. He’s talking there about those that don’t want to admit that they have sins. The Psalm’s context is about getting forgiveness and cleansing. That’s the context of it. You’re getting where your sins are not imputed to you and you’re forgiven. Yes, salvation, and yes, yes, even beyond that in your day-to-day relationship with the Lord, but you get your sins covered. And so it’s not necessarily talking there about you living in perfection because you’re not going to be. He’s talking about you living in staying right with God through confession and getting cleansed. So we’re talking about, and if I don’t want to go there, and what does he say there about that? He says there’s many sorrows. You ever see a Christian—a Christian, I’m not talking about the lost, but a Christian that just won’t admit they got issues—and they’re going to have sorrows. And unfortunately, a lot of times their family is going to have sorrows. There’s sorrows because I don’t want to just say, “Man, I got—I got issues myself. Got problems.” All of us do. This is what I’m talking about.
Let’s keep going on that verse number 10. “But he that trusteth in himself,” keeping himself right in every area, a lot of character. No. “But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” Now that’s interesting. Compass about. If it’s compassionate, it’s all around me, but I got mercy. This guy that doesn’t trust in himself, that he’s doing everything right because nobody does, but he’s trusting in God, “God, are forgiven, cleanse if I confess it.” He says mercy’s compassed him about. Okay. In his back, in his past, he’s got mercy there.
You ever think about David? Actually, if I compare sins in some ways, David’s a whole lot worse than a lot of guys in the Bible. I mean, we just talked about how he, when he was a young man, before he became king, remember how he raided all those camps and villages and all that, murder, kill a lot of people, sin with Bathsheba, numbering the people—you’re just going down the line. But you know what? The name of David—that’s a great name. Israel still wants to be associated with David, the Star of David. You talk about a great king of Israel or a great person in the Bible, David. If you listen to 10 greatest people in the Bible, I’m sure more often than not, David’s going to be on that list. Man after God’s own heart. It just seems like there’s a lot of mercy in his heritage, if you know, his past. “Mercy shall compass him about.” Even behind you. Well, when you’re just honest, “I messed up.” Then mercy’s compassed about. If you veer off to the left, which we all do from time to time, or you veer off to the right, God’s so merciful. He really is. And says, “Hey, you’re getting off there. Hey, let me get your attention.” If I’m just honest, the Spirit of God will keep me right. You really will. That’s what David, he says, “Search me, O God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me.” And then he says, “And lead me in the way everlasting,” because we’re all there all fair and there. And that’s why you need him to lead you in the way everlasting. It compasses you. And then if it’s compassionate, even in your future.
It’s interesting. I didn’t know this until today, but 41 times the Bible says, talking about God, “Mercy endureth forever.” 41 times. Isn’t that interesting? We talked this morning about 40, the number of testing and trials. And 41 times, “Mercy endureth forever.” Maybe that’s because none of us, none of us, none of us, won’t go through the trials and temptations—make 100%. Job didn’t pass 100. He did pretty good, better than I do. None of us. But his mercy endureth forever. 41 times in the Bible.
When I trust in the Lord—not that Paul Chisgar’s got everything right, doing everything right, and, you know, got just—no, no, no. You’re not trusting in all that because none of us are there. You’re trusting in the Lord, and you’re willing to get things right and let him convict you and guide you. And you let him come and you say, “Hey, buddy, that’s not right.” “You’re right, Lord.” You just get dead honest with him. God says those that trust in the Lord, mercy shall compass them about. I’m just wicked. I’m not willing to own up to it. There’s a lot of sorrows there.
He finishes really on a high note, if you will, verse number 11. Verse number 11: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous.” By the way, praise what we get righteous through Jesus. “And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” You’re upright in your lifestyle, actions. All that know—you’re upright in the heart. You allow the Spirit of God to work in your heart and things. Maybe it’s not out in the open yet, but it’s in your heart, and you allow God to work in your heart. You’re willing to get things right, get your sins forgiven, cleansed. That’s this problem. It’s verse number eight. The context, it’s about us when we’re just, “You’re right, Lord. I’ve been out of sorts there. I’ve got off track there. I missed the mark there.” Well, then you’re just willing to get alone away from everybody and everything and say, “All right, Lord, I need you to speak to me about my problems.”
It’s interesting. Luke 18, Jesus gives a parable. I’m done with this, but Jesus gives a parable in Luke 18. He called it a parable, Jesus did. And Jesus is talking, and he talks about these two guys that go to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, right? And the Pharisee goes to pray. And he just goes there. Let me just read it for it. I’ll read it for you. You don’t have to look over there. But I don’t think this Pharisee is really praying to God. Unfortunately, I’ve did it. I’m guilty of it. We’re not praying to God; we’re preaching sermons to people. That happened so often in church services. And the Pharisee is a little bit like that. I don’t really think he’s talking to the Lord here. But let me just read it for you. It’s Luke 18:11. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.” I’m praying to God. He was going through his ritual. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’” That’s the way he’s getting along with God.
I remember going with a man. He wanted to pray together. And so I went down to have a little prayer stop. Went down and prayed. And honestly, when he left, I was a little bit mad because the guy was so demanding at God and telling God what all they did and all this, why God should—I was a little offended. And I don’t know if it’s the right word, bothered. You don’t go to God like that. It’s kind of this Pharisee. He just, this way he stood and prayed that, “I’m not like all these people over there.”
And here’s the other guy. “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’” Here’s the interesting thing. I tell you this man, the publican—this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. By the way, Jesus, he only gave two options in the parable there. There’s no other option. Either I’m the Pharisee or I’m the publican. And it’s kind of like David saying over there in Psalm 32, when I just got honest about my sin, and yes, God used Nathan to put his finger up to my nose and saying, “That’s the man.” He said, “That’s when I just—boy, it was a good day,” he’s saying, “when I got forgiveness and cleansing, my sins covered.” And God puts out promise tucked right in there, verse number eight. He said, “I’ll instruct you, I’ll teach you, I’ll guide you.”
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got to get my things right over and over again, every day, sometimes every moment. But God’s pleased when we trust in Him. We just get honest and sincere and thoroughly right with Him. Friend, it’s not a failure when God points out sin in your life. It’s a failure when I don’t admit it. That’s the failure. Oh, let’s just say, “Lord, I want to be thoroughly right with you tonight. I like to stay there.”
If you hear tonight, you just say, “Preacher, somewhere along the line—I don’t know what it may be—but somewhere along the line, God spoke to my heart tonight.” If that’s you, lift your hand to preach that. Somewhere along the line, God spoke to my heart tonight. Me too. Me too. Me too. Thank you so very much. Can I be honest with you just for a moment? I wasn’t planning on saying this, but I tell my wife this often: Saturday nights, preachers, we—we have to get real serious with God Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. Sometimes there’s a struggle of what do you want and what you want me to bless tomorrow. Now, I’ve told my wife many a time, that’s a struggle, but it’s so good for me because usually that’s when I get thoroughly right with God. Shame on me that I got to go through that on Saturday. I ought to be all the time. I’m talking about that when you just go through the struggle, “Lord, I don’t want anything there.” And that’s when God says, “Hey, you’re just kind of getting real with me. Now I’ll instruct you, teach you, and guide you.” What a promise. Let’s claim it tonight.
Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. And would you just come spend some time for the Lord going out of him? Father, thank you for the great promise. Lord, I do hope that we kind of put it proper and right in the context when you make it clear to your people. And Lord, help us to be able to claim it tonight, sincerely, Lord. Thank you for the promise of instructing, teaching, and guiding. Bless the people in Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar 92020 pm