Live Unto The King Of Heaven

[0:00] Psalm 5 to the chief musician upon the Nehaloth, a Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.

[0:13] Hearken unto the sound of my voice, my cry, my King and my God, for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord.

[0:25] In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee.

[0:36] The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Verse 6, Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.

[0:47] The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy. And in the fear of you, I will worship toward your holy temple.

[1:02] Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. Because of mine enemies, make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth.

[1:14] Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. However, they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God.

[1:25] Let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.

[1:39] Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.

[1:52] With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

[2:12] Would you pray with me? Father, thank you for how you have breathed out scripture. By the power of your Holy Spirit, you have put these words through the mouth of various prophets over thousands of years.

[2:31] And you've preserved your word. You've kept your word pure for the benefit of us, your people, and every living generation. We gather, Lord, to hear your word, to hear from you by the power of your spirit.

[2:45] We ask that you will speak despite the preacher, despite the shortcomings that each of us bring with our listening. Lord, we pray that you will speak with power, the power of your Holy Spirit through your word.

[3:00] And even more than that, that your Holy Spirit will take your truth and apply it to our lives. That we will leave here changed. That we will become more and more the pure bride that's prepared to receive you, the groom, when you return.

[3:17] From 1 Timothy 1.17, we ask now unto you, our King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God.

[3:30] Be all honor, all glory, forever and ever. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, my exhortation for you today from Psalm 5 is live unto the King of heaven.

[3:53] Live your life on earth as you're living unto the King of heaven. One of the joys of being part of a church plant with each one of you is by hearing of God's enduring love, his long-suffering faithfulness in your lives.

[4:15] And there are times when each one of us, when he gives you a new heart, there's something that changes in the way that you experience being with God.

[4:27] And part of the thing that's the hardest about this church, and I think church life in general, is as we hear one another's stories, there's also pain. There's very real pain. I think the hardest type of pain is the pain that we experience within the kingdom of God, within the church.

[4:46] And so Psalm 5, I really believe, is perfect for you today and for me. Because Psalm 5, it's David. Most likely, I think all the clues of the text point to the time where he is in the wilderness with his family and household.

[5:02] He's away from the temple of God. And his prayer is that the king of heaven will rule over him and over Israel. He's not on the throne.

[5:13] The throne is up for grabs. There's been turmoil and rebellion within the kingdom. And that's the context of Psalm 5. David away from the kingdom, praying for the kingdom, looking to the king of heaven.

[5:26] Well, sometimes when there's dissent against the high king of heaven within the church, it's blatant and it's obvious. And I've heard stories from you of church meetings where someone openly says, I don't care if that's what God's word says.

[5:39] We need to do this this way. That's blatant. That's obvious. My stomach turned when I'm sitting in the seat and the pastor from the pulpit spends, you know, two-thirds of the sermon disparaging the word of God, pushing the word of God down.

[5:56] That's blatant. That's obvious. But sometimes the pain we suffer within the church, it comes in a twisted, subtle form. And that's really hard to discern. Because we question ourselves. Like, David, we're sinners.

[6:07] I know I'm twisted. What am I hearing? So as I try to apply what I've read in Psalm 5, that's the context. It's a man in the wilderness looking to the high king of heaven and praying for the kingdom of heaven to come on earth, beginning with his own kingdom.

[6:24] And the first observation is this. What does David do? How does David live before the invisible king of heaven when the visible kingdom on earth is so corrupt?

[6:38] Number one, I've got about seven of these. First one is this. Before all else, David submits himself with reverence to the high king of heaven.

[6:49] Look at verse two. David says, give attention to the sound of my cry. Even if my words are unintelligible, I'm crying out to you, Lord. Notice who he says.

[7:01] Listen, my king and my God, to you do I pray. I don't put my hope in Egypt. I don't put my hope in Babylon or Assyria, the other surrounding empires or kings.

[7:13] I don't even put my hope in who's going to be my successor. To you, my king and my God, do I lift my voice. See, David's sick of gossip. He's sick of trying to get validation from men.

[7:25] What do men know? He goes straight to the Lord. That's our first application. When life inside the kingdom of God is hard, even confusing, before all else, submit yourself to the high king of heaven with reverence.

[7:40] He doesn't do this at the end of the day. He doesn't just pray a little bit before he eats his food at lunch. Look at when David prays. He says, in the morning, in the morning will I direct my prayer.

[7:55] In verse three, unto thee I will pray in the morning and I will look up. I'm going to deliberately take my eyes off of those around me. And I'm going to try to be like Stephen.

[8:06] When God opened the skies and he could see the kingdom of heaven. With the eyes of faith, I look up, Lord, because I don't know what else to do. Someone pointed out, David also teaches us that there's no amount of injustice, discomfort, corruption, or even danger that should keep any one of us from fellowship with God each morning.

[8:31] And David says, I will direct my prayer. See that word in verse three? I will direct my prayer unto thee and I will look up. That word direct, it can be translated a lot of different ways.

[8:42] And the connotations are either of a priest or the military. So I will direct my prayers. I will systematically lay them out before you. Like a priest lays out the loaves around the altar.

[8:55] Like a priest arranges the wood for the sacrifice. Takes the pieces of meat and sets them on the altar as God has instructed. To direct his prayers to God. That's how David says, even in the wilderness, away from the temple, I will lay out my prayers.

[9:09] I will direct them following your orders. And it's also used to describe a soldier reporting for duty. Give me my orders. I direct my prayers to you.

[9:20] I direct myself as a soldier to receive what you tell me to do. And I will say, yes, sir, and go do it. Or like an army that's been arrayed for battle. It's the same Hebrew word. That's what David says.

[9:31] In the morning, I will lay out my prayers systematically before my God, the way you have asked me to do that. So how do you know how to pray in a way that pleases God, how God has ordered it and directed?

[9:46] Well, let Scripture teach you. When you don't know how else to pray, open up the Word of God in front of you. Take a psalm. If you don't know which psalm to pick, you can, there's 150 of them.

[9:58] Divide them by the days of the month. You can have one psalm, you know, every day, and just get a good rotation going. So you're not repeating yourself. And do your best to read a verse and redirect that verse as a prayer to God.

[10:10] Let God order your thoughts. Let the Scripture shape how you even pray to God. See, the kingdom on earth, we feel the injustice. And in that injustice, we can all testify, it's in those moments of injustice with what's supposed to be the kingdom of God on earth that then Satan comes in and twists it into lies and sends us into backsliding and sin and a hard heart toward God, eventually a hard heart toward Christ and His church.

[10:42] But you need to look to the King of Heaven and remember, He is just. He is the just King who does rule over heaven and earth.

[10:55] Proverbs 29.4 says, By justice, a king shall build up his land. So you hold on to that promise. Even though I feel the injustice, I direct my cry to the Lord because by justice, our King Jesus will build up His kingdom.

[11:13] And praise God, I'm part of it. By His grace. So live unto the King of Heaven, church. Submit yourself first thing each day unto the High King.

[11:26] Who sits on the throne. Well, how else do you live before the invisible King of Heaven when the visible kingdom on earth is corrupt? Number two, evaluate what you are seeing by the law of His kingdom.

[11:42] He is just. He sits on the throne. He has a just law. Don't let your emotions, your view. Don't let the words of men shape how you evaluate what you're going through.

[11:54] Let the Word of God Himself shape how you view His kingdom. Look at verse 4. David, he has studied God's law.

[12:06] He has sought to understand the heart of God. And in verse 4, David can say with confidence, God is displeased with wickedness. Evil cannot dwell with God.

[12:18] And too often, in the name of Christ, people want to lower the standard. They want to say things that God is clearly not pleased with. They want to pretend like He is.

[12:29] And they want to try to put words in God's mouth. We need to realize what's going on and evaluate what we are seeing by the law of God's kingdom and His kingdom alone. How do you know what pleases God?

[12:43] Can we even know that? You must know what God has revealed. Every kingdom has a law. God has revealed what pleases Him throughout all of Scripture.

[12:57] All of Scripture gives us glimpses into the character, the attributes, the desires of our God for His people. And even better than that is through Jesus Christ, He's taken that law and He's put it inside of you.

[13:12] He's written it on your hearts and He's put it in your mind. That's what we read in Jeremiah 31, interpreted and applied in Hebrews 8, that the church is able to test and approve what is God's will, His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

[13:29] Romans 12. Because God has taken His moral law and He has reformed your heart. He's renewed your mind. He has put His law inside of you. So we can, as a church, know what pleases God.

[13:41] And we must evaluate ourselves and what goes on inside of His kingdom by the law He has given. In the book of Revelation, we read of the unfolding events of the last things.

[13:57] Something that should make all of us tremble in our boots from Revelation is that Jesus Christ, when He comes back to judge the living and the dead, He begins His judgment with His own church.

[14:08] He begins bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth with the kingdom on earth first. And then He judges everyone else. That should make us tremble in our boots.

[14:19] We need to seek what is it that pleases God. And we need to pray and beg for His Spirit to work that out in our lives. And when there are areas where we are out of line, we need to confess that quickly and humbly.

[14:31] We need to forgive one another and realign ourselves to the words of our King in heaven. His judgment is coming and He will begin by judging His own church.

[14:44] See, if you don't align yourself with the kingdom of Christ and you don't hide behind His righteousness alone, you will stand before the judge of all the earth.

[14:56] He will judge every soul for the life you live. Not one of us can live a life that's blameless. We need the righteousness of Christ put on us.

[15:08] And by God's grace, He has done that. Romans 3 tells us, one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. But listen to what Paul writes next.

[15:20] Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means, on the contrary, we uphold the law. So you see, we don't save ourselves by keeping the law.

[15:32] We can't do that perfectly. Christ fulfilled the law for us. His righteousness is put on His people. But He doesn't leave His people lawless. He doesn't send us out to be licentious.

[15:44] The Greek word for law is nomos. And this has been a controversy over all the centuries. We need to be very careful that we don't fall to one side or the other. We do not work for our own salvation under the law.

[15:58] But if we belong to the true kingdom of heaven, His law does rule in us. By the work of His Spirit, He has put it inside of His people. And by His help, we seek to uphold the law.

[16:11] It does work its way out. We are regulated. We are constrained by His love. So live unto the King of heaven. Evaluate what you are seeing by the law of His kingdom.

[16:28] How else do we live before the invisible kingdom of heaven when the visible kingdom on earth is so corrupt and twisted? What we want to do is we want to go around fixing what we see broken, don't we?

[16:44] We see the brokenness here on earth and we want to go around trying to fix other people's lives. Maybe with our kids and spouse, it shows up first, but that's in our heart and that'll be that way for the church.

[16:56] That's what we want to do. What we need to do is to pray for God to purify His kingdom. See, there's a part inside of every person that man cannot touch.

[17:10] Words cannot get in there. The Holy Spirit Himself must go and renew the soul, renew the inner being. So the best we can do is to pray for God to work powerfully and change what we can never touch.

[17:26] Notice how David prays, though. He's evaluated what's going on in the kingdom. These are a wicked people, Lord. Just like you told with Moses that they will desire a king like all the other nations?

[17:39] That's exactly what happened. What did both Saul and Absalom have in common? They were handsome men. Saul stood head and shoulders above all the other men. Absalom was beautiful from head to toe, the scripture says.

[17:52] They wanted a king, a poster boy, so they could be like all the other nations. That's the temptation. They want an earthly, worldly king. Well, don't we want that same type of thing?

[18:03] We want something worldly because we think that's the ultimate way to have peace and enjoy life. It's with earthly prosperity or earthly comfort. And then we get puffed up.

[18:15] You know, just like they were puffed up. Look at us. We got Saul as our king. We got Absalom. Let's rally around him. Forget David and his shame and his God clearly is not a God we can follow.

[18:27] Not like he does. So let's bring Absalom and let's be like all the other nations. And look at verse 5. David sees this. He's evaluated it by the law of God and he prays this way.

[18:39] He says, fools who do not fear God. They perform their iniquities before him and they bring the wrath of God upon themselves. He prays in verse 6.

[18:50] God hates. God abhors those who speak lies. He says they are bloody and deceitful. And he trusts God will destroy them.

[19:02] Now these are some of the strongest words in Psalm 5. I want to break down a couple of them. In verse 5, he refers to these arrogant men that are worldly. He refers to them as fools.

[19:15] The word fools, it's been translated otherwise as transgressors of the law. You know, he says they do their iniquities before God. Iniquity is a, it's a hand lifted up to heaven like I don't care what God says.

[19:29] And they do that before God. That's why they're foolish. It's been translated as the unrighteous. Those who contradict the precepts of God. It comes from a root which signifies praisers of themselves, proud boasters and mockers.

[19:48] David says these are fools that bring the wrath of God upon themselves. and he says, God, I know you hate that. I'm evaluating what I'm seeing by your law.

[20:01] I know you hate this. You abhor this. You will destroy men who act that way. And it's not necessary for us to try to soften those words to dilute the word hate or wrath or destroy.

[20:17] One commentator pointed out the reason God hates that it's because there is no such thing as abstract evil. What that means is that anytime evil is happening it's happening to someone else.

[20:33] Evil has victims. Evil hurts the image bearers and the people of God. So you see these proud arrogant men within the kingdom of God in Israel they are hurting God's sheep.

[20:47] And God's wrath boils up to stop that. See evil is such a terrible force in this world as someone said it wrecks the lives of God's image bearers and it ensnares souls for eternity.

[21:08] And when God hates such evil that hurts his people it's not an emotional or reactionary hatred. It is judicial. See God is not passive.

[21:20] God is not sitting there letting us inflict anything on him. God is holy. God is just. And his justice it bears forth on those actions against him and against his people.

[21:36] The justice the wrath of God is merely an expression of God's holiness. We read in Romans 3 verse 26 that God shows his righteousness and how does he do it?

[21:52] God who is both just and the justifier of his people. That's how he shows his justice. If you have faith in Jesus Christ you no longer get the wrath of God for he is just.

[22:07] you now get justified by that very same God in the person and work of Jesus Christ his son. So we pray for Christ to keep his congregation pure.

[22:21] We pray for God alone to purify his people. God change our hearts where we can't change ourselves. God when you see the wickedness the injustice you go and you change it Lord.

[22:34] whatever it takes you bring your true people into alignment with your kingdom in heaven. And he does this through his church as well.

[22:47] See the church is preparing the bride for Christ. And there's a word that we hate as Americans as as Westerns and it's the word discipline.

[22:58] But if you are a true disciple of Christ it means that you are being disciplined in Christ. He says my yoke is easy and my burden is light but you will be discipled with me.

[23:11] You will walk as I walked. My yoke will be on your shoulders and I will carry the load but you will be discipled by me Jesus says. And he does that through his church.

[23:23] So when there is blatant sin within the church it's through church discipline. It's through church discipline that Christ brings sinners to repentance again and restores them to true worship.

[23:36] The call to be disciplined and the call to pray for the purity of the bride that's really to share with the heart of the groom. You know in Gethsemane when Jesus prayed he was in anguish.

[23:49] That word is hardly ever used when it's describing Jesus praying. He's in anguish. Someone defied anguish as anger, anger, love.

[24:01] Anguish is anger plus love. And when you pray for Christ to purify his church you're joining, you're letting Christ bind your heart to his and you're praying that he will purify you and purify his church to live unto him in his kingdom in heaven.

[24:19] We read in Hebrews 5 7 that during the days of Jesus's life on earth he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.

[24:35] And he was heard because of his reverent submission. Being God of very God that's how Jesus prayed while he was on earth.

[24:47] While he was bringing the kingdom of heaven here to earth. That's how our Lord Jesus prayed. And that's how we ought to pray for him to purify his bride, the church.

[24:59] So how do we live before the invisible king of heaven when the visible kingdom on earth feels so broken? I want to draw your attention next to verse 9.

[25:13] I'm skipping verses 7 and 8 for now because I see those as really the heart of Psalm 5. So I want to bring those to you last. So look at verse 9. David teaches us to guard yourself against deadly temptation out of love for your king.

[25:32] He prays in verse 9. There is no faithfulness in the mouth of those wicked ones. Their inward part is very wicked. He says their throat is an open sepulcher and they flatter with their tongue.

[25:48] That's verse 9. Look at verse 11. He says, let them that love thy name be joyful in thee. I highlight that because he says these men, they are flatterers.

[26:05] In other words, they're trying to hold out for me a fake joy. They're trying to use their words in their mouth to draw me toward them. But in verse 11, he's resolved.

[26:16] No, let those who find their joy in God. Let those who find their joy in God be protected by your love. That's why he says their throat is an open sepulcher.

[26:30] A sepulcher is like a hole cut into a cave. And he's describing that's where you would carry in a dead corpse. So that's the entrance to death itself.

[26:41] It's decay and rotting and eternal damnation. If I listen to what comes out of their throats, what comes out of their lips is death for me. It's not faithful because it spews out what's in their hearts.

[26:59] Their inward part is very wicked. They're fools who don't love God. So David says guard yourself, guard your ears from deadly temptation.

[27:12] And why do you do that? You do it because of verse 11, because you love the name of the Lord and you know that true joy is only found in him.

[27:26] Colossians 1 16 encourages me. Listen to the promise we have of the love of God and the joy of belonging to him. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

[27:51] So do you hear the words of someone in a position of influence? Do you hear these words of temptation that are leading you away from joy and loving the name of God?

[28:04] See, they serve a higher king. It was God who set every ruler on his throne. If someone enjoys influence for a small short season, it's because God gave that to them.

[28:16] Think of Nebuchadnezzar. He wanted to be like this foolish king. He wanted to puff himself up and the Lord humbled that man. He said, Nebuchadnezzar, if you have had any kind of influence on my earth, it's because I gave it to you for a season for my purpose.

[28:33] So don't be ensnared by the words of those who are puffed up against God. There is a higher king in heaven, the creator of heaven and earth, who made all things visible or invisible.

[28:46] Don't fall for any other temptation. Don't bow your knee to any lesser king. Live unto the king of heaven. Out of love for your king, guard yourself against deadly temptation.

[29:03] Well, how else do we live before the invisible king of heaven when the kingdom of earth feels so corrupt? Not only do you need to guard yourself, David teaches us in verse 10, you need to separate yourself from those who rebel against your king.

[29:20] Look at verse 10. He says, make them bear their guilt. Oh God, let them fall by their own counsels because of the abundance of their transgressions.

[29:31] Cast them out for they have rebelled not against me. They have rebelled against you. David is asking the Lord to take the punishment, the justice that their sin deserves and put it on them and let that justice weigh on them and drive them out of the presence of God.

[29:56] He's asking God, Lord, this is your kingdom. You purge your kingdom. Separate from this congregation. Separate from your people, this church. Separate those who have sinned against you blatantly, who are unrepentant.

[30:10] That's what he's calling for. And it's hard for us to live in that mindset of ancient Israel and a time of war. And out of the 150 Psalms, Psalm 5 here is one of the 12 that's an imprecatory psalm.

[30:27] It's a psalm where the believer is crying down judgment on those who have opposed God and his kingdom. Does that make David, as some have accused, a vengeful brute?

[30:43] I think that the answer is no. I think that this is a sanctified way to uphold the purity of God's kingdom even on earth. And to understand what David is asking, he's asking that those who are in the land, outside of covenant relationship with God, they need an awakening right now.

[31:04] You are not in his kingdom. You are exiled from his holy presence. So to understand what David is praying and asking, we need to situate Psalm 5 in redemptive covenant history.

[31:18] When the Lord Jesus, or I'm sorry, when the Lord God, through Moses, when he called his people to the base of Mount Sinai, he says, I am the Lord your God, you are my people. He gave them covenant language.

[31:31] In the book of Deuteronomy, he laid before them the two ways to live. There's the way that brings blessing and obedience to my law. And there's a way that leads to death and curses and banishment and exile from my land.

[31:45] He laid that before the people. So blessing in the land of God is tied to obedience to God. Blatant disobedience to God.

[31:55] Flagrantly disobeying his covenant, disregarding his law. That is what leads to being cast out of the land. Covenant breaking rebels, they're rejecting the gracious God who rules over them.

[32:11] So God, David here is simply asking for God to carry out the terms that you gave our nation. Carry out the terms under this law. Purge the land, Lord.

[32:22] Purify it so that you might preserve your kingdom. Well, for the church today, this is one reason it's so important that we very carefully present the free gospel to whosoever will come.

[32:39] And at the same time, like John the Baptist, we look for fruit in keeping with repentance. We don't want to give a false assurance to someone who later will come under church discipline.

[32:52] So as a church, we need to be very vigilant. We need to show that kind of love. We need to disciple one another out of love and preparation, knowing that Christ will come for his church first.

[33:04] We need to encourage one another toward holy lives. We need to confess our sin and encourage one another to be cleansed, be purified as the bride of Christ before he returns.

[33:15] There's a sense of earnestness and urgency for the people of God. Many will say, well, isn't God love?

[33:26] Isn't that what John preaches? God is love. Yes, and John also preaches that God is light. And he preaches that the light of God through Jesus Christ, it repels all darkness.

[33:40] And there are parts of the life of a Christian that need that darkness to be chased away by more and more of the presence of Jesus Christ. with Christ, there can be no darkness.

[33:58] How do you live before the invisible king of heaven, knowing that his kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven? You stay close to your king by the abundance of his steadfast love.

[34:10] love. This brings us back to the heart of Psalm 5. Look at verses 7 and 8. I picture David in the wilderness. In 2 Samuel, we read how the people in the towns, they were giving them bread and honey and milk and nourishment because they were in exile.

[34:27] They were going to starve in the wilderness. And look at where David's prayers take him in verses 7 and 8. David says, But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.

[34:44] Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of mine enemies. Make your way straight before me. So there's David in the wilderness.

[34:59] He's not even near the tabernacle. The temple hasn't been built. David was of the tribe of Judah. He was not of the tribe of Levi. So he could never enter into the tabernacle.

[35:12] He could never be inside. But he prays, Through the abundance of your steadfast love, I will enter your house. I'm there in my soul, in my prayers.

[35:25] I'm with you. David's thoughts are with the priests. The holy reverence as they got themselves dressed. As they prepared themselves, went through a purification ceremony and entered in to minister the sacrifices that God called for.

[35:44] David was obeying the Lord, even in exile, using the means of grace available to him at that time. And he was enjoying the presence of God leading him.

[35:57] He says, lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness. My enemies are many, but you make the way straight for me, Lord. And then verse 8, he says, I will bow down toward your house.

[36:11] This can be translated your holy temple or your tabernacle. Even though I'm not there physically, I will bow down in that direction, thinking of you, turning my life toward you and your gracious presence.

[36:25] Out of the steadfastness of your love, I direct myself back to you, the place where you promised to me saved sinners like me. He says, I prepare a sacrifice for you in verse 3, and I watch.

[36:40] I watch to see how you will work, O Lord. See, there's comfort for you and me. On this earth, when things feel confused, when we feel so deeply hurt, even by other Christians or by our own family, those cuts that cut the deepest, it's not your faithfulness to God that gives you grounds to approach him, his throne of glory.

[37:10] God's love for you. It's the steadfastness of God's love for you. The same steadfastness that he showed David. He calls for you to turn yourself back to him.

[37:23] Turn your life toward his holy hill in heaven. And the Lord Jesus Christ is your priest that you're thinking of. He is the one who has prepared everything.

[37:35] He has laid out the means, the way that you can receive grace from the holy God. Think of Christ interceding on your behalf from his throne in heaven.

[37:47] And you stay close to your king because his steadfast love for you is so abundant. If you are more close to your king today than you were one year ago, it's because he is steadfast to you.

[38:03] If you look back on your life five years ago and you think of ways in which your sin is so embarrassing and so shameful and you look at ways in which he's cleaned you up now, it's because of the steadfast Lord for you over these years.

[38:19] It has been so abundant for you. So when you're in that distress of the kingdom on earth feeling twisted, know that same steadfast love will carry you.

[38:32] It will be for you tomorrow. And that same steadfast love will carry you one year from now, five years from now, as many days as God gives you on earth. And it's the steadfast love of Christ that will usher you into his heavenly kingdom when he returns or when your soul gets there before your body.

[38:52] Stay close to your king by the abundance of his steadfast love. Live unto the king of heaven. See the last little image here in Psalm five is of protection in battle.

[39:08] Look again at verses 11 and 12. David says, let all those that put their trust in the rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them.

[39:19] Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee. That's emotional language shouts for joy. It's the cry of an army after a great battle has won.

[39:32] God came and avenged them. He defended them. Now notice the emotions. They flow from the truth. He begins by declaring who God is and it's not the other way around.

[39:45] It's not a whipped up emotionalism. That's really empty. It's the the word of God ministering to David, ushering him back in by the means of grace God has provided.

[39:55] But it's loaded with emotions on the backside. So if you're truly in God's kingdom, if Christ is truly your defender, you should not be cold. You should not be emotionless, but it should be an outcome of his true work in your heart.

[40:13] We should hear some shouts for joy when we go when we gather as a congregation. I know we're more influenced by the Greek, you know, Northern European maybe, but man, we need to learn from our brothers and sisters around the world.

[40:24] There should be some loud amens every now and then. Shouldn't be fake. Should be in response to truth. There should be, you know, clapping. I mean, it's OK to express your joy in Christ.

[40:35] In fact, you're disobeying him if you don't. And look at what he says in verse 12. Thou, Lord, will bless the righteous. With favor will thou encompass him.

[40:46] As with a shield. He's used the word shield before in the earlier Psalms, but here it's a different word for shield. The word he's used before is a smaller shield that was a circular that you'd wear in your arm.

[41:00] So it's lighter way. It's mobile. You could run with it and you could go into battle. The shield that he uses here at the end of verse 12 of Psalm 5. It's the size of a door. It's rectangular.

[41:11] It's going to cover your whole body. You are you're not walking with this thing. You're standing there holding it like this, forming a wall. What a great picture for the church.

[41:22] Christ is our shield. Every part of us is tucked behind him and nothing can get through the shield of Jesus Christ. We're behind the shield.

[41:33] We're shouting for joy. He defended us. Though they came after us. Our God is our shield. Because our king became our high priest.

[41:48] In Hebrews 4 verse 16. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

[42:02] So Christian, if you trust God and if you love his name, live unto the king of heaven. You can be truly joyful even on earth because Christ is your shield.

[42:22] So live unto this king of heaven. God's favor is upon you in Christ. So live unto the king of heaven.

[42:33] Let's pray. Echoing verses 11 and 12. Father, let all who put their trust in you rejoice.

[42:47] Let us ever shout for joy because you defend us. Let us who love your name be joyful in you. In you alone is true joy. By the work of your son, apply to us by your Holy Spirit.

[43:04] The sanctifying work. Prepare your bride. Keep us pure. We trust that you, Lord, will bless the righteous. With favor, you will encompass your own people.

[43:17] Those upon whom you have put your righteousness as with a shield. and help us to trust your promise that King Jesus is with us and his favor shields us.

[43:31] By his most precious name, we ask, Lord, that you will be glorified in our lives as we live unto you, our high king of heaven, for your glory alone and for the sake of Christ's name we pray.

[43:43] Amen. Amen. Take a moment to respond to the word that you've heard from Psalm 5.