Greetings friends from the Providence Baptist Church of Pulaski, Tennessee. We have been wanting to do this intro to one of our psalm sermons for some time. and I thought today would be a good day to do this. So wherever you are in the world, greetings to you and thank you for downloading and listening to our sermons. We are a small congregation located in southern middle Tennessee, about four miles south of Pulaski, Tennessee. which is just a few miles or so above the Alabama border. And we're located at 659 Nancy Green Ridge Road, Prospect, Tennessee, which is actually the mail route we're on, but we're closer to Pulaski than we are to Prospect, Tennessee. And we'd like to invite you to, if you're ever in our area, to come see us. We use the King James Bible exclusively. We use songbooks here at our church. We have no screens, and we love singing the hymns of the faith. We are Christ-centric. That's all we endeavor to do, and that's to know Christ, Him crucified, and certainly as our coming Lord and Savior. We are pre-millennial. We believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. And if those boxes are checked off for you as well, we invite you to come be with us. Come be with us. Nonetheless, we'd love to see you. Today's sermon is entitled, The Manual of Prayer and Praise. Looking now to Psalm 138, We would like to begin reading in verse one. This is a Psalm of David, Psalm 138. I will praise thee with my whole heart, says David, before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried, thou answerest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. And then the final verse, verse 8, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine own hands. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word today, and may He bless it to your heart and mind, and you be able to make application of it. Christopher Wordsworth was an Anglican bishop in the 1800s and had this to say about our psalm today and the remaining psalms that we have yet to preach through. Wordsworth wrote, and I quote, that these last eight psalms, Psalm 138 to 145, are composed in the first person. and they follow very happily after the 15 songs of upgoings, or degrees, and the three psalms of praise uttered by the chorus of those who have gone up to Zion. Those three psalms of praise were the united utterances of national devotion, which I say and believe was uttered by those returned exiles from Babylon. Wordsworth then continues by telling us that these last eight Psalms are the devout Israelites manual of private prayer and praise, unquote. Now, I like those last words of Wordsworth where he says that this was the devout Israelites manual of private prayer and praise. I think that's what we ought to make it. I think that is the direction we should take with these Psalms. I say that these last eight Psalms should be everyone's manual of private prayer and praise. And if you'll read it, you'll understand what I'm saying. And if you don't know what a manual is, it's simply an instruction book or a set of directions. Now for us Americans here, I don't know where you live, directions and instructions are sheets of paper usually describing the assembly and operation of an item that most men hate, and even refuse to read. And the reason that I say that is because most American men end up with so many nuts and bolts and even parts left over when they buy something that requires assembly, especially toys on Christmas morning. Also, you'll find that there are others that say these last eight Psalms are a commentary, as such, on the promise found in 2 Samuel chapter 7, where David wants to build the Lord a house, but God tells him no. Gives him an emphatic no, as a matter of fact. But though God tells him no, God, by the prophet Nathan, gives David an even greater blessing. If you'll look with me to 2 Samuel 7, if you're near a Bible, We'll read it together, and here's what it has to say, beginning in verse 1. And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains, that is, the tabernacle. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. Verse 4, And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build in the house for me to dwell in? whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, says the Lord, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build you not me in house of cedar? Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord the host, I took thee from the sheep coat, in other words, the fold of sheep, From following the sheep, I took you out to be ruler over My people over Israel. And I was with you, whether ever so thou wittest, and have cut off all thy enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth." Man, what a blessing! Verse 10, "'Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time. Let me read that verse 10 again. It is God that says, Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them plant them, that means they'll put them there permanently, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more, neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore as before time. And, says God, as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thy enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. Verse 14, If he commit an iniquity, I will chase him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy, says God, shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. Solomon, in this case, will stand as the next one after David. And then later on, we'll see as time goes on, and there will be a time when Christ will rule in the kingdom. Verse 16, and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever, says God, to David through Nathan. So, verse 17, according to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David what God had said. Then, verse 18, went King David in and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? In other words, I'm unworthy of all you've already given me. I've been blessed tremendously. Verse 19, David continues with his prayer and he says, And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of men, O Lord God? asked David. And what can David say more to thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. In other words, David says, I'm not worthy of any of this at all. For thy word's sake then, says David, and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these things, to make thy servant know them. Wherefore, thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any god beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? My Lord, You did all that," says David. And then David continues with this, For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever. Are you listening, folks? This is God to the nation of Israel through King David's own mouth. For thou has confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever. And thou, O Lord, become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as Thou hast said, and let Thy name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of Thy servant David be established before Thee. For Thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, has revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue O Lord God, Thou hast spoken it, and with Thy blessing let the house of Thy servant be blessed forever." End of the chapter. Under the first major heading in our manual, we might have this section, How to Approach the Lord in Prayer and Practice. That's the first heading in our manual of prayer and praise. First, what we should do in approaching the Lord is approach Him with respect. You might want to write that down. We should approach our God, our Sovereign God and His Son, our Sovereign Lord Jesus, with respect. In the first verse, David says, I will praise Thee. We're not just dealing with anyone here. We're coming before Jehovah God. In Luke 11, verse 2, Jesus taught his disciples that when they prayed, they should pray, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. First of all, David here is praising the Lord for all that the Lord is. He knows that the Lord is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. And so David sees him as hallowed, meaning sacred, holy, pure, impeccable. He literally comes bowing before the Lord. Secondly, as he approaches the Lord with this respect, David here also praises the Lord for what the Lord has done, is doing, and will do in David's own life. David says in that first verse, I will praise thee with my whole heart. And that is the way that all men should praise the Lord. However, it is only the saints that will praise Him with their whole heart. At least, they should. At least, I hope they would. Which brings us, thirdly, here, as far as respect goes, that David states that his praise will be to and for the Lord alone, when he says, Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. The idea of gods here means idols. David says that he will unabashedly, singularly, forthrightly praise the Lord and Him alone. He will have no worship at all for any other gods. Here's where the whole heart comes into play. He has, David has, and will give his whole heart, that is his being, his mind, his desires, his love, his house, his family, his wealth to God and God alone. David will not allow anything to interfere in his allegiance to the Lord. Whole here, W-H-O-L-E, means everything. Listen, God is not going to hear your prayers if you have a bunch of idols in your life whereby you give Him the scraps, the crumbs of your existence. Many of you today live shallow, shabby, shoddy lives because you will give your time to everything and everyone around you, but you won't even bow and pray over your meals. You say things like, the Lord knows that I am thankful. But be careful, friends. God will not be trifled with. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If you are a believer, yet you keep giving him the crumbs of your existence, disrespecting him by always taking and never giving, watch out! He just may take everything away from you. He might even bankrupt you, allow you to be sick, even take someone special out of your life. You can't continue to thumb your nose at God and get away with it. It just won't happen if you're one of His. Chastisement is on the way. Secondly, in our manual praise, our next major heading is, we are to approach the Lord with worship. In verse 2, David says, I will worship toward thy holy temple. Let me say that again. Verse 2, David says, I will worship toward thy holy temple. Firstly, no matter where he was, David says that he worshiped toward the Lord's temple. Here in the psalm, he says he will worship toward the Lord's holy temple. That tells us that David's worship had direction. Now the temple had not been built when David penned these Psalms. However, there was the tabernacle. And in the Holy of Holies, upon the mercy seat, is where the Lord made his abode in those days. Daniel, if you remember Daniel, prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day while in Babylon, though the temple had been raised to the ground. David is also alluding to the coming to the tabernacle and offering up worship there. He did that with his sacrifices multiple times in a given year. Worship was a great part of his life from a young age, and he thrilled at the prospect of getting to go to the house of the Lord. But that did not matter at all In the sense of who David was, as a man after God's own heart, he worshiped toward the tabernacle wherever he was. Thus, this worship that David lifted up was done not only in principle from wherever, but he also never neglected to worship at a prescribed place as the tabernacle was as well. And not only did he worship in principle and place, his was a personal worship when he did. It wasn't contrived. It wasn't forced. It was from his whole heart. Of course, you know his worship was also toward heaven. He never failed to bring distinctive direction to his praying, which is number two. Again, verse two, in his worship. David will live praise in the Lord's name for the Lord's loving kindness and for his truth. And he was distinctive in doing that. David would not neglect bringing thanksgiving to the Lord for his loving kindness toward David and the nation David was king over. And likewise, neither should you. Your worship, personal worship, personal devotion, always should be one that brings thanksgiving to the Lord for His loving kindness and certainly for His truth. that He's allowed you to know and have in you whereby you are able to live in this decrepit, defiled, debauched world and live free of all the degradation of it. Which brings us to number three. David's worship would be with declaration. It's with direction. It's been with distinction. Now a declaration. He says in the verse, For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Isn't that amazing? What a line. For thou hast magnified thy word. God, you have magnified your word above all your name. In other words, His Word is always sovereign, decreed in such a manner that it will accomplish that which the Lord intends for it to accomplish. We must thank God for His truth, friends, His Word. This is how we know what we know. This is how we know that God sees us, responds to us, and helps us. He tells us through His Word. Look what David declares here in verse number 3. In the day when I cried, thou answerest me, and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. And God is so great that verse four, David said, all the kings of the earth shall praise your Lord when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord for greatness and glory of the Lord. And I believe that is much to the unbeliever and it is the believer. No unbeliever on the face of this planet can use excuse that they don't know about God. He is everywhere. Even nature declares that He's here and speaks volumes about Him. Then lastly, here's our third heading in our manual of prayer and praise. We are to approach the Lord with humbleness. Look at verse number six, if you have your Bible. Though the Lord be high, yet he respect unto the lowly. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. And then he caps his verse off with this. But the proud he knoweth afar off. David says, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shalt save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. In this humbleness, number one, David is showing here that he's quite well aware that God is sovereign, that He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. But the proud He knoweth afar off. In other words, He has nothing for them. And David sees that. He does not want one bone in his body to be proud. He never wants to approach the Lord proudly or in any way believe. that he has got all the wealth he has as king by the work of his own hands. No, no, no. He understands the lofty position of the Lord. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And David says, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, and though the whole kit and caboodle falls in on me, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies even, I insert even for your sake. and thy right hand shall save me." This is the same David that wrote the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want And though the Lord might prepare a table in the midst of his enemies, still the Lord would anoint his head, and his cup would run over, even in the valley of the shadow of death. Even the Lord's rod staff would comfort him. Therefore he approaches the Lord with humbleness, knowing all of these things." And then, lastly for today, as it pertains to this particular psalm, verse 8, David gives the Lord real, true, humble praise when he says, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Whatever the Lord desires to do with David, in David will be perfect. Oh, how I love Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good for them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose. And His purpose is always perfect. And all the things all the things that might come in on us, over us, by the enemy, does not matter. The Lord has perfected His providence on our behalf, so Thy mercy, O Lord, will show up for us. As a matter of fact, David says, O Lord, Thy mercy endureth forever. And not that God would do this, but David says to him, in the last line of this psalm, forsake not the works of thine own hands. What is David actually saying? David is saying, whatever you want to do, as it pertains to me, as it pertains to mine, have thine own way, Lord. Do you sing that hymn at your church? We do. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting. Yielded and still. David approaches with humbleness. David approaches with worship. David approaches with respect, the throne of grace. And there he appeals to the Lord with thanksgiving, with an honest heart, with a whole heart, with humbleness. asking the Lord to do as he pleases with David's life. If this psalm is a direct result of 2 Samuel chapter 7, David is here writing this song, if you will, singing these things, if you will, as a result of the profound understanding of the blessings of God, not only on David, but his seed as well, forever. Thus, we have the first section of the Manual of Prayer and Praise for Believers. I hope you've been listening. I hope you've taken notes. We always need to be reminded of who we are dealing with. This is the sovereign God of all universes, creator of it all, sustainer of it, operator of it. Our next breath is given to us by God. Every cell in our body, His creation, how it operates, what it does, the flow of our blood, the snaps in our brains that create thought, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This is all of God. Why would you ever approach His throne with anything but sure humbleness and reverence and veneration, with great respect, with ultimate praise and worship, in the humbleness, with your head bowed and your hands turned over, raised to the sky? Have you been doing that? Or have you been giving Him the crumbs, the scraps of your existence? Does He have your whole heart? Or are you keeping a bunch back for yourself? O friend, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6.33, Why would you ever, ever, ever approach the Lord any other way? Father, thank you for your word today. May even this pastor, this preacher, this speaker be wise to this that you've given him and perform the same in faith and practice. Oh Lord, forgive us where we have given you the scraps. the mere crumbs from our existence. Lord, remind us continually of who we are. Holy Spirit, come upon us and absolutely squeeze our hearts to understand that all that we are, all that we have, all that we do, all that we be is given to us by the Lord. and how we should be thankful and not only know it, but say it with professions and confessions that certainly shows the true direction of our prayers and praise to Him with distinction and with great declaration. Hallowed be the name of the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your word today. Bless now your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Wherever you are, thank you for listening today. Thank you for tuning us in. Pray for us when you pray. This is Brother Darrell Lingerfeld of the Providence Baptist Church signing off. Thank you so much.