Psalm 69 is where we are this evening. We'll read the psalm together and then we'll have a word of prayer and then we shall look at this psalm in some measure of detail. We're thinking about songs about Jesus, these messianic psalms, psalms that are referenced in the New Testament that are applicable particularly to the Lord Jesus, to his life and ministry. Psalm 69 verse 1 Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hit me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy me, being mine enemies, wrongfully are mating. Then I restored that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, because for thy sake I have borne reproach. shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb to them. They that sit on the gate speak against me, and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in unacceptable times. O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy, hear me in the truth of Thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them that hit me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, For thy loving-kindness is good. Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from me, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily, draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it. Deliver me from my enemies. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before thee. reproach hath broken my heart, that I am full of heaviness, that I look for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I find none. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. pour out thine indignation upon them. Let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come to thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this, and be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moveth therein. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and have it in possession. The seed also of Israel shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you tonight for the opportunity to come apart from the world, to take a break in the middle of our week and to focus our hearts and minds upon your holy word. Lord we're so glad tonight that when we open this bible that we possess that which was the possession of the saints from the early church to the present time, the very Word of God, inspired, infallible, inerrant, that which is God-breathed, that which we can trust and know to be indeed the words of life unto us. Father, bless tonight, we pray, as we look into the Scripture. Lord, we would be like those men of old who would come with that prayer request, sirs. We would see Jesus. We pray that we would see Jesus tonight, that we would see Him upon the cross, that we would see Him high and lifted up, that we would see Him as the soon returning King. So Father we pray tonight that you would bless each head bowed, each heart gathered, speak to our hearts, challenge us, change us, mould us and make us to be what you'd have us to be. For we ask these things in Jesus name and for his glory. Amen. Now after Psalm 22 which we looked at last week, Psalm 69 is the second most quoted Psalm of the New Testament and everywhere it is referenced in the New Testament it is referenced with relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can be absolutely certain this is a Messianic Psalm and the key to understanding this Psalm is in the last line of the fourth where it says, then I restored that which I took not away. Here we see that the Lord Jesus not only brought salvation by means of the cross, but ultimately he brought restoration, he made restitution for the wrong, not that we did, not that he did, but that we did. He made things right even though he was not the one who did the wrong. Notice the key word of this psalm. Let's see if you can spot it as we read a number of verses beginning in verse 7. He says because for thy sake I have borne reproach shame hath covered my face. Verse 9 for the seal of thine house hath eaten me up And the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Verse 19, Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I look for some to take pity. but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none." You saw the word, didn't you? It's the word REPROACH. This is a psalm about reproach. You see, at Calvary, the Lord Jesus didn't just die for sin, but he also took upon himself our sins. He bore our reproach. He died not just taking our sin, but he also died taking our shame. He borrowed the reproach that falls upon you and I because of those actions that we take in our lives that bring disgrace and dishonor unto us. In other words, He was put to shame because of you and because of me. Now for that reason we call this psalm, the Psalm of the Trespass Offering. he restores that which he took not away and I want you to look with me now to the book of Leviticus and look in chapter 5 and of course it wasn't that long ago that we looked at the Levitical offerings on a Tuesday night but let's look in chapter 5 and briefly refresh our memories concerning this trespass offering If a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing and is a witness whether he has seen or known of it, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or a carcass of an unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, And if it be hidden from him, he also shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be, the man shall be defiled withal. And if it be hid from him, when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. pronouncing with his lips to do evil or to do good whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and to be hid from him when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing. and he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb, or a kid of the goats for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin. Now these details pertaining to the Trespass Offering continue on into chapter 6, and we'll look there in a moment. But understand what this Trespass Offering is relating itself to. It speaks about those things which we hear, and we ought to bear witness to what we've heard. forget, we neglect, we omit to do the right thing. Or it speaks about those things that you may touch as an Israelite that are unclean, perhaps you've touched the carcass of a dead animal or an unclean beast or something of that nature and you forgot all about it. But then it comes to your memory that you did that and there's now provision made for you in the trespass offering. Or perhaps you made an oath, you made a promise and you didn't fulfill the promise. And again it comes to your attention that you didn't fulfill the promise and therefore you're guilty of breaking your word, breaking the oath. Again there's the opportunity now to go to the priest with your lamb or whatever beast that you can afford and make amends for the wrong that has been done. But here's the interesting thing about this offering. It doesn't just atone for the sin, it actually makes amends for the sin. In other words, you have to compensate for the thing that you've done wrong. Look in verse 16. Verse 16 of chapter 5. It says, and he, this is the offender, shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it on to the priest, and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him. Now that's what the Lord Jesus did for us at Calvary. You see, in Psalm 22, he dealt with sin. He dealt with the punishment of sin. But in Psalm 69, he's dealing with sins. And he's not just making us right with God and war. No, he's going beyond that. He's adding to that. He's bringing us to a point of restoration. He is not just reconciling us to God, but he is restoring that which was lost or taken in the wrong that has been committed. The trespass offering, unlike the sin offering, really addresses the issue of our debts. If you look in chapter 5 and verse 5, it shall be when he shall be guilty in one of these that he shall confess that he had sinned in that thing. Now, and then we see in verse, again verse 15, I should have read verse 15, not verse 5. If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks with thy estimation by shekels of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary for a trespass offering. You see, in the trespass offering, besides the life of the sacrifice, the life of the animal, whether that be a lamb, or two doves, or whatever it is, besides the offering that is offered, the priest makes an evaluation. He makes a monetary evaluation. And he says, well, yes, I hear what you've done. and you have not kept your oath and I'm going to estimate in this particular instance that that should be compensated by this amount. He roughly equates that, I presume he had some kind of chart or some kind of means that he could evaluate this rather than making an arbitrary estimate. But he had some means whereby he could calculate addition to the sacrifice. Maybe he looked at what you were offering. I'm not quite sure how this worked to be honest with you. Maybe he looked at the lamb and said you know lamb cost so much we put 20% on that and now you've got to give that 20% offering or whatever way he worked it out. But either way he calculates a suitable level of compensation. He adds 20% to the figure and therefore the injury is paid for in shekels at the tabernacle. Now look in chapter 6 in verse 1. It says, And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, If a soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour, or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and swerth falsely, in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein, then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, notice, that he shall restore that which he took valiantly away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered on to him to keep, or the lost thing which was found, or all that about which he hath sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in the principle, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto him to whom it obtaineth in the day of trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, or I am without blemish out of the flock, with thy for a trespass offering unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord and it shall be forgiven him for anything of all that he hath done in trespassing therein. So it's quite clear in that particular chapter that here you have done something which has resulted in a loss to your neighbor you know you know maybe you've had something delivered by partial force you just kept the partial or whatever it was you know you borrowed something didn't bring it back again and then it's discovered or you feel guilty about it or whatever it is What do you do? You estimate the value of the thing that you've done, of the damage that you've done, and you go to the priest with your estimation. He affirms that, or he perhaps says no, you're actually more than that, or whatever it is, and you bring your offering. He makes the offering at the tabernacle, and you compensate the person that you did the wrong against, paying not just what you owed, but more than you owed. Now this is the trespass offering. it makes restitution for the wrong that was done. Now in Psalm 22, the sin offering demands simply that sin is paid for, that it's punished. That's Psalm 22. But the trespass offering relates to our daily living, to our daily walk, to ongoing forgiveness. And that's Psalm 69. The wrong must be righted for sure, but it also must be repaid in some way. It's a bit like when you crash a car, and depending on which end of the car crash you're on, if you're the crasher, you usually think the damage is a lot less than it actually turns out to be, doesn't it? Because the crashee, if there's such a thing, The person you crashed into goes to his insurance company. I remember when Michaela crashed or somebody crashed into the back of her and the assessors called up to deal with that particular claim and they were merciless really to the person that crashed into the back of her. And they were like, you know, she was being very sympathetic with the person because it was a it was a young girl like herself and she'd just passed her test the week before and Michaela was feeling kind of sympathetic toward her and when the assessor got on the phone to Michaela I overheard the conversation and I thought my word these people don't take any prisoners you know and she says to her well was it raining no it wasn't raining and she says well what happened she says well she just came around the corner she didn't see you see me and she ran into the back of me And the assessor says, well, how could you possibly miss a red car in the middle of the road on a perfectly clear sunny day? And so then he says, have you been injured? Well, no, not really. Well, here, you've got to go and see a doctor. And the doctor's going to check you out. We think there's probably something wrong with you. And so it turns out that he does have all kinds of back ailments, which he legitimately did have. But by the time they were finished, what we thought was probably just fixing a bumper ended up being thousands of pounds. And that's probably how it was in Bible times, probably not quite so bad I should imagine. But nevertheless, you get the picture, you've wronged somebody, you think, I own them so much, it's not that bad, it's only a sheep here, what's a sheep between neighbours? And you go down to the priest, and the priest says, what? Do you realise the value of lambs? That's what you've got to pay, you've got to go back, pay the price of the sheep, and 20% more, and you're like, what? It's great, but that's what you've got to do. You've got to be restored. You've got to restore that which you took away. Now in Psalm 69, the Lord Jesus says that he restored that which he took not away. In other words, the wrong wasn't his. He's not the debtor. He's the one who's paying the debt. But before we get into this psalm in chapter 69, let's begin, even as we did last week, with a little look at the title to the psalm. And you should have these words above the first verse of your Bible. In Psalm 69, it says, to the chief musician, upon Shoshanim. a psalm of David. Now what is Shosh Hanim? Some people think that is a musical instrument of sorts but the word literally means lilies and some people hazard a guess there may have been some ancient musical instrument that was lily shaped in some way that we're not familiar with. But I don't think that's what it's about at all. This is an interesting title. It's a title that appears in four of the Psalms in all. And I don't know about you, but I don't like lilies. I don't like the smell of lilies. And I don't know why. It's a pastoral thing. It's something that I have acquired over years and years and years of visiting funeral homes and homes where the deceased are lying in rest. And inevitably there are lilies in the home. Lilies are traditional at funerals, aren't they? People often buy lilies. To me, that's the smell of death. When I go into a home, even if there's nobody dead, I smell lilies. I think somebody's dead. And actually, it served a purpose in olden times, because bodies would be corrupting, and that very strong smell would kill the smell, or at least balance out the smell of bodily corruption. And so I have that associationship in my mind with lilies. But in ancient Israel, they didn't have that associationship. They thought about lilies like you and I think about daffodils. You know when you see a daffodil, what do you think? Spring. Spring is coming. So come around Easter time, Mother's Day, we have in the past given all the ladies daffodils. Somebody will inevitably bring a nice bunch of daffodils and set them in the church somewhere. And it's always an encouraging sign. After a cold hard winter, when you see those daffodils springing out the side of the road, you're thinking Spring is coming. That's how it was with the lilies. The lilies in Israel are a spring flower. And they often grew in the valleys, in the mud and the mire of the valleys. Look in verse 2. Here the Lord says, I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. That's the very place where lilies grew. And so traditionally, lilies were associated with springtime in Israel, but in particular, and this is vitally important, they were associated with the Passover. Have you ever noticed sometimes, even in Christian art, that sometimes people draw lilies on the cross at Easter? You know, if you see some of the graphic art that people do for Easter time to celebrate Easter card or something, there's often lilies on the card, isn't there? around the cross, and that's picturing the lilies of Israel, the lily of the valley, among others. So one writer describes this lily, or the lilies, as luxuriating in the valleys, and usually growing among Now, nothing could possibly be of greater contrast than the delicacy and the purity of the flower of the lily in contrast to the bramble and the tangled mess of thorns that might be growing all around it. and the picture is of the purity of the Lord who has come to a world that is really cursed by sin. Thorns are emblematic of the curse. So you think about on the cross what they do. They put a crown of thorns upon his head. They put a crown of thorns upon his head. So he is the lily and we find that there are four titles that are applied to him traditionally, and all four are in these psalms. We're not going to take time to look at all of the psalms, just this one. But here he's the lily of the valley. That brings us to the low place of his life, to the cross at Calvary. He's the lily of the valley as he hangs upon the cross with the thorns upon his head. In Psalm 45, he's the lily of the field. Do you remember what the Lord said in Matthew chapter 6? He said, you see the lilies of the field, how they sow not or reap. Is that what he says? Something along that line. And he talks about how they're clothed. And he says even Solomon wasn't clothed in such bright array, such great glorious garments and all that glory. But the lily of the field, is seen in Psalm 45, which speaks about the King in all his glory. In Psalm 80, we see the lily among the thorns. That psalm speaks about the Lord in terms of trial and tribulation. And then in Psalm 60, he's the lily in the garden. That's a psalm of testimony, a psalm of victory. So we start this psalm to the chief musician upon Shoshanim, upon Passover time, upon springtime, as the lilies are emerging out of the marsh of the valleys and between the thorns that are mangled around them. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it, of the Lord Jesus. Now to the psalm itself. There are three things I want you to see in this psalm tonight. We're going to think about the suffering of our saviour. Then we're going to think about the supplication of our saviour. And lastly, and very briefly, we'll look at the song of our saviour. Let's look at the suffering then of our saviour. And we begin in verse 1 down to verse 12. And like Psalm 22, the focus is upon the cross, upon the suffering of the Lord, but it's from a different aspect. This psalm is speaking about how he suffered shame, how he suffered at the hands of society as a whole, how he suffered at the hands of his own family, how he suffered with respect to even the things that his followers did and his fellow countrymen and so forth. Notice in verse 1 how he's treated by his foes. Save me, O God, for the waters are coming unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes feel while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restore that which I took not away. Now that fourth verse is cited in John's Gospel in the 15th chapter if you want to look there for a moment. John's Gospel chapter 15 and beginning our reading in verse 20. John's Gospel chapter 15 and verse 20. And here the Lord Jesus speaking says this, Remember the word that I said unto you, this servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, I'll keep yours also. But all these things I do for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. I have no cloak for their sin. father also. If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my father. But this cometh to pass." Notice that the word might be fulfilled. It's a prophecy that is written in their law, in the Jewish writings. They hated me without a cause. That's a direct quotation from Isaiah 69 verse 4. What a remarkable thing to be hated without a cause. You know when you hate somebody, most times you have a reason for hating them, don't you? They've done something on you. They've said something to you. They've taken a stand against something that you hold dear or whatever it is. There are people in history and we can name them. They were figures of hate when they were on the earth. The most obvious one is Hitler. Hitler was a figure of hate, wasn't he? Certainly by those who were in the allied end of things and by the Jewish people and others. He was a figure of hate. Napoleon was a figure of hate. Also an emperor, one who was trying to build a great kingdom and dominion for himself. Stalin was a figure of hate. hate with all of his own death camps and all the terrible atrocities that took place under his name. In more recent times, Osama Bin Laden became a figure of hate, didn't he, after 9-11. Everybody suddenly, we all saw this man's face. We knew who he was. You thought about him only in terms of wickedness. You never thought of Osama Bin Laden positively. You never looked at him and said, you know he's probably a decent guy deep down. You never thought that, did you? You never saw him and said, I bet he's a good dad. You never thought that, did you? You were conditioned to hate him because he was an enemy of the West. And even growing up in Northern Ireland, there are people you learn to hate. And to be honest with you, Those who grew up there probably still struggle with these things. It's very hard for us to watch the Martin McGuinnesses of this world standing as statesmen on the steps of the White House and so forth, and Downing Street, because we know that he was a terrorist and a thug, and he's responsible for the deaths of many, many people. And Gerry Adams is the same. I know they deny all this stuff, but listen, the dogs in the street know what they did. But anyway, here's the thing, OK? It's very hard not to hate somebody like that, because they give you a reason to hate them. You know, I remember, and I've shared this story with some of you before, but for those who maybe haven't heard it, I remember the day that Gerry Adams was shot in Belfast city centre. And I was working at the time as a draftsman. And our drawing office was comprised of people from the Unionist, Protestant, British community. And we were all working away, you know, minding our own business, doing what we had to do. And suddenly, somebody burst through the door. And they said, Jerry Adams has been shot. Now, I'll tell you what, they couldn't have brought more happiness had they said, Christmas is tomorrow, OK? Because immediately, everybody was excited in a positive way. And somebody went, really? Is he dead? And they said, no, no, he's just injured. I hated him. I still do hate him. Don't be fooled by what you see on TV or read in the newspapers. I still hate him. But here's the Lord Jesus. You know, this is a psalm of David. David had his enemies. He was a warrior king. No doubt he alienated some people along the way. But the Lord Jesus, what did he do? He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He fed the hungry. He loved people. He reached out to people. He taught the truth. And yet he was hated, and really hated, for no apparent reason. In fact, I think this is a shocking thing that's stated here. When it says they hate me without a cause, which is of course John's quotation, but it says they that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs on my head. Can you imagine such a large body of people having such deep antipathy toward Christ? It's hard to imagine. And you know, you look at what it says there that would destroy me being my enemies wrongfully are mighty. You know, by the end of his life, who hates him? Well, the Pharisees hate him, the Sadducees hate him, and the priests hate him, and the scribes hate him, and even the Roman authorities hate him. And guess what? Even the people he healed, and blessed, and taught hated him. What did they cry? Crucify him. He hated him. But they had no reason to hate him. Now here's the question I want to ask you Nate. Do you think that had any impact on him? You can only take so much hatred, can't you? I laughed at Jim on Sunday. He said that the women were giving him a hard time when he didn't do his list. He said, my wife and his wife, you two should be ashamed of yourselves. Shirley says she's not. I said to Jim afterwards, don't worry about what the ladies say, especially my wife. I said, I've never listened to her. I said, don't worry about my wife. I said, if you're going to go into the ministry, one of the things you've got to do is grow thick skin. Because I said, every week somebody's going to complain about something. And you just have to let it roll off and not let it bother you. And I'm sure Jim knows that anyway. But there is a point, even for people who are in ministry, who are used to maybe hearing a lot of complaints and criticisms, there is a point, a tipping point, where you think, oh, I can't take on much more of this. And when you think about the Lord Jesus, you think he's perfect, and he is perfect, and he's sinless, but he's a man. And he feels things the same way other men feel things. Of course, he does it without sin. Did all of these feelings of hostility toward him make any difference to him? I think they did. His feelings are articulated in the first three verses. He feels like a man who's going down into the mire. He's like a man who's trapped in quicksand. You know, a man who sinks into water stands a better chance of survival than a man who's sinking in a quagmire, because you can at least try to swim through water. But if you're sinking in a quagmire, That's a helpless and hopeless situation. He's trapped. And that's how he feels. He's overwhelmed by the wave of hatred against him. He says, I'm coming into deep waters where the floods overflow me. You know, he's like someone, you know, maybe you've seen, I'm sure you've seen when there's very bad weather and there's a ford in the road sometimes. Every year this happens. Inevitably somebody tries to cross it, don't they? Usually they try to cross the ford in their car. There they are in their little mini and they're trying to cross this raging torrent of a river. And of course they don't get very far and what? They're washed away. And that's the imagery. The Lord sees that life is being washed away. That there's such hostility and hatred and it can't be resisted. He's overwhelmed. He's overcome. Sorry? Yeah, absolutely. He says the floods overflow me. And as he contemplates his sure end, of course we know that before he goes to the cross he goes to Gethsemane and he's given to prayer. And that's what we're reading about in verse 3. I am weary of my crying. He's not crying in a self-piteous way. He's not crying in a sense that he's a weak man. The Lord Jesus certainly was not a weak man. But he's crying out to God. And he's weary. In fact, you notice, my throat is dried. You know, sometimes our throat is dried, but we're usually dried up talking trifles. But he's dried up praying to the Lord as to his Father. But what does that say about his prayer life in contrast to our prayer lives? He's dried up. Mine eyes feel while I wait for my God. how his foes hated him and yet how he loved them. He was treated badly by his foes but notice then in verse 8 it speaks about how he was treated not just by his foes but by his family and become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. Now, sometimes when the Bible speaks about the Lord's brethren, it's speaking about a wider context. It's talking about the people of Israel. But in this context, it's not talking about the nation as a whole. It's literally, that phrase brethren is the sons of my own mother. That's what it literally means. So it's actually talking about his physical brethren. Now when you think again as a psalm of David, David's brethren, his brothers misunderstood him, didn't they? Remember whenever Samuel comes to anoint the king, David is out on the field and they're all standing there waiting to see which one of them gets the praise, only to be disappointed that none of them got the praise. And Samuel inquires, you know, there must be somebody else, the Lord hasn't picked any of you lot. And they said, well there is, there is this other guy, he's a bit of a shrimp, he's out there on a... I saw a pastor's name the other day, he's called Pastor Schmuck. That was the worst name I ever saw for a pastor. But anyway, they said, there's this, our brother's out there, he's a bit of a schmuck, he's a bit of a... he's not worth really looking at, but we can go and get him if you want. They despised him. They didn't respect him. Remember he comes on to the battlefield to fight Goliath and what happens? Eliab steps forward. I know the naughtiness of your heart. I know why you're here. You're here to get a show. Why don't you go back and look after your few sheep, little boy? He belittles him. He mocks him. And just as David's family mocked and belittled him, the Lord Jesus too was rebuffed by his family. Look in Mark chapter 3. Here in Mark chapter 3 and verse 21, it speaks about his friends. But actually, if you look in the margin of your Bible, you'll see that the word friends there can also mean kinsmen. So this is his family. And it says, and when his friends or his family, his kinsmen, heard of it, They went out to lay hold on him. When they heard about how busy he was and how he had virtually no time for himself because he was so engaged in the ministry. They said when they heard of it they went out to lay hold of him and they said he is beside himself. That's a very polite way of putting it, isn't it? He is beside himself. What does that mean? He's a nutcase. He said, our brother is a complete nutcase. He's a headcase. And they come out to him and they're fearful. They think he's mentally unstable. He thinks he's the Messiah. He thinks he's here to be the saviour. This brother of ours, he's crazy. And even later in that passage in verse 31, even Mary gets in on the act. They come out to get him and to bring him home in verse 31. There came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without scent unto him, calling him. And the multitudes sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked around about on them which sat about him, and he said, Behold my mother and my brethren. You know, it's not interesting because, you know, there are those who tell us that in order to get God's intention, you have to go through Mary. Mary will get your prayers answered. But here Mary makes a request of Jesus. And what does Jesus do? He rejects the request. He says, she's not my mother. You know there are poor people who say they're praying to a merely mother of God. God doesn't have a mother. God's eternal. He's from everlasting to everlasting. Nobody began God. Nobody birthed God in the sense of His divinity. And so here we see the point is that his folks come and they are trying to drag him back. They are trying to put him away. Stop all this preaching. Stop all this messiah nonsense. Stop all this stuff. Come home with us. Look in John chapter 7. John chapter 7. verse 1 after these things in Galilee for he would not walk in Jewry that is he wouldn't walk in among the chief priests and the rabbis because the Jews sought to kill him now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was at hand that means a trip to Jerusalem His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples will know that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. Notice verse 5. For neither did his brethren believe in him. As someone who grew up with brothers, I can appreciate the kind of squabble that's going on here. I almost hear his brother say, you're a big shot, you're a messiah, we hear you're doing miracles. Yeah, he's doing miracles, oh yeah, miracles. How come you're not down in Jerusalem showing off your miracles? You afraid of getting hurt? Why don't you go on down there? If you're going to make these disciples show everybody your miracles, go ahead, big guy, go on down to Jerusalem. You see what they're doing? They're mocking him. And he feels like an alien in his own household. You know, it's one thing to be rejected by your foes, but it's another to be rejected by your family. But you know the one thing I've always loved about the Lord Jesus? He never asked you to do anything that he's unwilling to do himself. That's the saying of a great leader. He never asked you to do something that he himself would not be willing to do. And has he asked us to suffer that kind of reproach? He certainly has. Look in Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10 verse 34. He says, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. You see the demand of discipleship here is such that we're to owe such loyalty to Christ that when it comes down to loyalty to Him or loyalty to family members, He's got to come first. That's quite a demand, isn't it? You know, only a Messiah, only the Messiah can make that kind of demand. You know, if I were to say to you as your pastor, listen, here's the way it is, if I want you to do something, you do it. And I don't care what your mother says, or your father, or your husband, you do what I tell you. I think you'd be in a cult. You'd find yourself in a cult. Obviously, I'm never going to say that because it would be inappropriate, sinful, proud on my part. But the Lord Jesus said that. He effectively said that. He said, you're going to put me first. He said, when you put me first, you're going to make enemies in your own living room. You're going to make enemies at your own dining table. You're going to make enemies within your own family circle. And yet he himself understands that because he made enemies in his own living room, at his dining table, among his family circle. You know he was mistreated by his family. Not only that, he was mistreated in his father's house. Look in chapter 69 of Psalms and verse 9. And again, it's a verse that crops up in the New Testament. It says in verse 9, For the seal of thine house hath eaten me up. The seal of thine house hath eaten me up. Look in John chapter 2. We're now at the outset of the Lord's ministry. He's embarking upon his ministry and he comes for the first time in terms of his ministry to the temple and sees there the money changers and all the profiteering that is going on. It says in verse 13 in the Jewish Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem He found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables. And he said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence. This is really a very radical thing that he's going to say. Make not my father's house. and house of merchandise. He says this is not a place for commerce, this is not a shopping mall, this is my father's house. And then he quotes that verse and his disciples remembered that it was written the seal of thine house hath eaten me up. Jealousy for God's house. him up. And so we see he was really mistreated even in his father's house. The Pharisees resented his presence there. They certainly were not happy when he overthrew the tables of the money changers and they began to conspire to get rid of him because he was hurting profits. But notice before we condemn everybody else how he's treated by his followers. Notice verse 5 of this psalm. He said, O God, I know it's my foolishness, and my sins are upon thee. Look at verse 9 again at the end of the verse. The sins of them that reproach thee are fallen upon thee. You know, there are those who look at that fifth verse, and they are fearful to attribute it to the Lord Jesus. They say, well, the Lord Jesus is sinless. Of course he was. He's impeccable. And they say, well, we can't possibly look at this verse 5 and make it, in any sense, an application. In fact, that verse 5 should be applied to the body of Christ, but not to the head of Christ, meaning that it applies to the saints, but not to the Savior. But verse 9, I think, really explains verse 5 in a messianic context. It says the reproaches, the shame of them that reproach thee are fallen on me. He became sin. He bears our reproach so that our folly becomes his folly. Our sin becomes his sin. And that's the part of the cross, isn't it? You see, we're not doing any disservice to the character of the Lord Jesus because we're acknowledging that he's without sin, that they're not his reproaches, that they're not his sins, that they're not his follies, yet he owned them. And he took them on himself. Not only is he mistreated by his foes, his father's house, by his followers, but also by his fellow citizens. Look in verse 12. They that sit in the gate speak against me, and I was the song of drunkards. Those that sit in the gate are the elders of the city. That's where the city's business is done. It's done in the gates of the city and that's the place of government. That's where legal matters are settled. It would be in our day the equivalent of the offices of the city council. or something of that nature. And, you know, if there's one place that you do hope that you might get an ounce of sympathy if you're being mistreated, it's with those who have the charge of government. You hope that, you know, no matter what other people think about you, that the government at least will apply, you know, a just balance and, you know, declare your innocence. But that's not what the Lord Jesus found. You see, he didn't find any sympathy in the gate of the city. Those that were sitting in that gate were speaking against him. And they were joining in the rabble. And notice, this is a remarkable statement. I was the song of the drunkards. You know, in Psalm 22, we saw his humiliation when he said, I am a worm and no man. In Psalm 69, we see it when he says, I am the song of drunkards. You know, I thought about that, you know, and I thought, you know, how many Christians there are who are happy, you know, just to sit in pubs and clubs and sing with the drunkards. But I'll tell you what, the drunkards will never sing in favour of Jesus. They'll never sing in favour of Jesus. Drunkenness has never lended itself to godliness. So in short, what are we saying here? We're saying in respect to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that he found himself without a friend in the world. Look in verse 19. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. And there was none for him to take pity, but there was none. and for comforters, but I find none." He was all alone in the world as he bore our shame upon Calvary's cross. Then we pick up in verse 13 and notice the supplication of the Savior. Says, but as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. O God, in the multitude of thy mercy, hear me in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire. Let me not sink. from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, for thy lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily, draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it. Deliver me because of mine enemies. Now we've already spoken this evening somewhat about the prayer life of the Lord Jesus. And here we see again as the psalm unfolds that his prayer life rises to the fore. And the psalm really turns upon that little phrase in verse 13, but as for me. This is a recurring phrase in the book of Psalms. In fact, it's worthy of a study all of itself. It's a turning point in every psalm. Such and such has happened, but as for me. And the new direction is taken. And so here we have the Lord Jesus. He's rebuffed. He's rejected. He's reviled by every strata of society. From the men who sit in the city gates, all the way through the religious bodies, into the common man in the street, even into his own living room. He's reviled. What does he do? Go into a corner and feel sorry for himself? That's what we might do. You know, it's amazing how quickly self-pity sets in, isn't it? Feel sorry for me. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Okay. And that's how we feel sometimes. Have a little pity party. Nobody loves me. Nobody cares about me. Nobody thinks about me. You ever said those things? Sometimes we have, haven't we? What did the Lord Jesus do when nobody did care about Him and nobody really did think about Him? I'll tell you what He did. He committed Himself unto His Heavenly Father. Look in 1 Peter 2. Let's look at verse 21. It says, for even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us. Leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. Now let's stop for a moment. What is this speaking about? Well, it's speaking about being those who suffer wrongfully. Those who are suffering for their Christian faith. That's the context. And the Bible's not being sympathetic here. You know, if you're saying, since I've been a Christian, I've suffered a lot for my faith. You don't get the Bible coming out going there, there, there. What's it do? It says, well, the Lord Jesus set an example for you. He suffered. And you should follow in his steps. Well, what did he do then? What are his steps? Verse 22. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. But did what? Committed himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self bare our sin and his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. You see what he did? He committed himself to him that judges righteously. So you read the early portion of Psalm 69, and it's saying, my foes hit at me, my family hit at me, the fellow citizens hit at me, these people were against me, this group was against me, they were hostile toward me, my enemies were more than the number of the hairs on my head, but as for me, what? I'm committing myself unto the Father. That's the attitude. That's what will get you through it. As for me, my prayer, he says, is unto thee, O Lord. That's what he says there in that psalm. As for me, my prayer is unto thee. This prayer is a prayer from the hateful attitudes and actions of men. He prays that he is not swallowed up by his own blood. He prays that he does not sink in his own fire. He prays that the pit will not shut up upon him. What's the pit? He's talking about the grave. He said, O Father, let not the grief be the end. Rescue me. He's praying for the resurrection. And notice the sevenfold petitions of his prayer. In verses 16 through 18, have a glance there. He says, hear me, turn on to me, hang not thy face, hear me speedily, draw nigh unto my soul, redeem it. What does that mean? How does the Lord Jesus have his soul redeemed? Not in the sense that somebody must pay a ransom for him, but a secondary sense. The word redemption here has to do with avenging him. He says, avenge me and deliver me. Well, the prayer for the avenging of his soul seems at first glance to be out of character with what we know about the Lord Jesus. You know, it would be natural to make this particular imprecation, this prayer for justice and judgment, to fall onto David's shoulders and say, well, obviously that's a prayer that David would have prayed. Notice in verse 22, this type of praying continues. Verse 21 speaks about how they showed him no pity, giving him gall and vinegar to drink, which we know was fulfilled prophetically. And then he says, let their table become a snare before them, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate, let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. What's this prayer? Well, he's praying their security will be taken from them. Verse 22. Let their tail become a snare. The very place where they should feel safe. The very place where they should feel that their wealth was secured. The Lord says, let it become a trap to them. He says, blind them in verse 23. He says, pour out your fury upon them in verse 24. He says, make their homes desolate in verse 25. He says, don't let them go free in verses 26 and 27. Let them not come into thy righteousness. He says in verse 28, erase their names from the Book of Living, the Book of Life. Now that's not to be mistaken with the Lamb's Book of Life. It's a different thing. The Book of the Living was the register of citizens, and when you died, they removed your name from the book. So what he's really saying here is not that they're going to lose their soul in any way, but that they should lose their inheritance, that they should have no memory. There should be no memory of them. Now these, this is what William Scrugney said, he said this, these imprecations do not belong to the spirit of the New Testament and are in sharp contrast to the prayers of Jesus and Stephen. But underlying them is an ethical principle which we cannot afford to ignore. Here's what it is, right is right and wrong is wrong and God is just. Now it's certainly true that the Lord Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who put him to the cross. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. He prayed for them individually. But as a nation their rejection of him results in the answer of this prayer. This passage has less to do with the actual individuals who were gathered around the cross as it has to do with the judicial setting aside of the nation of Israel because of the crucifixion of their Messiah. Look at Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. Verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often shall I have done this to thee? Because a hen gathereth her children unto her wings, and ye would not. Now watch verse 38, Behold, your house is left, what? desolate. It's not the same as Psalm 69. Their house would be left desolate. Their habitation would be left desolate. Look in Romans chapter 11. Romans 11. Romans 9, 10, 11 are dealing with the Jew in relation to the gospel and Speaking about Israel, a lot of people get into this passage, these passages and they get all confused here about the elect and they think the elect are those that are unconditionally elected to be saved and who has shed his blood for specifically. Well, that's not it at all. You'll really get into a mess if you start taking the elect to mean that in Romans chapter 9, 10, 11. It's to do with Israel. When you get to verse 9 of this chapter, bearing in mind that Israel is what's being spoken of, we have a quotation actually directly from Psalm 69 verse 22. And David said, Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back always. See how the imprecation of the psalm, the cursings that are in the psalms, have now been directed toward Israel as a nation? Remember what the people said in Matthew chapter 27? Whenever Pilate was uncertain about the rightness, the rectitude of crucifying the Lord, It says in verse 24, when Pilate saw that he could reveal nothing but rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, his blood be upon us and on our children. Well that was a self-fulfilling prophecy wasn't it? Because when you think about the sufferings of the Jewish people From that day to this. They're immense. In modern times we think about Hitler, but Hitler wasn't the end of it. And he wasn't the beginning of it. Others had come before Hitler who had persecuted the Jews, and others came after Hitler who had persecuted the Jews. And even now, they're not secure. They're sitting in the land of Israel. But are they sitting there in safety? No, they're not. People are launching rockets at them day in, day out. They're fearful every day of the week that there's going to be an infusion, an incursion into their land. They're concerned that at some point their allies are going to let them down and they're going to be abandoned and they're going to have to face all of the Arab nations that surround them and the hostility of the United Nations and the hostility of the European Union. And they're thinking to themselves, we're going to be finished here. We're going to be destroyed. Of course that's not going to happen. But all of this came about Because in Psalm 69, among other places, it was prayed, let their table become a snare before them. Let their security be taken away. Then we close in verses 30 to 36. The Song of the Saviour. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this and be glad. Your heart shall live to seek God. For the Lord hears the poor and despises not his prisoners, his captives. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moveth therein. For God will save Zion, and he will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein. Here's the psalm now closing out with a note of praise. The Saviour's cry has been heard, his prayer has been answered. His offering for our sin, for our shame is deemed better than that of ox or bullock. It's a once for all offering, never needing to be repeated. He not only redeems his people, but he restores them. He restores that which he took not away. What did we lose when Adam sinned? We lost everything, didn't we? We lost paradise. We lost, to some extent, the dominion of the earth. The harmony that was there. We inherited disease and death. But here's the thing, the Lord is going to turn it all back. You see? He's going to restore that which was taken away. And God's answer to this prayer comes in the form of resurrection. Verse 29 says, O God, set me up on high. What's that? That's exaltation, it's ascension. Well, he can't be ascended unless he's first resurrected. And as we saw, the Jewish people are set aside, they're cursed, as it were, verses 22 to 29. In verses 34 to 36, that curse is lifted, and they are the recipients of great blessing. Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves therein. Why? For God will save, what? Zion. He'll save Jerusalem. and all, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and have it in possession. Aren't you glad that the Lord is a forgiving God? Of course we know when He comes the tribes of Israel see Him, they weep, they mourn, they're converted, they acknowledge their wrong. and then hurt the land. And even as we studied the Sakara, they end up living in towns and cities without walls that require no security. It's going to be an amazing thing for Jewish people to be living in an environment where you require no security. You don't have to worry about who else has got on the bus. You don't have to be stopped at checkpoints and searched by soldiers and all the rest of it. Although he's cursed in the middle of the psalm, the Jew is blessed by the end of the psalm. So the Lord Jesus, you know, He doesn't just redeem mankind by the cross. He restores us. He takes the fall of Eden. He bears our sin. He bears our shame. He is reproached. But in that reproach, He also pays our debt. A debt that we could never pay. You know, we were in Berlin the other week. Hazel and, I think it was Michaela, were queuing up to buy a pie. It was Michaela, wasn't it? Rachel? Anyway, we're at that stage where we can't remember. But certainly Hazel was there, and one of our children, all of whom have now metamorphosized into one grandchild. Anyway, at a certain age, you'll appreciate this. You'll appreciate this. So anyway, Hazel and one of our children working up for this pie. These pies, I should say. And they put in their order, and the man behind the counter got their pie ready, and he handed the pie over, and Hazel got her purse out and said, how much is that? And he said, you don't have to pay. And she says, what? He says, you don't have to pay. He says, the lady in front of you just paid. She left money and paid you two to have a pie. Obviously, she could see they were starving. Now, how did they feel all day long? Great! I mean, it was only a pie! It was only a couple of quid, you know, two or three euro, whatever it was. All day long, they were going, well, that was really nice. Oh, that lady, I can't believe it. She just paid for that and walked off. We didn't even get to say thank you. Those Germans are really nice. Those are really nice people. All day long, I had to listen to this. By the way, by the way, I didn't get my pie paid for. I just want to point that out. I was over at the drinks place. And I had to pay, I got ripped off. So anyway, that's another story. She said, the Lord blessed me. She said, the lady must have been an angel. I said, well, the guy I got must have been a devil because he did me. But anyway. But anyway. But you know, here's the thing. This lady paid a debt that she did not owe. Now, obviously, they could have paid their debt in that instance. But she paid a debt that she didn't owe. And it just thrilled them, thrilled their soul. Just a little debt. But here the Lord Jesus comes and he pays the greatest debt. The greatest debt. I restored that which I took not away. I paid your debt. I restored what you lost. And not only did I restore it, but I compensated. I gave you even more than what you lost. You see, if you think that we're missing out by not having experienced Eden, there's a better day than Eden coming. And it comes by way of the cross. What a wonderful, wonderful psalm this is. And so we move now quite naturally from the scene of the cross to the next event. Resurrection. And next week we look at Psalm 16. The Psalm of the Resurrection.