your faith. Hear the word of the Lord from Psalm 28. A Psalm of David. To you, O Lord, I call. My rock, do not be deaf to me. For if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you for help. When I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary, do not drag me away with the wicked and with those who work iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices. Requite them according to the deeds of their hands. Repay them their recompense. because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the deeds of his hands. He will tear them down and not build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him and I am helped. Therefore, my heart exalts, and with my song I shall thank him. The Lord is their strength. He is a saving defense to his anointed. Save your people and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also and carry them forever. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Now, Father in heaven, we pray and ask for your blessing upon our time in your word. that we would leave treasuring the Lord Jesus Christ, eager to walk and step with your spirit. Strengthen us now, Holy Spirit, so we would understand your word, illuminate our minds and our hearts, and help us, God, to be people who are praying people, a petitioning people, crying out to you in times of your seeming absence. We thank you, Lord, for this word. We thank you for who you are as our God, our rock, in whom we can say we have full deliverance, we have full freedom, we have hope and hope eternal. And so God, we pray with confident expectation that you would do a mighty work today as your word goes forth. We thank you, Lord, for how you have promised and provided for your people over and over again throughout history, and you still do that today. Thank you for all you will gloriously accomplish in Christ. all this we ask and pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said. Amen. Last week, friends, we kicked off our Summer in the Psalms series as Brother Stephen preached a very edifying message from Psalm 27 and introduced the topic of Summer in the Psalms. And at the very end of that psalm we looked at last week in verse 14, so Psalm 27, verse 14, we read this verse. for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. In commenting on these verses, the late pastor James Montgomery Boyce noted, quote, waiting, the last line of verse 27, or Psalm 27, is something we must learn to do better. since God does not usually respond to prayer according to our timetable. We do not expect to have to wait for God forever, of course, but what should we do while we are waiting? The answer is that we need to keep praying, to persevere in prayer. Significantly, this is the point to which Psalm 28, the next Psalm in the Psalter, takes us, close quote. That quote can be found in your bulletin notes, and I will try to make reference to these. It can be a helpful guide as we go along. Hope that encourages you and blesses you. If that does, feel free to take those notes. So this Psalm, Psalm 28, is focused upon prayer. Dependence upon the Lord, calling upon the Lord, directing the cries of our hearts, our innermost desires to the Lord. There are good desires in our hearts. It's not only filled with bad desires, covetousness, as we looked at earlier in the catechism question. There are good desires within our hearts, things that we ought to channel to the Lord himself. So this psalm, Psalm 28, will serve as a model and a corrective for us, a blessing to build us up into the praying men and the praying women, a church that pleases the Lord through our prayers. But there are other helpful related purposes to this psalm. The German pastor and reformer Martin Luther noted that of this psalm, we may use this psalm against tyrants and fanatical spirits. For in this way, our tyrants and persecutors of the word want to pretend peace in word, yet secretly plan councils of slaughter and murder all the while. Christian, there are people who hate you, even as they smile at you and are nice to you. There are people in high positions of power working against you. And what will you do? Where will you turn? First and foremost, friends, it ought to be turning to the Lord in prayer. Prayer, the theme of this psalm. As we see in this first opening verse, David, who wrote this psalm, directs all of us to whom? Look in verse one. To you, O Lord, I call. My rock, do not be deaf to me. The truth is all of us call out to someone or to something. The question is not if we do, it's to whom we do or to what we do. In times of trial or difficulty, we don't know exactly the circumstances that David faced here. A pastor friend of mine made a comment, half joking, on Tuesday when we met as a group of pastors for the Chicagoland Gospel Network. And he said, in many of the Psalms, you don't know the circumstances or the situations we're in. So it could be this one thing, or it could be these other five things. Perhaps David was being chased by pagan Philistines or another pagan army. Perhaps he was being chased by King Saul of Israel or his son Absalom. Or he was just contemplating his own sin or another trial we know nothing about. So we don't know the exact circumstance of this psalm, but we do know that David faced a life filled with trials, some brought on by his own sinful actions, others by the actions of others, both internal and external trials that came along. All of us call upon someone or something. Who do you call upon, friends? You call upon your spouse, first and foremost, even before the Lord himself. Marriage is a very good and a wonderful thing. One man, one woman, covenant together for life. But is our spouse able to save us or rescue us and deliver us? Is our spouse our rock in the way the Lord is? Absolutely not. What about our money, our intellect, our work ethic, our track record, our connections, our skills, our guns, our country, our military, our constitution, our rights, our accomplishments, our church, our nation? your personality, really whatever you want to put in there, where or whom you call out to in times of trial and need. For the Christian, the Lord, is his or her only true rock. The true Christian calls upon the rock who is the Lord, for he alone is the mighty God. The kind of main takeaway of the summary sentence from today's sermon, you can see at the top of your sermon notes is this, since the mighty Lord hears, let us call upon him. Since the mighty Lord hears, let us call upon him. We see throughout the Psalms and also the rest of the scripture that there's an imagery of a rock, of the Lord is a rock, all throughout the Bible. So you see this in Psalm 18.2, Psalm 18.46, Psalm 19.14, if you were to read up to our text today. You also see this in Deuteronomy and in Isaiah. For example, Isaiah 44.8 says, do not tremble. Do not be afraid. Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? Or is there any other rock I know of none? King David would heartily agree. A rock is a reminder of the strong security, the immovable nature. We're not talking here about a pebble or a throwing stone that you kind of skip across a lake this time of year. It's warmer out. My kids are always looking for the flattest rocks, and they say, look, Dad, a good skipping stone. We're talking here more about a mountain, a shelter, something that you cannot easily move, not a small pebble, a protection, something that is solid and firm, reliable. Jesus Christ in the New Testament is called the chief cornerstone, not an accident, because of texts exactly like this one in Psalm 28. And so, friends, today, let us remember that since the mighty Lord hears, we can call upon Him. We must call upon Him. We'll look at three manners in which we must call upon Him now. First, let us call upon the Lord for help when He seems to be absent. Let us call upon the Lord for help when he seems to be absent. David says, to you, O Lord, I call. My rock, do not be deaf to me. And he goes on to say, for if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. The pit is an image of death. Think of Sheol, the place of the dead. For David, not hearing, the Lord's response. His cry to the Lord being met with a deafening silence is the equivalent of going down to death. It is going to the pit. Oh friends, what a rebuke to many of us who are prayerless, who do not call to the Lord and don't even know what it is like to be in a place where we are praying, met with the deaf ears of God. Of course, we know God is not deaf. It is just the seeming absence of the Lord. What appears to be the case, we know He can hear the prayers of His people. But we should also not put ourselves under any illusions. The scripture does say if anyone is cherishing sins in their hearts, their prayer is not heard by God. Your prayer to the Lord ought to be one of repentance, humbly saying, Lord, forgive me for this sin. If you're asking the Lord for something while you are cherishing sin in your heart, that is backwards, that is reversed. You must pray to the Lord and call upon him for repentance, trust in Christ afresh, and then ask for your petition, friend, Let us call upon the Lord for help when he seems to be absent. Again, we don't know the exact nature of this trial that David was in. We do know that he had many circumstances that could have fit exactly what he was going through. But David was the chosen king over Israel. I'm so encouraged by this to know that the chosen king of Israel, the one who Samuel anointed, this man, who is actually listed and told to us in scripture as being a man after God's own heart, Yes, we know he struggled with many deep sins. But he was told to us as a man after God's own heart. This man sensed the absence of the Lord. Oh friend, how that ought to encourage you. If you ever sensed the absence of the Lord, know that David also sensed the absence of the Lord, but even more so, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He experienced what it was like being truly God, truly man. when he hung on that cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The highest expression of absence, the absence of the Father's care and provision, wow, was when Jesus cried those words out. It's so encouraging to us, friends, so don't be discouraged, Christian brother or sister. If the Lord seems silent, call upon him all the more. Tell him who he is. Lord, you are my rock and direct what you sense to him. There is no other. David goes on to say, hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you for help, in verse two. The personal nature of this should not be lost on us, friends. This isn't a collective sense of hear the voice of our supplications when we, as all of Israel, your chosen people, call out to you. There are some of those in the Bible. But sometimes Christians, wanting to avoid a hyper-individualism that is rampant in our day and age, and is often idolatrous in our day and age, go to the other extreme where they say it's all corporate, we can't ask for anything personal. Anything individualistic is evil and wrong. I heard one man once say that about how he wishes every hymn would just say our and we. Well that actually would not be faithful to what the Psalms teach us. We are individuals. Yes, we are the corporate body of Christ, but this psalm helps us have that healthy balance of realizing David is crying out to the Lord for his supplications, his petitions, his personal challenges that he faces and no one else. Similarly, you and I find ourselves in situations under trials that we alone face. that the Lord knows of, but even if we share with a brother or sister in Christ, which we should, to help them bear our burdens, we also ought to take these to the Lord. Let us call upon the Lord for help when he seems to be absent, for specific help, not just general or generic, be specific with those trials, with those difficulties that you face, friend. Don't you dare say you don't have time for prayer. How many hours are you on your phone or watching TV? How many movies have you watched this week? There's time for prayer, friends. Husbands, prioritize this in your home, leading your family in humble dependence upon the Lord, crying out to Him. From the greatest circumstance and trial you face to the smallest trial that seems so inconsequential, the first instinct of a Christian is to cry out to the Rock, the Lord. Even if he seems deaf, he seems silent. And to pray like David, Lord, I will be like one who goes down to the pit, who goes down to death itself, if you are silent, if you don't meet my prayer. Let us call upon the Lord for help when he seems to be absent. Second, let us call upon the Lord with cries for his rescue and justice. Let us call upon the Lord with cries for his rescue and justice. Look where the section of scripture takes us. Right after saying, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary, which is a posture of prayer. It's not the only one in the scriptures, but it is one that often we don't actually do. But I encourage you to do that sometimes. To raise your hands up to the God of heaven, as if you're holding up your heart and asking him for what you need. Right after that, note where David goes in verse 3, ìDo not drag me away from the wicked, with the wicked rather, and with those who work iniquity.î ìDo not drag me away with the wicked and with those who work iniquity.î Well, whatís going on here? Alec Mateer in his translation of this in his devotional commentary, translates it like this, do not drag me away with the wicked and with the troublemakers. With the troublemakers. This is actually a very specific term in the Bible. Workers of iniquity. While all sinners do deserve the just judgment of God, not all sinners are the same kind of workers of iniquity. those who cherish and treasure sin in their hearts, or, as our psalm tells us today, those who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. That's the kind of worker of iniquity we're talking about here, the double-minded, or as James put it, we saw a few months ago, the unstable, the worldly, who says one thing but does another, the inconsistent, who cares little about the truth. but who plunges himself or herself into depravity, deceiving others by what seems to be on the surface a very nice presentation of himself. David directs his prayer towards the Lord and he says, do not drag me away with the wicked and with those who work iniquity. So this is a cry for rescue. Lord, I know what my sins deserve. I know some of the people that are around me, these workers of iniquity. Please, Lord, please hear the voice of this supplication. As I'm lifting up my hands to your holy sanctuary, as I'm crying out to you, what is David asking for? Don't drag me away with the wicked, with those who work iniquity, with those under your righteous judgment. will face you, a holy, holy, holy God, and all your wrath. Dr. Joe Moorcraft, a very faithful brother pastor, served for many decades, gives this stern warning. He says, quote, do you find yourself being pulled into the world's ways, into the world's mold, so that you compromise truth, you start to talk and act and live like the sinful world. You enjoy what the world enjoys. Is it a school? Is it a job where people around you are pressuring you and molding you by their wicked ways as those workers of iniquity? If it is, then leave. The cost does not matter. Nothing is greater than the cost of your soul." That's exactly right, friends. As the Lord Jesus put it in Matthew 16, 26, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits what? His soul. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Friend, you and I are always closer to being dragged away with the wicked than we think. Proverbs 13.20 tells us, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm. You surround yourself with fools, sometimes in the name of witnessing to them or reaching them. But slowly you're conformed to the pattern of this world. Slowly it ebbs away at you. And slowly you're talking like them and living like them. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, 33, do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. King David recognizes that he is very close to being dragged away with the wicked, with those who are workers of iniquity, deceived, double-minded, unstable, who speak peace with their neighbors and have a smile on their face, but their heart is far from God, far from Christ. and there's evil in their hearts. And so he cries out for rescue, as we ought to as well. Who are the people in your life, friends, who are causing you to compromise the truth of God? The places, the settings, again, a job, a school, just like Dr. Moorcraft said and suggested, it's not worth it, it's not worth the cost. cry out to the Lord for rescue and act in accordance with what will please Him. But also notice that the cry here is a call upon the Lord for justice. In verse 4 then in Psalm 28 it says this, Requite them according to their work and according to their evil of their practices. Requite them according to the deeds of their hands. Repay them for their recompense. because they do not regard the works of the Lord nor the deeds of his hands. He will tear them down and not build them up." This is a desire in the psalmist's heart, David here, for justice. It is something that many Christians, self-professing Christians in our day, do not understand. If you read the Psalms, there are many passages like this. Many different passages talk about enemies, talk about a desire for justice, sometimes in very graphic terms. So Psalm 5, four through five tells us, of the Lord, you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. Many Christians today, would not say that that is their God. But that is the God of the Bible. Psalm 115, the Lord tells us of himself again. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked. His soul, the Lord's soul, hates the lover of violence. In another wisdom book, Proverbs, we read in Proverbs chapter six, there are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven which are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans. There's that emphasis on the heart again. Verse 19, a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife among brothers. So yes, here's a cry, not only for rescue, David understands he's surrounded by these men, he's in many ways like these men, he deserves justice as well, but does not want to go the way that they're going, but also a cry for justice. A cry for the God who is perfectly righteous and just to bring justice according to the evil that these double-minded are participating in. And this is a good and a godly prayer. It is something that every true Christian, every God-fearing man or woman ought to pray for. And in this day and age, it's something that, understandably, we would want to pray more and more on. A cry for the Lord to bring His justice, perfect justice, not partial, not incomplete, perfect justice. For all of us who are in Christ, we recognize with humility, we ought to at least, that we too would be named among this number, apart from the miraculous work of God and His grace in Jesus. Apart from the Spirit of God convicting you, converting you, apart from the Spirit of God causing you to be born again to a new and living hope, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, friends, you too would be under this same double-mindedness, this deception, and going the same way of the world. And yet, we ought to be those who pray, yes, for the repentance of our enemies, yes, that we would love our enemies well, but never at the expense of sacrificing truth. Too often, love of our enemies is viewed as this mushy, gushy thing, separated from truth, separated from righteousness, separated from the holiness of God. Love in the Bible, according to 1 Corinthians 13, 6, is love that rejoices, not in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. That's real love, that's biblical love. And it is also loving, it is also something that God is pleased by when his people, called by his name, cry out to him for justice. Required is not something that we use regularly in our terminology, but it just means repay. That's the idea there. Give back is what the ESV translates it as. So give them according to their work, according to the evil of their practices. By and large, we live in a unjust society. This is overwhelming the case whenever you look at the way that things like the death penalty have fallen out of favor with many. People cannot even bear the fact that someone would be put to death lawfully. It's something that many people are repulsed by in our day. And yet, here the psalmist is crying out to the Lord to do something that he cannot do even as the king. He knows that there are double-minded, deceived people, men around him who deserve the evil of their practices to fall on their head. Give to them what they deserve, God. Give to them what they deserve. Friend, do you pray like that? Does this describe your prayers? Have you prayed like this lately? You should. Give to them according to the deeds of their hands. And yes, by all means, pray, Lord, cause them to repent and turn away from their sin and trust in Christ. Absolutely, but also pray, Lord, if they don't do that, please give to them according to the deeds of their hands. Why? Verse five, look there in your Bible. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the deeds of his hands. This is ultimately about God. It's not about some petty offense they did against you. David is consumed with this God-centered view of, they don't offend just me as your king. And righteous laws and the truth, they don't offend just your people, they offend you, the living God. They don't regard the works of you, Lord. the deeds of your hands. They mock you. They twist your words. They lie about you. They even talk about you probably. But they do not honor you. So repay them their recompense. Give to them according to the deeds of their hands, Lord. Let us call upon the Lord, brothers and sisters, for help when the Lord seems to be absent, but also with cries for His rescue and His justice. It honors God when you do that. And you do it out of humility, not out of arrogance, not out of pride, but you do it out of a longing for the Lord's deliverance. Third and finally, let us call upon the Lord in hope-filled praise of His eternal provision. Let us call upon the Lord in hope-filled praise of His eternal provision. Look back in your Bibles at Psalm 28, verses 6 through 9. I'll read those just to refresh our minds of them. Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart exalts, and with my song I shall thank Him. The Lord is their strength. He is a saving defense to his anointed. Save your people, bless your inheritance, be their shepherd also and carry them forever. Notice a shift has taken place here. We saw David saying back in verse two, hear the voice of my supplications. Now he's saying the Lord has heard the voice of my supplications. David says to the Lord, when I cry to you for help. And here he says, my heart trusts in him and I am helped. This is not an accident, this is intentional. The Lord is helping us see that the prayers of the faithful, the prayers of the saints go from a longing to a fulfillment. In the short of just a few verses, David does this. And he blows up with this expressive praise. Blessed be the Lord. Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. He has heard my petition. And then He names again who the Lord is. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped. Notice the shift. It's so important for us to realize this. From crying out initially to the Lord helping us to find rest in our hearts through prayer itself. So many times we forget that prayer is accomplishing something, but prayer is also doing something in us, even as we pray to the glory of God. If you're here today and you are wondering, okay, Pastor Brandon, but what if I don't feel like praying? What if I'm having a difficult time in prayer? What should I do then? Well, as our brother Stephen mentioned last week, the Psalms are primarily, first and foremost, about Jesus Christ. They find their climactic fulfillment in Him. So we should look, yes, contextually at what happened in the ancient Near East and in David's time, that's important, helps us grasp the meaning, but also in the New Testament that quotes the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book, as Stephen mentioned. We see the cries of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we're reminded that the Psalms ultimately have this Christ-centered prism, this lens through which we must look at them. And so in light of that, we think of a verse, for example, like Hebrews 5, 7, and 10, your bulletin there, that says this, in the days of his flesh, he, Jesus, offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his piety. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. And having been made perfect, he became, to all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ cried out on your behalf and on mine. And so if and when we as Christians find it difficult to call upon the Lord, let us look to Jesus remembering this, our rock. The risen Lord always intercedes for us. Our rock, the risen Lord always intercedes for us. Acts 2.24 tells us that God raised Jesus from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it is impossible for death to keep a hold on him. And if you are in Christ, that is the one in heaven representing you right now. And even when you don't have the strength or the desire to call upon him, friend, know this, that Jesus is still calling upon the Father on your behalf. What great joy and encouragement. How can we not lean into the Lord and want to call out to the rock knowing that Jesus is always interceding for us? But that's not all. Our rock will judge the living and the dead in righteousness. We already saw this in point two. But friend, I hope you take that to heart When you're wondering, Lord, I just struggle to pray. I'm struggling to pray. Look to the rock who says, I will judge the living and the dead. We say it every Sunday, every Lord's Day in the creed. Why? Because the judgment of God, the righteous, impartial judgment of Almighty God is meant not just to cause fear and trembling for the unelect and those who right now are in their sin, but to cause great comfort and encouragement to believers. who know that God will vindicate his glory, vindicate his truth, vindicate his justice, and will not let evil go unpunished. How can we not call upon the Rock, our strength, our shield, knowing that he protects us, defends us, knowing that he intercedes for us, and knowing that he will bless us? The Lord is a saving defense to his anointed, ultimately and finally in the Davidic King, the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect prophet, perfect priest, perfect King, and the one who intercedes for us right now, this very moment, friends. At the end of the day, each one of us has to recognize that with this psalm, every believer can apply this, can live in light of this, can take heart because of this glorious psalm. William Plummer, the great Presbyterian pastor, said this, and I close on Psalm 28, quote, every believer has abundant cause for blessing and praising God. When he thinks of all God has been, is, and ever shall be, of all that God has done, is doing, and ever shall be doing for him. Of the ills he has escaped, of the good things he is authorized to hope for, how can his laudings of the Almighty be excessive? The life of every good man should abound in joy and rejoicing. And indeed, friends, in Jesus Christ it can be, both now and forevermore. Let's pray. Almighty God and merciful Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank you for your word here in Psalm 28. We pray that we would be a praying church, calling upon you, the mighty God, in increasing measure. Help us to call upon you, Lord, for help in personal trials when you seem to be absent, to lean into you all the more as our rock. Forgive us, Lord, for calling upon other things, even good things, above you and before you. Help us, Lord, to call upon you with cries for your rescue. Lord, we are always so close to peril, to danger, to sin. Help us to be those who cry out to you for justice, without shame, without embarrassment, but with confidence that you are a righteous God. and help us to call upon you, Lord, in hope-filled praise at your eternal provision, what you have given to us freely and mercifully through your son, Jesus Christ, who intercedes for us now. Thank you, Lord, for this great assurance. Thank you, Lord, for your good news, the glorious gospel that we who are sinners and once would have been numbered amongst those double-minded, wicked, unstable workers of iniquity, who we are now by your grace alone forgiven, your covenant children, with a glorious inheritance that is ours, all because of your work through your son, Jesus Christ. Oh God, we thank you and praise you today, and ask all these things in the precious, powerful name of King Jesus and all God's people said.