Helped by Grace Alone

Series on the Psalms

Text: Psalm 28

Title: Helped by Grace Alone

Introduction

One author has pointed out some similarity between this Psalm and Jesus High Priestly prayer in John 17. Although the precise points of comparison are relatively obscure and not always appropriate, the idea is not so far fetched because here David the Messianic King of Israel is praying for both himself and his people. It is not hard for us to put some of these words into the mouth of Jesus if we think of our Lord putting himself in the sinner’s place on the cross and crying out for vindication and deliverance for himself and his people. The entire Psalm is a prayer for mercy based upon the revealed character of the Lord God of Israel. The key is that David as the anointed representative of his people prays for the promised but undeserved love of God for his people. Oswald Chambers writes about the strangeness of God’s faithfulness. He says “Instead of God being a Father loving and kind, it looks at times as if he were totally indifferent. Prayer is always a temptation to bank on a miracle instead of a moral issue until we are disciplined. God will do more than we can do, but only in relationship to our spiritual growth. God has bigger issues at stake on the ground of his redemption than the particular setting in which we ask. In the meantime the friendship of God is completely shrouded. There are things that have no explanation, but maintain your relationship to God, ‘hang in’ in confidence in Him…It is only by going through the confusion that we will get at what God wants us to get at.” If you look at Jesus teaching on prayer in Luke 18:1-8 isn’t this exactly what Jesus is saying in the parable of the persistent widow who obtained justice from the reluctant judge by wearing him out with her petitions? Listen to Jesus’ conclusion, Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones? This is the truth embedded in this Psalm. The Psalmist asks for God’s distinguishing love. He asks to be separated from those whom God does not hear and those whom God does not help. His success, like the widow’s is in verses 6 and 7, Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

I. Separate Me from those that God does not Hear

There are those to whom God is silent as in verse 1,To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. Sometimes it seems to us that he is silent, but this is not the same as those whom God never hears and who go down to the pit or the grave without hope. What is there in the heart of the Psalmist that is different as he prays? He is convinced of the character of God. God is a rock. He is an immovable foundation for hope and trust. It is inconsistent with His revelation of himself that he should be silent when his people pray or refuse to answer. The depth of David’s conviction is seen here in two ways. First the confidence that God hears promptly in verse 2, Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. Like Daniel of old it may be said that the psalmist’s speaking is heard, Daniel 9:2i-23, While I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.” In the second place David speaks of lifting up his hands toward your most holy place. The actual Hebrew here is toward your holy oracle. It is a word that means toward the place of speaking, like the English word parlor from the French parler to talk. The holy of holies is where God talked to Moses. See Ex.25:22, There above the ark of the testimony I will meet with you. In I Kings 6:19 the holiest place in the temple is called by this same name, and David looked to that place as we look to Christ for the book of Hebrews reminds us that, Therefore brothers we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his Body. Though David’s confidence could not reach the degree that we have in Christ, this is a reminder to us that he had that confidence in the mercy of God. He understood God’s merciful purpose towards his people and thus he prays that they might be separated or distinguished from those whom God does not hear. This is all grounded in God’s character and not in our own righteousness.

II. Separate me from those whom God does not Help

Thus David prays in verse 3, Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts. Or conversely, separate me from those who will receive judgment and condemnation. This is akin to the Publican’s prayer, God be merciful to me a sinner. But as David prays for this he describes what will happen to those who do not trust the Lord and there are some worthwhile observations we should make. First, David identifies the essence of the problem, hypocrisy. The character of rebellion is the refusal to acknowledge sin in verse 3. This is accompanied by the refusal to acknowledge God in verse 5, Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done. Secondly David identifies the basis of God’s judgment in verse 4, Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve. Although God chooses to show grace to his people, and distinguishes them solely by his unmerited favor and marvelous grace without any regard for anything that is in them, the Bible never says that the wicked are judged and sent to hell because of anything God has done. Rather the basis of their judgment is what they have done. In stating this David is making clear that there is what we call in computer language a default setting. That is to say the whole human race rests under God’s condemnation, Romans 3:19 and 20, Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. The only thing that results in our salvation and deliverance is the mercy of God. This is articulated with great delight by David in verses 6-9, Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever. God has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is a fortress of salvation for his anointed one, Save your people and bless your inheritance. All of this language points to the fact of God’s sovereign electing love. We are what we are because of his sovereign grace. David also prays with the appropriate sensitivity for he says be our Shepherd and carry us forever. This reminds us both of John 10 and John 17. In John 10 Jesus is the Shepherd who carries his people because he is the one who dies for them. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep and no one can pluck them out of his hand. The Father who gave them to Jesus is greater than all and no one can pluck them out of the Father’s hand. In John 17 we find the same emphasis as Jesus prays in verses 2, 9, and 24 for those whom the Father has “given to Him.” From the standpoint of the believer struggling with sin and stumbling along we are tied to God by a thin thread of his grace. But from God’s standpoint this same love is like a mighty chain which cannot be broken. Though we may affirm the electing love of God as certain and fixed, it would be presumptuous of us not to pray as David does and give diligence to make our calling and election sure.

Summary of Psalm 28

In Psalm 28 David Prays that God will hear him because of the great mercy he has shown to His people. The foundation for this mercy is in the most holy place, the ultimate place of sacrifice, to which David lifts his hands. This place Jesus entered with his own blood to make everlasting atonement for the sins of his people. Knowing that God has provided a way for us to be forgiven and heard is the truth that distinguishes His people. They are the inheritance of the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. But David, consistently humble, and avoiding presumption, asks to be kept separate from the wicked. While he affirms the steadfast love of the Lord he simultaneously prays for God’s favor because he knows that his life is suspended on that Sovereign electing love. The wicked receive a well deserved condemnation. This would be the fate of all of us if we were not chosen in Christ and separated unto salvation by God’s distinguishing love. We need to be carried to glory.