Psalm 28:1

0:00 Good evening, church. I wonder if any of y'all were like me this morning and woke up feeling a little bit sad whenever you realized you had to wait 364 more days until the next church picnic. If you happen to have the privilege of being at the church picnic yesterday, first off, if you weren't there, please make it a priority next year. It's one of the greatest days in the life of the church. such a blessing, such a joy. If you were there yesterday, you would have heard a lot of different noises, seen a lot of different things, experienced a lot of, yeah, different interactions between people, between brothers and sisters in Christ, but particularly between children and their parents.

0:45 A couple of different things you may have heard children call out to their parents while you were there. You may have heard children call out with joy, mom, dad, look at this balloon animal that I have? Or, look at my face paint. Don't I look like a unicorn or Spider-Man? You may have heard children asking their parents things. Can you take me to the bouncy house? I want to jump on the bouncy house. Or, Dad, can I have another one of Emily Harris's award-winning chocolate chip cookies? But you also probably would have heard some children calling out to their parents in distress as well. Mommy, Daddy, where are you? I turned around and I thought you were there and you're not. Mommy, Daddy, I fell down and my knee hurts and it won't stop hurting. Where are you?

1:34 Why do children call out to their parents so often? Well, there's a lot of different reasons for that. I think one of the main reasons is because the child's relationship with their parents. They know their parents. They know their parents care for them. They know their parents love for them. And they know when they call out to their parents, their parents hear them and they act. Our verse tonight is found in Psalm. It's Psalm 28.1. It can be found on the front of your bulletin. Or if you're using a pew Bible, it's on page 460. It's Psalm 28.1. And in our verse tonight, we find King David calling out to his heavenly father in a way that's not so different than the way that children cry out to their parents as well. We see David's urgent calling to God in his need. So let's read. This is the word of God. Psalm 28, 1. To you, O Lord, I call,

2:36 my rock be not deaf to me lest if you be silent to me i become like those who go down to the pen the main idea of the sermon tonight the main point that that i'm that i think this passage is telling us is is god answers the cries of his children so christian pray humbly to your god again that's that's god answers the cries of his children so christian pray humbly to your god we're going to think about this and in two two kind of two different points two different sections we think about the the man who calls and the god who listens so the man who calls looking at how david calls out to god and what we can learn now nearly three thousand years later about how David prays, and then the God who listens, how we know that God listens, how we know that God acts

3:36 whenever we cry out to him. So point number one, the man who calls. One of the beautiful things about the Psalms, as you read them, is that so many of them model for us prayer, what it's like to pray to God. And tonight, really our teacher in how to pray is King David himself, a man described in the Bible as a man after God's own heart. So let's see what kind of example that he sets for us. I think that there's two defining characteristics of David's prayer that teach us a lot today. The first one is David's direction. The first characteristic is David's direction of his prayer. Where does he go in his need? Look at the verse. So the very first line, the very first thing David says is, to you, O Lord, I call. David, the first thing on his lips whenever David is in trouble is to say, to you, Lord, I call. He calls to Christ. He calls to God, to God first. Consider

4:42 for a moment what prayer actually is. It's coming before the Lord your God and laying your requests at his feet, the God of the universe, as Justin preached this morning, the God who healed the leper, the God who can create life with just one word, David recognizes that it's to him that he needs to direct, that he needs to direct his plea. Not to anyone else. It's to God that he directs his plea.

5:17 But where do we direct our plea? Whenever we're in trouble, whenever we're in distress, whenever we get that call from the doctor that the test was positive in the most negative way imaginable, whenever you lose your job, whenever you lose a loved one, Whenever deadlines are starting to pile up on you and stress is surmounting and you feel like the best you can do is just tread water, where do you turn? Do you turn to God?

5:51 Working on this sermon this week was really convicting for me because I feel like lately I've been in that same boat before. And I find that oftentimes I turn in other directions. Sometimes I turn to my right and I look to friends, I look to other people, I look to my wife for help. Those are all good things, but they're only so good so far as God has placed them in my life as a grace to me. Sometimes I look to my left and I look to the culture of this world or technology. Maybe ChatGPT has the answer to my questions. Well, technology isn't bad.

6:31 Only so far as God's common grace has blessed it to be able to answer our questions. And oftentimes I look at myself, thinking that the answer to my problems lies in me, that I need to give 110% and pull myself up by my own bootstraps, and the only one that can help me is me. But the only help that I find in myself is through the grace of God. All of these other directions that you can turn, if they are helpful to you, it's only because of God's grace. So the very first place that I need to turn and you need to turn is to look up and to cry out to God who is the beginning and the ending of our help.

7:17 So David understood this. David understood that it's to God that we need to cry out to first and foremost. Do you understand that as well? The direction of David's prayer was to God, but he also directed his prayer to God in humility. That's the second characteristic of the man who calls, of coming before God in humility. David knows his place in relation to God. I mean, this is King David we're talking about, the mighty warrior, the powerful king.

7:58 Yet, where does he go? He doesn't turn to his mighty men of valor. He doesn't turn to his sword. He doesn't turn to his throne. He comes before God, and he calls God his rock. All those other things in David's life are not his rock. It is God that is his rock. God is David's foundation. David recognizes that he is powerless in and of himself, and he needs God to answer him.

8:31 And that's really what the second part of this verse is talking about. Whenever it says, lest if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. David is saying, God, I need you to answer me. I need you. And if you don't answer me, it's as if I'm dead. And not just dead physically, but spiritually as well. He's saying, God, if you are not here with me, it's as if I am condemned. Do you recognize just how helpless you are without God and how reliant you are on him?

9:09 That's really key to understanding how to approach God in humility, isn't it? If you look around the church tonight, it was a joy to me as we were singing, looking around and seeing how many young children are here, especially newborn children, and watching parents holding their babies during church, to me, it's just one of the most beautiful things I can see. If you've ever been a parent of a young child, then you know just how reliant that baby is on you.

9:45 That baby can only do a couple things. It's sleep, cry, eat, and poop, all right? But you are the one that really is giving that child life. That child isn't going to eat without you. When that child cries, it's you that takes care of that child. Brothers and sisters, we're as helpless as a newborn baby without God. If you want to know how to pray humbly before God, begin with recognizing that.

10:18 Begin with recognizing who God is and who you are in light of that. Your weakness and God's strength, your need and God's provision, your sin and God's holiness, your condemnation and God's forgiveness. so David directs his prayer to God, and he comes to God in humility, but David also knows that God will hear him and will answer as well, and that's point number two of our sermon tonight, the God who hears. God hears our calls to him, and he hears our cries, so how do I know this? I mean, our verse itself says, is David crying out to God, asking God to hear him? But I would argue that David already knows that God will answer. How do I know that? Well, David himself says it. He says it throughout the Psalms. Here's just a few of many examples of what David says in the Psalms.

11:21 Psalm 5, oh Lord in the morning you hear my voice. Psalm 18, from his temple he heard my voice and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 34, when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. And even in our chapter tonight, even in Psalm 28, just five verses later, he says, blessed the Lord, blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

11:57 See, even when David is begging God to listen to him, David knows that God is listening, that God acts. We can see this throughout the entire Bible, the way that God acts in this world, the way that God acts on behalf of his people, the way that God hears the cries of his people. We know that God answers. Brothers and sisters, have you considered that the very fact that you're holding a Bible, proves that God answers our prayers, proves that God answers us, and wants to communicate to us, wants to talk to us. There's a reason that the Bible is called the Word of God. It's God's Word to you. When you are crying out to him, wanting God to answer, open up God's Word to you and read what God has to say to you.

12:52 The Bible is the word of God, but God sent another word, didn't he? God sent his son, Jesus Christ. So like David says and cries out in the psalm, those of us, whenever we cry out and we say, God, are you deaf to me? Can you hear me? God, are you there? God, why don't you answer me? God sent Jesus to say, yes, I am here.

13:24 Jesus Christ, who humbled himself, he left the glory and perfection of heaven to come down to this broken world full of aches and pains to say, yes, I am here. He lived a perfect life that we could not live, a life without sin, and he took on himself the punishment for our sin. He took on himself the wrath of God that we deserve, died to terrible death, saying, yes, I am here.

13:58 And then Jesus rose from the grave. He defeated our worst enemy. He defeated death and sin. Jesus says, yes, I am here. And he offers to all of us his loving forgiveness. So that if you place your faith in him for the forgiveness of your sin, you spend eternity with God? Of course Jesus says, yes, I am here and I hear you. If you're here tonight and you are not a Christian, I am so glad that you are here.

14:34 This is the best place in the world for you to be tonight. It doesn't matter what need you have in your life. I don't know what's going on. You probably have many needs. You probably feel as though you need to cry out to God as well. I want you to know that the greatest need in your life is your need for Jesus Christ. The greatest need in your life is for Christ's forgiveness. And if you're here tonight and you are a Christian, remember Christ's forgiveness.

15:06 Remember the gospel. God has already answered the most direst need in your life, your need for forgiveness. How will God not answer your need when he cries out, when you cry out to him, when he has already given his son for you? As Justin said this morning in his sermon, Jesus sees your situation, he notices your pain, and you can cry out to him.

15:38 but I also want to recognize that there are likely many people here today who still don't feel like God is listening to their cries for help, who do not feel like God will answer them. I want to say I understand. I've been there myself sometimes. You may be doing everything that we talked about. You may be walking faithfully with God. You may be come directing your prayers to God. You may be coming before him humbly, knowing in your head that God hears and answers his prayers, but still not feeling it. Well, what I would encourage you to do is to take your lead from what David does in our verse tonight. See, David knew that God was there, but David didn't feel like God was there. And what did he do? David still cried out to God. Continue to cry out

16:40 to your Lord God. You know, I was preparing this sermon and thinking about all the different things that children cry out to their parents for. And it reminded me of my little nephew, Jack. So when Jack was a toddler, when he was little, he started to have these kind of violent, what looked like seizures at night.

17:12 It turned out, through a lot of testing, that he was having night terrors, just violent night terrors that looked like seizures, crying out for his parents, convulsing. I was visiting with my brother one night, and we were talking up late, getting to catch up with my brother, who I love dearly. And from the back of the house, we hear a cry. And I got to witness my big brother get up and dart to that back room and pick up his child. And then I got to see my brother sit down and hold his child in his arms, his child who's lost in a nightmare, convulsing, murmuring, crying out for his parents, and I got to see my brother hold his child and whisper to him, Daddy is here. Daddy loves you. You are safe. Daddy is here. Daddy loves you. You are safe.

18:14 Christian, I want you to know that you may feel like you were that child lost in a nightmare, crying out, but morning will come one day. That sun will rise and you will wake up to find that all through the night you have been in God's arms, him whispering in your ear, I am here, I love you, and you are safe. Let's pray.

18:49 God, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, that you hear our prayers, that you hear our cries, God, that you have answered them in your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us this week. Lord, as we go about our daily lives, Lord, May we be reminded that you are our help, that our cries need to come to you, God. May we humble ourselves and see our reliance on you, God.

19:23 And may you hear our cries and our pleas for help. Lord, may you give us confidence in your great love for us. We thank you, God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.