March 31, 2013
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, nursery schedule, etc., are in attachment. All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord.
Thomas Brooks
CRY OF THE HUMBLE
Psalm 9: 12-14
Grace makes the Lord’s people humble. We are afflicted by Satan, the world, anti-christ and his followers, and with a sense of our own sin which keeps us humbled. In our afflictions we cry to the Lord. God remembers the cry of the humble. What is the cry of the humble? We are told in verses thirteen and fourteen.
The Humble Cry for Mercy
David cries, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD.” When a sinner is truly humbled by grace we have no strength, no power, no ability, and no wisdom of ourselves. We are poor, needy, contrite, broken, and afflicted in soul and spirit. Our cry is importunate meaning we do not merely say a prayer but our prayer is truly “a cry”! A cry for needed mercy! The self-righteous pray to be seen of men. (Mt 6: 5-6) They expect to be heard for much speaking. (Mt 6: 7-8; 1 Ki 18: 26) Self-righteous men even use prayer to exalt themselves over others. (Lk 18: 1014) But when the two men went up to the temple to pray it was the humble publican of whom the Lord said, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Lk 18: 10-14) Never use prayer to be seen or to prove a point or to exalt yourself above others. When is the last time you really cried to God for mercy? When we really see our need of mercy that is when we truly pray for mercy! Brethren, plead, not any righteousness or merit of our own, but cry for the mercy of God. He hears the cry of the humble.
The Humble Cry for Consideration
The Psalmist cries, “O, LORD, consider my trouble.” The spirit of this cry is not demanding or commanding. It is a cry for consideration. It is to ask the LORD to look upon the character and depth of our trouble as only God has the Wisdom to do. The wise and prudent pray with a spirit of defiance, a spirit of haughtiness, a spirit of murmuring and commanding as if man knows what is best for God to do. When we are suffering we do not know the depths and intricacies and purposes of God involved in the trial. We hear in this prayer one bearing the cross laid upon him, with a patient and submissive spirit. When our Savior faced the cross, he prayed, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (Jn 12: 27-28) When we ask God to consider we are asking him “to undertake, to look into to it, to see to it as only God is able to do.” His name is “Jehovah Ji-reh”, “it shall be seen, the Lord will provide, the Lord will see to it,” so indeed the Lord will consider.
The Humble Cry Acknowledging our Savior
David prays, “thou that liftest me up from the gates of death.” The “gates of death” is plural because God our Savior lifts the believer from many gates of death. He lifts us from the gate of spiritual death by God the Father choosing us in Christ, by Christ redeeming us, by the Spirit regenerating us in Christ. He lifts us from deaths often. (2 Cor 11: 23; 1: 10) And in the end, he shall lift us up from the death of the grave. (1 Cor 15: 54-57) His wisdom and grace and love shown us in the past compel us to rest all into his hands now. Our cry is, “LORD, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death.”
The Humble Cry to Praise the Lord
The Psalmist cried, “that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.” A request for deliverance merely so we do not have to suffer or for the sake of boasting of what we accomplished by prayer is a wrong motive. A proper motive is a desire that we might have more reason to praise our Savior. (Php 1: 21-24) This is why our sovereign Head sends the trial then rediscovers to us our complete inability then brings us to cry to him then saves us with so great a salvation, “That I may shew forth all thy praise.” (1 Cor 4: 7; Jn 1:16) We praise him for he has given us grace for grace: redeeming grace because of electing grace; regenerating grace because of redeeming grace; sanctifying grace because of regenerating grace; believing grace because of sanctifying grace; persevering grace because of sanctifying grace! This is the cry of the humble: cry unto him for mercy, “Lord, have mercy on me”, for consideration, “Lord, consider my trouble,” with acknowledgment, “thou that liftest me up from the gates of death”, to praise him, “that I might show forth all your praises.” In his time in his way, the LORD answers the cry of the humble.