Scripture again is taken from the 25th number of Psalms, again beginning in verse 1. To you, Lord, to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Oh my God, in you, I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exalt over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation, for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions according to your steadfast love, remember me. For the sake of your goodness, O Lord, good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble and what is right, and he teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your namesake, O Lord, part in my guilt for it is great. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the neck. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged, bring me out of my distresses, consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. O guard my soul and deliver me, let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. My integrity and uprightness preserves me, for I wait for you. Redeem is real, O God, out of all his troubles. O God, richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy scriptures. Now, I want to look at this Psalm from a number of a couple of perspectives, but I think it's important for us to understand the structure of it, or the content, or the direction of it. Basically, the content is a plea of David, asking God to instruct him in a season of distress and affliction. David's concern seems to be that he does not handle his affliction in a way that is inconsistent with one who loves the Lord. So, in other words, he wants to conduct himself in the midst of his trial in a manner that still brings glory and honor to God. In fact, in the first couple of verses, you can see that he references his affliction, and that's why he asks for the Lord. He says, I trust in you, therefore, do not let me be put to shame. But verse 3 is very insightful. He says, indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantingly treacherous. Now, I think the reference to those who are wantingly treacherous, not only refers to his enemies as they are acting inconsistent with God's government people, but I think David is also saying in essence, Lord, I want to wait for you on how I ought to respond to this situation so that I don't act in treachery. In other words, that I don't become a wanton or that I'm not engaged in wanton treachery as ideal with this situation. So, the thrust of the Psalm is that David is asking for instruction from God, knowing that the Lord would instruct him on how he is to act. Now, this is why, well, and this is the path we want to take, there'll be three things I will be looking at, but here's the initial thing that, as we look at David's desire to be instructed by God, he is reflecting something that's kind of difficult for us to take hold of, especially in contemporary Christianity, because our tendency is to think we already know. And the problem that we have in contemporary Christianity, and it's not just a problem that is for us, but I think it's just amplified in our day and manifest in different ways. But the problem is we oftentimes respond to situations wrongly, because we are not humbled enough to receive instruction from God on how we are to conduct ourselves in various situations. In other words, there's a basic breakdown in understanding what the Christian faith is, and therefore how we are to act or live out our Christian faith. Now, there was a survey that was done, life way publication, life way, as you might know, is the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. And they recently did a study, a survey that caused legal near, legal near ministries, they took on that survey, and they issued it as a press release. And I just want to read some things from that press release, and that will segue into our consideration of this text. And here's what was discovered from the survey by life way, that a majority of evangelicals said, number one, that most people are basically good. Number two, that God accepts the worship of all religions. Number three, that Jesus was the first and greatest created, greatest being created by God the Father, however, all of these beliefs are contrary to historic, historic Christian faith. That's three things that were stated. But now, let me break it down a little more in a little more detail. That some 52% of the evangelicals agreed that everyone sends a little, but most people are good by nature. 52% of evangelical Christians that said most people are good by nature. A majority of evangelicals 51% agreed that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. However, we know that doesn't line up with scripture. Also, almost all evangelicals 97% agreed that there is one true God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but more than three fourths, 78% also said that Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. And therefore, the idea that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God, even though it contradicts what scripture says, John 11, for instance, has been rejected by the church down through the centuries. Here's the basic problem. That most U.S. says, overall, U.S. adults appear to have a superficial attachment to well-known Christian beliefs. Someone was sharing with me that someone just said recently that unless a person becomes perfectly conformed or perfectly does the will of God, they will go to hell. That's what we think. That's where we are. Then it goes on to say this. It says, a majority agreed that Jesus died on the cross for sin, and that he rose from the dead. However, they rejected the Bible's teachings one on the gravity of man's sin, two on the importance of the church's gathering together for worship and three as it relates to the Holy Spirit. But then, two-thirds, 69% of Americans disagreed that the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation. A majority of U.S. adults, 58% said that worshiping alone or with one's family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church. A majority of U.S. adults, 59%, say that the Holy Spirit is a force and not a personal being. It's interesting. I taught at a church in Virginia a couple years ago and made that very point, and people thought that was new, that the Holy Spirit is a person and not a force. Chris Larson, the president of League of Near Ministries, issued this statement when he gave the press release. The State of Theology survey highlights the urgent need for courageous ministry that faithfully teaches the historic Christian faith. It's never been popular to talk about mankind's sinfulness or the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ. But at a time when a darkened world needs the light of the gospel, it's disheartening to see many within the evangelical church confused about what the Bible teaches. We hope this survey provides local churches with a little more insight into what people in our neighborhoods and in our pews actually believe. As we turn back to Paul or David's despair, his cry in Psalms 25, he's basically asking God to instruct him in his season of distress so that he does not act in a way that brings shame upon him and upon God. There are three basic thoughts that we want to develop. Many verses will be able to expound all of them but I want to cover what we do cover under these three points. The first one is this. The first thing to note is to call attention to in this Psalm is something that David implies very clearly in verses 4 and 5 and also in verse 12. And what he implies here is that the way of or the way or the path of the Lord or as you could some would call it the path of righteousness is not naturally or intuitively known to us. Therefore, it must be divinely instructed or we need to be taught by God himself. So here's here's again the first point that that the way of or the path of truth, the way that the pathway of righteousness is not intuitively known to us. That's David's and that's where his inference in verses 4 and 5 and also as we mentioned in verse 12. Make me to know your ways of Lord, make me to know your ways, teach me your pathways, lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation, for you I will wait all day long. Verse 12, same sentiment. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him we will instruct in the way that he should choose. So what is at the ground of this, one of the reason that David is asking for God to instruct him in his time of struggle is because we do not intuitively know the right thing to do. Now hold in mind we're talking about a believer here and he's not talking about the way unto salvation but the way to conduct ourselves when we are saved. We learn in Proverbs that there is a way that's seen right to a man but the ends thereof lead us to death and destruction. So man does not intuitively know the right thing and the right way to conduct ourselves whether it is for our salvation or whether it is in our sanctification. The way of God is not natural to us and that's what the Psalm is grounded upon that the right thing it doesn't come natural to us. One of the things that is fleshed out in some of these survey questions is that people think that we know the right thing. And so we don't intuitively know what is right and so David is convinced that God needs to divinely instruct us people on how we are to act. We see it even in the New Testament where and this is one of the things that the disciples learn from being with Jesus. That they have been instructed to categorize as it were in the Hebrew faith but when it comes to living you know wait a minute it's it's not what I thought it was because the way of the way of the Lord as God says in Isaiah my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts. And that's one of the the brass things that comes with that language and everything that was with it in that trend you remember a number of years ago what would Jesus do how brass how how arrogant of us to think a that we could think like Jesus or be that we would be willing to do it. And so here's the first thing that we want to hold on to and this is the launching place that the right way the way of the Lord whether it is in our trials whether it is in our struggles whether it is in our affliction the how we should conduct ourselves does not come to us intuitively. And even when we've been instructed sometimes we are resistant to that but here's the second thing recognition that we need to be instructed by God is itself a fruit and a consequence of God's grace. Now this is where we want to really kind of begin to look at at this Psalm in greater detail and we'll do it by unpacking verse 9. He says this he says in verse 9 he says he leads the humble in what is right and he teaches the humble his way now here's here's what we need to understand here the word that's translated in this verse as humble the Hebrew word that's translated here and you'll see it by the way in those of you who have the king James version the translation comes out as me. And the word that's translated here is it's actually used in other places as afflicted it's not the same Hebrew word that's translated afflicted later in this Psalm but it is used in as affliction in other places but but here's the interesting thing the Hebrew word that's translated here as humble or me. It means literally depressed in mind so the humble is the depressed in mind it's depressed in mind now that that that kind of whoa wait a minute back up what do you mean depressed because generally speaking when we think of depression it's in negative terms we think of the psychological or emotional disorder where people or to put it in plain terms. In plain terms where people have the blues where you're down in the dumps and that is that is a sense we do in the fact that's the number way number one way you will find that word depressed described and defined in American or English dictionaries will be this sort of despondency this this being broken down is this psychological and this emotional cloudiness this blues this weightiness. This we will hear it in those kinds of terms but if we look at it more generally not how it's used but if we look at it more generally and especially as this as this as David uses it here because what he's equating here what he's what he calls the depressed are the humble and he speaks of that in positive terms and so therefore I think in broader more generic in a broader more generic sense. To depress simply means to hold or to push something down to hold or to push something down to exert pressure on something that's that's a broader sense and in that sense it's not in a generic sense it's not making a judgment on your emotional state it simply means to depress something to hold it down. One example that was given is to hold down when you when you put your foot on the brick pedal in your car you're you're depressing it so you you're holding it down when you when you put your foot on the accelerator you're depressing it you you're putting pressure on it you're holding it down. That brings up a question in the context of which David is speaking here David's words this this David's words here in his desire to be instructed of the Lord here's what he's basically saying is that the humble are those who have been depressed by God not emotionally upset in a sense maybe and that perhaps would be a consequence of it but it basically means that the humble are made humble because humility doesn't come from us as a matter of fact when we look at the word meat that's translated another translation of this word I wrote an article I think it was last year for table talk magazine on the meat shell inherit the earth and one of the points that we made in that article is that meatness is not a human characteristic it's a gift of God's grace. Here's what David is is indicating here that this depression is really positive he's referring to humility or being depressed in a positive way so three things to look at it from a positive perspective one it is God who is depressing the mind of the regenerate and therefore it causes us to be humble. So God is the one who's depressing us now when we talk about emotional depression psychological discomfort having the blues we it is it can be anything it could just be a bad experience that brings us down but what God is the one who humbles so therefore God is the one who is depressing us and it's not until we can see the value of God depressing us that we can be instructed we'll see that in a moment so that brings us to the second thing what is it that he is actually not only is God who is the one who is causing us to be depressed or humbled but he depresses us or humbles us by exposing the futility and the failure of our own thoughts. See he is he's he's depressing us he's he humbles us by showing us the failure because in other words what it is that is being what is what is being depressed what is being held down by God for the good and the instruction of his people is our hearty thoughts. You see man in his natural state has too high of an opinion of himself and we think that we know the way and what God does is he is the one who is depressing us and he depresses us by showing us that we don't know the way. He depresses us by he humbles us by exposing the futility and the failure of our own thoughts and our own actions. Now we'll be referencing this in our evening service but turn if you would to Ephesians chapter 4 and it's always a good camping place to make clear on God's illuminating grace to those that he saves and Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 17 Paul is the author here and here's what he says now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. Now let's pause there for a moment. Why do Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds because they don't think that their minds are futile? That's why it looks good to them. It seems right to them. So they think there's nothing wrong with their reasoning or the conclusions that they reach but look at the way Paul goes on to describe it. They are darkened in their understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Now let's just transfer that thought over to what what David says here in Psalms 25 Lord don't let me be put to shame even though I'm suffering. How will you be put to shame he says those who act treacherously those who act treacherously in other words don't let me respond to my trial with treachery. And how will he do that? Well God has to show him that his thoughts are wrong in other words show me Lord expose the futility of my thoughts show me the error of my thinking. And God in his grace how here's how he depresses us he holds down that which ordinarily rises to the top. Have you ever found yourself you know we we are programmed at an early age as to how we are to respond to certain situations and the problem is we usually don't grow out of it. But here's have you ever experienced something where where something that used to make you fly off the handle this is what you're supposed to do and then you reach a point you realize it's futile to act that way and so when you when you can feel the feelings rising up and you say no I'm just no no I'm not going to do that I need to change and it's not that I'm going to know some people say well I'm not going to do that because I'm not trying to go to jail that's that's just the flesh thinking. But here's how God depresses us he shows us a course of thought that we would ordinarily follow and he shows us how flawed it is he shows us that is darkened he shows us what's wrong with our thinking Paul goes on to say that not only does he say their their understanding is darkened he says they are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance. That is in them due to their hardness of heart see that's what David is addressing here David is acknowledging lord hardness of heart is not just out there it's in here and so he recognizes that God continues that's part of our grace our growth and grace God continues to depress us he continues to hold down the old man that's what Paul goes on to later say say therefore put off the old man because God has exposed see exposed the flaws and the futility of our thinking and that is his humbling of us. Thirdly not only does he humble us by exposing exposing exposing the futility and failure of our own thoughts but in ex in humbling and depressing us that's when we become teachable. Brothers and sisters you can't tell folks something that they think they already know and here's what God does is he shows us that we don't know what we think we know and brothers and sisters it was true when we came to salvation Jonathan Edwards says that God before God makes men mindful of his mercy he makes them mindful of their misery and the misery of fallen man is not that I have sin but the real misery of fallen man that causes us to cling to Christ is the knowledge that I have sin and can't help it that's what we acknowledge. Brothers and sisters it's not the only soul that looks to Jesus for salvation is not the one that says okay if you can do this then I can do the rest you get me here and I'll do the rest no that's not that's not a soul that's reaching out for salvation that's a soul looking out for an assist. But the soul that has been humbled depressed brought down by God is the soul that looks up and sees a righteousness that they cannot attain it is a soul that looks within and sees no goodness no no merit whatsoever we don't become teachable to God until we recognize that we can't think right. What David is expressing here is that God therefore humbles us and humbles us by putting pressure on our minds to bring down our high thoughts of self. Meetness like everything else is one of the translations of the word but meetness is described in the New Testament as a fruit not a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a fruit of the Spirit but also in Psalms 22 verse 26 the word is translated here as humbles is translated as affliction here's what it says it says the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. In other words the ones that have been depressed by God will see the futility of their own thinking the faultiness of their own conclusions and once they that is exposed as being what it is they will look to God and they will see in him what they need and they shall eat and they shall be satisfied. Others and sisters is satisfied so the soul that is exposed as being worthless that is able to see the fullness of Christ and then receive it and be satisfied that brings us to a third and final thought and that is this being brought low by God so that we can see God or be instructed by him is what is really the integrity of fallen human beings. In verse 21 David says this he says my integrity and uprightness preserves me now again this is where we need to be clear on terms when we think of integrity we think of moral purity but integrity simply means together it means integrated. And so the fallen man fallen humanity is not integrated until they recognize that their thoughts or that their thoughts are faulty. And so David when David says it is the integrity and my uprightness that preserves me he's not talking about his moral purity it's the recognition that he is unworthy and as a matter of fact it is this recognition that he is a recipient of God's depressing grace that causes him to be able to see his inability to think and act right in the midst of his trial that causes him to go to God or wait for God to instruct him and he is not going to act until the Lord instructs him. So we see three things that constitute the well being or the the healthiness of this integrity in other words recognizing the need to be holy or divinely depressed before we can be productive in any way. In fact this is what David refers to in verse 13 as recognizing the healthy or the well being of the soul. You see the healthy soul that has been depressed by God brought low so that we don't think too highly of ourselves it is what makes us healthy in verse 13 he says he says his soul shall abide in well being who so shall abide in well being. It's the forgiven soul and why is the soul forgiven because it's cried out to God that it's sinful so it is recognized that God who before whom he stands is just but he's also gracious and so he appeals to God's grace in order to therefore see himself right or see himself right and that's what causes him to therefore depend upon God's grace. Three characteristics of the soul that has been afflicted that is now made healthy one there is an honesty about our sin. An honesty about our sin verses seven and eleven the soul that has been that has been broken that has been made brought low by the grace of God is now honest about our sins it's not until God levels us by his grace that we will see our sins. Not as mistakes but a sin that was something else that was shown in the survey that people didn't think that the least of our sins deserve the fullness of divine wrath in verse seven David says this he says he says remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions he's honest why is he saying Lord don't remember them. Well because he knows what he was he is honest he doesn't say well you know I wasn't you know I wasn't a choir boy but I was okay no it's none of that he says Lord here's what I'm asking you I'm asking you to instruct me I'm asking you to guide me but as you address me don't look at me according to the sins of my youth but notice this he says I know you can't look away but here's how I'm asking you to look at me. I'm asking you to look at me not according to the sins of my youth but he says he says what according to your steadfast which means his covenant love your steadfast love remember me for the sake of your goodness Lord remember me. Many of us we've been instructed been in church all these years and we still go to the Lord on the basis of our goodness well Lord I've done this I've done no he says don't don't look at me according to that. I'm asking you to instruct me in my time of struggle but don't look at me as a sinner what a bold statement on the part of this sinner. We look also in verse 11 and verse 11 David is even more explicit because now he is not talking about his the sins of his youth but in verse 11 he says for your name shake O Lord pardon my guilt why not because it was great because it is great. Brothers and sisters those who have been properly depressed by God can be honest about our sins and there is nothing worse than church folk lying about their sins. Line to ourselves and lying to others about our sins when God instructs when God depresses us and prepares to instruct us he gives us the ability to deal honestly with our sin and we will see that our sin as David says elsewhere Lord if you dealt with us according to our sins none of us would be able to stand not even me on this day. Secondly not only does this healthy soul allows us to deal honestly with our sin but it allows honest sinners to be confident in the fullness of God's grace he is confident that God will pardon and because he will do it not for his own personal moral sake David. God will pardon because of his own personal promise to forgive the sins of those who look to him for salvation. We see this in verses 7 and also 7 again and in verse 10 at the end of verse 7 where he says don't look at me or remember or look at me according to my sins of the past but he says but according to your stead fast love remember me for the sake of your goodness and then also in verse 10. He says again who is the man who fears the Lord or excuse me in verse 10 all the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness interesting all of the paths of the Lord all of the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. So God is faithful to the covenant commitment that he that he partakes of or engages in with his covenant people but here's a third and final thing that we see that is the benefit of being depressed by God so that we can be taught by God. We discover God friendship towards us and what a statement with that God is our friend he expresses is specifically in verse 14 in verse 14 he says he says he says consider excuse me in 14. Yeah he says the friendship the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and makes and and and he makes known to them his covenant friendship with God what a concept God this is one of the few places where we see in a broad covenantal sense that God becomes the friend of sinners where he explicitly says this we know that we are told that that David was a friend of God and that that he was a man after God's own heart but here David is convinced that there is friendship with God as established in his covenant and here's his idea that Lord you depress me you press down those thoughts that exhaust itself that makes me more than I ought to be so that I can see you for all that you are so that as I go through this trial as I go through this season of my life that my actions are not out of the puffed up me let my actions be out of the broken down me the humbled me brothers and sisters I think humility is hard for a lot of Western Christians because we love to beat our chest about how good we are the brothers and sisters understand that doesn't matter what part of the world you're from and it doesn't matter what era in which you are born man's sin problem is manifest in his self problem and our self problem is pride and pride even though we speak of it we talk about we in fact we've made heroes out of arrogant people we said well at least there this and I'm not arrogant if it's not boasting if it's true we've somehow made pride of virtue but pride is spoken of in the scriptures in the most insidious of terms so insidious that the only thing that can cure human pride is to be depressed by God and what God does is he shows us that in our fallen state we're nothing in that what Jesus says he says I am the vine and you are the branches and without me you can do nothing brothers and sisters we're not teachable by God until we know that we can do nothing and when we know that we can do nothing then we will recognize that he's done everything and it is the knowledge that he has done everything that enables us to conduct ourselves according to the way of the Lord even in seasons of distress a new of a lady whose husband had been unfaithful and he was he was he would he left home and left her and three kids and years later when her kids were grown and out of the house or they they weren't all out of the house but they were grown and the husband that had left her became sick and this lady couldn't even drive but she got a car she got a she got someone to take her over to her husband's girlfriend's house and she picked him up and brought him home she said because he needs to be able to die and be cared for by his own family I was easy for us to say what we wouldn't do but we're not in the set in that season it would be easy for us to say well he got what he deserved but brothers and sisters here's what God does he depresses us he depresses us he holds us down so that he could be exalted here's what David is saying Lord I I'm in the situation I've got I've got I'm armed I know how well how I would handle it Lord teach me teach me teach me to come and teach me how I would handle it if I can duck myself in a way teach me humble me humble me because I what I see right now is I'm about if I if I don't wait if I act now there's going to be blood to shed but but let me wait on you wait on you so that you can teach me how to conduct myself in this situation that's consistent with your grace because as I'm all outraged here's what I'm reminded of I'm not seeing their guilt I I see myself and I'm seeing red right now Lord but but I need to see the other red blood of redemption so that as I conduct myself in this way the integrity of my of my position includes my being held down so therefore Lord redeem me let me wait for you I pray that we would be duly humbled so that we can be properly instructed on how we are to conduct ourselves as the people of God because there is a way it seems right and it might rile up the base but it ain't right teach us Lord so that we can be instructed on how we are to conduct ourselves in the world in which you have left us I pray that that is our desire I pray that we would be so depressed that the Christ that is in us would rise to the surface of our thoughts our affections and our words amen.