This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. OT Sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 29, 1988.

Let my enemies exalt over me. Indeed, some of those who wait for thee will be ashamed. Let, excuse me. Indeed, none of those who wait for thee will be ashamed. Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. Make me know thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me For Thou art the God of my salvation. For Thee I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Thy compassion and Thy lovingkindnesses, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According to Thy lovingkindness, remember Thou me. For Thy goodness sake, O Lord.

Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and he teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity for it is great.

Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he will make them know his covenant. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

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. Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Look upon my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with a violent hatred. Guard my soul and deliver me. Do not let me be ashamed. for I take refuge in thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for thee.

Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” Let’s pray together. Again, Lord, we ask that your word would be all that you have intended it to be for us. May it be a spring so that we are refreshed, a table so that we are nourished, a light so that we can see our way properly. All of this, Lord, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 25 speaks much about shame, or being ashamed. You note the first verses of the psalm, especially verses 2 and 3, how they speak about the threat of shame, the reality of shame, in the following slide. But also the conclusion of the song. There’s twenty. Where this theme is again mentioned. Do not let me be ashamed for I take refuge in the. David.

Is in distress. And he prays to the Lord in his distress. And that distress, though there are many aspects to it, involves this matter of shame. In the ancient world, in the world that David knew, even that world which our Savior knew, There was nothing, nothing more distressing than public exposure or public humiliation. And that’s what is in view as David speaks. Public dishonor, public opprobrium, public shame. As David prays that he be spared shame, he also is setting his heart upon his God, who alone is his hope.

There is then that which sustains him. In his present circumstance, in his distress, and you will know. How he speaks about that which sustains him. Verse fourteen. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he will make them to know his covenant. Here is then. That present point. That is applied. To the circumstances which David faces.

In the midst of his distress with the threat of shame surrounding him. He finds his solace in this truth that God is near to those who fear him, who serve him, who reverence him. And to those who do fear him and reverence him, the Lord is pleased to make known to them his covenant.

The language used in this fourteenth verse is that of intimacy, and intimacy with God. First of all, with regard to the matter of the secret of the Lord. To whom belonged the secret of the Lord? Why, the secret of the Lord, or the counsel of the Lord, belonged to the prophets. For to the prophets, the Lord had revealed his purposes and his intentions. But now, David, speaking as if for all of God’s people, talks of an intimacy that exists with God that might be thought to belong to the prophets alone.

Not so! The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him. Actually, the prophets in the Old Testament were understood in different ways from which we have come to understand. The prophet in the Old Testament was one who was welcomed into the council chambers of God there to receive from God and understanding of the things that were taking place in the world, and would surely take place in the world, as well as that pure and proper interpretation and instruction that came forth as a result of what God was doing.

But here, David speaks in such a way so as to encourage all. In the midst of distress, with the threat of shame hanging there surrounding us, yet our solace is in an intimacy with God, an intimacy that is described in terms of that intimacy that is peculiar to the prophets.

They, in this respect, know greater than we For we as well know the secret of the Lord. So tightly bound is God with his people. Here, then, is the language of fellowship. Here is the language of covenant, which the second line of that fourteenth verse makes plain. What is covenant but intimacy, relationship, union, if you will, the union of the parties in view, God and his people, so that nothing is hid from the people.

How wonderfully it is stated by David. How much this becomes the focus of true religiosity, the true religious life, true piety in scripture. That desire for God’s nearness, that He would be near to us, that He would be near to me, that I would walk with Him, have fellowship with Him, that there would be that union between Him and me, between Him and us. But with what reverence does David treat this subject? What glory surrounds his prayer and his words here?

To be sure, in our own time, there is much talk about being near to God. We have become so adept at the use of that language that we have developed a familiarity with God that even breaks ranks with the sentiments and the spirit of David as he speaks. God is a chum. He’s a friend. He’s a buddy. He’s like our counselor at summer camp. Thus we breed into this matter of our relationship with God a triviality, a benality. God becoming so familiar that His glory is compromised, His majesty is even denied, and the awesomeness of His person is lost sight of.

Yes, the glory of God, His majesty, His awesomeness, and a pure desire that we would be near unto Him, that that relationship which the prophets experienced would be ours, that we would be consumed by our thoughts for Him and our love for Him. I might say that it’s not just this song or the songs that speak about this whole matter of our intimacy with God. In fact, the entirety of Scripture can be approached along these lines. The objective of the biblical revelation is to present to us the story of God’s dealings with man so that man may be rescued and brought back to God, and God enjoy that fellowship with man which he envisioned from the beginning. How many things improve now upon our considerations of what makes for good religion.

We set our hearts about making the world a better place to live in, and in the process we’ve lost sight of God and a proper passion for Him. It’s as if we love the world more than we love God. Our pursuits are in terms of public legislation and public policy, and so the world intrudes once more.

And our vision becomes obscure, and our minds become foggy. We can’t think straight anymore. And in the process, God is lost. We busy ourselves with our lives. We run here and there, we pack the kids in the car, we go to ball practice, soccer practice, ballet lessons, whatever else is out there, and somehow we lose sight of God. And our responsibility to Him, our passion, is lost.

Is Anna Karenina the greatest novel that was ever written? Well, I guess we could have an argument about that. But maybe you remember the story, Anna goes down to St. Petersburg and there she’s introduced to society. And one of the great matrons of St. Petersburg society is observing her and makes the observation, well here is a woman capable of a great passion. Well indeed. We all know how that passion turned out, but in looking at the Christian Church, we looking at ourselves, we too capable of a great passion? What about a passion for God?

A love for Him that knows no rival, a love for Him that judges all other loves that we have. Him first of all, above all else. As the hard pants for the water brook, so my heart, my soul longs for Thee, O God. I will set God and His Kingdom above all else. His righteousness first, knowing that my Father in Heaven will care for me and take care of every other concern that I have.

So the pressures mount. Will I, because of those pressures, push aside the Word? Will I, because of those pressures, push aside the opportunity that I have day by day to commune with my God, will I, because of those pressures, push aside the meetings of the Church and my responsibilities to my God in that respect? We allow ourselves every excuse, I’m too tired, I can’t think.

I pray and I go to sleep. So why try? Oh you who love God, you must. For this matter of your religion isn’t something that works in and of itself. It is a desire cultivated. It is a desire cultivated. And you must cultivate it. You must exercise. You must expend energy. Concentrate upon your devotion to God.

Love Him. David will bear up in his distresses because he loves God, and God loves him. And he will bear up well because he cultivates that relationship and that passion he has for God, and he is determined that nothing will improve. Yes, there have been sins, and he confesses those. They are put in their place. They will not intrude. For he will seek forgiveness from the one who alone can forgive. David then will bear up by his cultivation of this passion for God. And how we admire David.

But you know this theme of shame that we mentioned at the beginning is very interesting. And maybe in your mind you have been running ahead of me a little bit because you remember 2 Timothy. And you recall how many times Paul speaks of shame there. But now when Paul speaks of shame, there seems to have taken place some sort of shift, some sort of transition. Something has changed in his approach to things.

For it seems as we read the psalm, that the circumstances surrounding David were perfectly capable of bringing shame to him. But now, as we read the testimony of Paul in the New Testament, one for whom Christ has now come, one for whom now Christ has revealed himself, one for whom Christ has died and been raised again, now we see that even these circumstances cannot, they cannot bring shame to that one trust. So utterly powerless are they. Oh yes, the shame in David’s day was a problem.

Spare me the shame. But in Paul’s day, I don’t care if shame comes. For I am persuaded that my God is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against the day. And we still worry about being embarrassed? Come on now, follow the thought. Hang in there.

David on the plane of this world, worried about the shame that may come to him. He prayed that that shame be removed. He despaired it. But now, because of Christ, that one who bore our shame, that one who became a public spectacle for us, all shame has been removed, and there’s nothing, I say nothing, that can come into your life that can truly bring shame to you in the aisles of your Father. if in fact you are pursuing your love for him according to that revelation that has been given in Jesus Christ. The solace and the concentration point of the heart is still the same as it was for David. A passionate longing for God. and a love for him that knows no rivals at all.

Please, understand me. You will love your wife well if you love God best. Some of you men need to hear that. You will love your wife well if you love your God best. You do not prove yourself by trading in your love for God for your love for your wife. It’s no good. And you wives will love your husbands well if you love your God best.

And we can say the same thing about children. How many people interrupt their schedules because their children have pressing duties that interfere with responsibilities to God. And for the sake of these children and our love for them, we defer to the children and forget God. God will understand, our children won’t.

No, no. And you know it. You know it. Well then. Distress is, yes. The threat of shame, for sure. But in the center of it all, First of all, above all else, my passion and love for God. Amen. Help us, Lord, We are driven to you. But if driven to you, then let us enjoy the fellowship, the nearness that we have with you and to you. And may that communion and union that exists between you and us fly. O Lord, to the good of our souls, to the glory of your name, for the exaltation.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.