“8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant. 11 For the sake of Your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13 He will spend His days in prosperity, and His descendants will inherit the land. 14 The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them. ”
There is no reason that “A” needs to come first in our alphabet. The order of the alphabet is something that we have come up with. We could have put the “Z” first. The alphabet could be different.
It could be the beta-alph. Please bring up the first slide.
What we have here are the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. As you can see, the first letter is “alpha.” The second letter is “beta.” Put them together—alphabeta; cut off the final sound and you get alphabet. It could just have easily been the “beta-alph” if the root languages behind ours had put the “b” sound before the “a” sound.
I’m laboring this point that there is no necessity to the order of the alphabet because no section of Psalm 25 is more important than any other. This section isn’t less important than the first one just like the letter M isn’t less important than A.
What we are studying in this prayer this morning is not less important than what we studied the first week. This Psalm is here to teach us how to pray and if we want to learn all we can from it, we need to value it all. This section tells us that the Lord to whom we pray is good and that He is worthy of fear. That’s something God wants you to know and that’s the claim of this sermon: the Lord to whom you pray is good and worthy of fear.
We will study this in two points. First: the goodness of the Lord. Second: the fear of the Lord. We see the goodness of the Lord in verses 8-10 and the fear of the Lord in verses 11-14.
First: the goodness of the Lord. This section begins with the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “tet”, which is the first letter of this word translated as “good”; verse 8, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, He instructs sinners in His ways.”
This relationship between the good and upright Lord and us sinners is contrary to our expectation. We assume that since the Lord is good and upright, He will be disdainful of us sinners. That’s not what we are told here. We are told that since the Lord is good and upright, He instructs us sinners in His ways.
Imagine that you have a nephew and one day he brings an ant to you. He has been tearing off this ant’s legs. You tell your nephew that God didn’t put him in charge of part of creation to torture creatures. You call your dog over and show your nephew what it means to take care of an animal. You tell him why you care for your animals. You talked to your nephew because you treat animals in a good an upright way. That’s why you instructed your nephew in the way. “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways.”
Now, the Lord instructs us sinners in His ways because His ways are life and lead to life while other ways are death and lead to death. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death,” as Proverbs 14:12 puts it. Think of this way: imagine it was winter and you knew that your child was driving north on I-29 up to Fargo. Your weather app told you that there was nothing but black ice on I-29 above Watertown, what would you do? Right, you would call that kid. Why? Because you love your child, you want to keep them from a road that could lead to death, right? That’s the same reason the Lord instructs us sinners in His ways.
Now, you might have noticed that there is a shift in this section from what we’ve seen before. It has to do with grammar. We’ve been focusing a lot on grammar in this Psalm because part of what we are doing is learning to read our Bibles. Let’s see if anyone can tell me the shift that has taken place in this verse compared with what comes before. Look at what has come before verse 8 and then look at verse 8. Before verse 8, David was talking to the Lord, “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.” Now he is talking about the Lord, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways.” David thought about God’s goodness to help him pray properly.
David reflected on Lord’s character to fuel his prayer. As Calvin put it, “he exercises his thoughts in meditation upon the goodness of God that he may return with renewed ardor to prayer.” Just as sustained reflection on my wife’s goodness will naturally drive me to affection so sustained reflection on my Lord’s goodness will drive me to exaltation. That’s why after three chapters of sustained reflection on the Lord’s grace in Romans, Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” You can think about such reflections as the kindling, logs, and lighter fluid of the bonfire of prayer. This is why I find it helpful to pray with my Bible open. It helps when my heart is too soggy to catch fire. It shows me how God is good. I need those reminders in order to pray to God as if He’s good. Maybe you do too.
The next Hebrew letter, “yod,” begins the verb “guide”; verse 9, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.” Why does God guide the humble? Only the humble accept guidance. If you think you already know the way to live, you aren’t humble enough to be guided. The first step in knowing is to acknowledge that you don’t know. Humble yourself.
Also, recognize that, if God has set His love on you, He will humble you. David was periodically humbled by God. You see that in the way he waited years to ascend to the throne. You see that in his innumerable hardships. You see that in his family sorrows. David was regularly humbled. David learned not to think too highly of himself. He was humble enough to be guided. These are the people the Lord guides. As Calvin put it, “When God has first humbled them, then He kindly stretches forth His hand to them and leads and guides them throughout the whole course of their life.” Do you want to be guided? Come down to where you ought to be.
The next Hebrew letter “kaf” begins the word translated here as “all” in verse 10, “All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant.” That word for “all” is purposefully stressed so that it will not be ignored. The Lord isn’t loving in some ways to His people but unloving in others. “All His ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant.”
Every single one of God’s ways is loving towards those who love Him. The apostle Paul puts this same truth rather famously, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Paul didn’t just think that up. He read his Bible.
The Bible is clear that God is always loving and faithful to His people. That is God’s character. He is good. That’s one of His most vulnerable revelations of Himself. In Exodus 34 the Lord described Himself this way to Moses, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”—same words for “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” that David uses. David read his Bible. Paul read his Bible. We would be wise to read our Bibles. We would see that the Lord is good and that all His ways are steadfast love and faithfulness.
The apostle John said that all of Jesus’ ways were steadfast love and faithfulness. He used the Greek of those words to describe Jesus. John was saying was, “as I look back over the past three years with Jesus and the way that he treated me, I can say that all his ways were loving and faithful. Every single thing Jesus did for us and to us was loving and faithful and you can trust that if you follow him, all his ways will be loving and faithful to you too.” He was saying that this is what God is like—He is good. He is also worthy of fear. That’s our second point: the fear of the Lord.
This next letter of the Hebrew alphabet “lamed” begins the word we have translated as “for the sake of”; verse 11, “For the sake of Your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.”
David asked the Lord to forgive him for a particular reason. He asked God to forgive him for the sake of His own name; “For the sake of Your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” The logic here is that the act of forgiving reveals God’s glory. Forgiveness reveals the greatness of God. My guess is that you already intuitively knew that. Those of us who are here to worship are not here primarily because we know that God is holy or primarily because we know that God is wise or because we should. We are here because we know that God is forgiving, and we know that from experience. That’s part of what it means to say, “For the sake of Your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity though it is great.”
Saying, “For the sake of Your name,” also has something to do with God’s delight in forgiving. As Calvin puts it, “as often as [God promises] to pardon His people, [He] does so from no other cause than His own good pleasure.” God does what God wants; right? That means the best truth we sinners could learn is that God loves to forgive. You see that supremely in Jesus on the cross; “for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.” Jesus finds joy in forgiving. That’s also why the happiest people find the most joy in forgiving; “happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
God’s name is great. That is revealed in His forgiveness. That is revealed in our fear; that’s in the next line of poetry which begins with the letter “mem”, the first letter in the word, “who?” Verse 12, “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”
Now, fear isn’t the only proper response to God, but it is a proper one. If you can approach God Almighty without some sense that He is God and you are not, that He is Creator and you are creature, that you answer to Him and He doesn’t answer to you, then what you call God has little to do with the God revealed in Scripture. He is worthy of fear.
“Fearing the Lord” has gotten a bad reputation today even in church. It’s no surprise, therefore, that we’ve become more worldly. We’ve become much more afraid of displeasing the culture than we are of displeasing the Lord. People who aren’t comfortable talking about the fear of the Lord aren’t comfortable talking about the sinfulness of sin. People who aren’t comfortable talking about the fear of the Lord aren’t comfortable talking about the necessity of obedience. God is good, but He is to be feared. God is good, and He is to be feared. That explains so much of the worldliness inside and outside the church. It explains why God’s ways are so neglected; “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”
If you want God to guide you, you need to fear Him. “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.” The message here is that unless you fear the Lord, you won’t take His commands as commands, or as Proverbs puts it, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When we don’t fear the Lord, we acdt like fools. The fear of the Lord is the only safe way to live.
This next line of poetry continues this description of the man who fears the Lord. It begins with the letter “nun” and "nun” begins the word for “soul” which we see in the ESV’s translation of verse 13, “His soul will abide in well-being and his offspring shall inherent the land.” That’s like what we have in the NIV. Both are about the blessed life. I just think the ESV is better here.
Everyone wants their soul to abide in well-being. “His soul will abide in well-being and his offspring shall inherent the land.” Fearing the Lord is the way to have your soul abide in well being. Being faithful to your wife is a far happier way forward than cheating on your wife. Being affectionate toward your friend is a far happier way forward than being resentful toward your friend. Being honest is a far happier way to live than living by lies. Honoring your parents leads to more happiness than dishonoring your parents does. If you will not fear the Lord, buckle up for a miserable life. It’s His world. You are just living in it.
The final letter we’re covering today is “samek”; it begins the word “counsel” which is also translated as “friendship.” Verse 14, “The Lord confides in those who fear Him. The Lord acts as a friend to those who fear Him.” As you can see, this continues this theme of the fear of the Lord.
You cannot be taken into God’s counsel unless you recognize you have no right to be taken into His counsel—unless You fear Him. You cannot be God’s friend unless you recognize that you have no right to be His friend—unless You fear Him. Grace and fear go together. It’s strange—if you presume upon a relationship with God, you will not have one. If, however, you fear Him, you will have friendship.
God speaks of this friendship in terms of the covenant. That’s the second half of the verse, “He makes His covenant known to them.” As we’ve seen over and over now, the covenant is the shape of our relationship with God. This is friendship with God. These are the people whom God has taken into His confidence. These are His friends.
You see this with Jesus and his disciples. He takes them into his confidence. He calls them his friends. He says, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” He tells them that this friendship is predicated on grace, “you did not choose me, but I chose you.” He makes promises, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” He tells them the obligations, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” That’s covenant. That’s a relationship with God. He has a covenant meal with them. “The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.” That’s friendship and fear put together. That’s a good description of what it means to walk with the Lord.
That’s our two points in one—God is good and you ought to fear Him. CS Lewis explained that in his fantasy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with the four human children and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. The children were about to meet Aslan, the lion king. One girl asks, “is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” That’s Jesus. He’s good and you ought to fear Him. ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” That’s as important as anything else we’ve studied in this Psalm. Amen.