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Psalms 86:1-17 (KJV) A Prayer of David. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. [2] Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. [3] Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. [4] Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. [5] For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. [6] Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. [7] In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. [8] Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. [9] All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. [10] For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. [11] Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. [12] I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. [13] For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. [14] O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. [15] But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. [16] O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. [17] Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

Two wives sat in the laundry mat waiting for their clothes to wash. As they sat there they were each mending their husband’s pants.

One wife said, “My husband is so miserable. Nothing goes right at work, and he can’t find anything good on television. Our home is a place of despair. When we go to church, the song leader is terrible and the pastor is an idiot”.

The second wife said “My husband is always happy. He looks forward to Church services, and loves the Pastor and his sermons. Our household is joyful, and we enjoy one another and others.”

It got very quiet in the laundry room as the women continued sewing their husband’s pants. The first wife was patching the seat of the pants, whereas the second wife was patching the knees.

Prayer makes a difference. God’s presence – or absence – in your life makes a difference. Today we’re going to talk about the Prayer God hears.

The Book of Psalms is often called The Hebrew Hymnal. But if you read Psalms (and I suggest you do) it is jam packed with prayers. Of the 150 Psalms there are five Psalms that are marked by the Psalmist as PRAYERS. There is one Prayer “For The Afflicted” (Psalm 102), one Prayer of Moses (Psalm 90), and three Prayers of David (Psalm 17, 86, 142). In our text today we see why King David was “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), and why God spent so much time with David.

1 The Prayer That God Hears Comes Not From The Perfect, But The Poor, The Broken, The Humble. David prayed:

Psalms 86:1-3 (KJV) Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. [2] Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. [3] Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

When many pray, they pray expecting God to be in the room. It is as if they think that God is the Heavenly Servant and Man is the Earthly Almighty. They make demands of God, or else pray without seeking God’s face.

When you pray, you are speaking to God. You are speaking to God as His creation, His child, His servant. You are speaking to the King of Kings Who is under no obligation whatsoever to hear you. David prayed

Bow down Thine ear, O LORD, hear me

I am so low that you must bow down to hear me. I am unworthy. God, please hear me.

If God is not in the room your prayer has no effect.

As Spurgeon once said, “If you are not speaking to God, what are you doing? I should say that a prayer would do as much good repeated backwards as forwards, if it is not spoken to God.”

When you’re talking to an empty room you’re talking to YOURSELF!

Throughout every prayer of David he begged God to be in the room with him.

Psalms 4:1 (KJV) … Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Psalms 17:6 (KJV) I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.

Psalms 27:7-8 (KJV) Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. [8] When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

David did not take the Presence of God for granted.

God does not exist to meet my needs.

Many of us pray like the little boy did at the foot of his bed. His mother heard him say:

“Thank You for the baby brother, but I think you got confused God …
because what I prayed for was a puppy.”

That’s how children are, but not how Children of God should be.

God does not exist for our pleasure.

God is.

God is so much higher than I am, and God will hear my prayers.

But God is not my Waiter, my Doctor, my Banker.

He is God.

He is, as David often called Him, YAHWEH, the Eternal and Ever Present God.

When David came to God He cried out:

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy

David came to God with empty hands, not with threatening demands.

Though David was King over Israel and had any material thing that he wanted at his disposal he still cried “I am poor and needy”. David realized that even with all his blessing, only God could give him what he needed.

Preserve my soul; for I am holy

 David was afflicted on every side by enemies. When you walk without God you will have enemies. When you walk with God, you will have more enemies. David walked wit God. He said “I am holy”. That word “holy” has often been misinterpreted. The word “holy” is the Hebrew חָסִיד châçîyd (pronounced khaw-seed’), which is translated into the King James as “Saint, Holy, Godly”. The self righteous interpret “holy” as “being without sin”. That’s not true. Holy doesn’t mean to be sinless. Holy means to be set apart as God’s own, the possession of God”. What David is praying is:

Preserve my soul, O Lord,
For I belong to YOU!

God is under no obligation to preserve the soul of someone who does not belong to Him,
no more than I am under obligation to feed and care for your child or grandchild.

I am under obligation to care for my own. David prays “preserve my soul, Lord … I am YOURS”. Now God knows that David is his child, but God wants US to know it. The Bible tells us that God is under NO OBLIGATION to answer the prayer of the wicked:

Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Proverbs 15:29 (ESV) The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Micah 3:4; Jeremiah 14:10-12; and Job 35:12 tell us that God isn’t interested in listening to the prayers of the unrepentant and lost. God will hear the prayer of the sinner seeking salvation, just as He heard the prayer of the tax collector who cried:

Luke 18:13-14 (ESV) ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [14] {Jesus said} I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God will forgive whosoever will if they come to Him through Christ surrendering to Him as Lord and Savior. And God will hear the cries of His people. He delights to hear the cries of His people. This is why David calls on the Lord as His child, His servant, His possession.

O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
David did not demand from God on the basis of past acts that he himself did.
He did not demand God hear his prayer as King of Israel.
Lord, I am your servant.
Lord, I trust in You.

David trusted in God, not in himself or in his friends. David found hope in his Sovereign King, the Father Who Is In Heaven.

Psalms 18:2-3 (ESV) The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. [3] I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
David did not just cry out to God when life was at its darkest.
David cried out to God daily.
We are to take up our Cross DAILY.
We are to follow Jesus DAILY.
We are to cry out to God DAILY.

Enemies abound for those who are God’s Children. David placed his faith not in man but in God.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. [6] He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. [7] “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. [8] He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

We who are God’s have an enemy, a fearful enemy (1 Peter 5:8). Our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He watches for those sheep who wander off from the Great Shepherd. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but a dreadful enemy who will destroy us if he can. The devil despises you because you, dear Christ follower, belong to God. And only God can preserve you, protecting your souls from the onslaught of this fallen angel and his demons! Each day David prayed for protection to the Only One Who …

Jude 24-25 (ESV) … is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25] to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

2 When God Hears Our Prayers He Gives Us Happiness And Joy. David prayed for JOY.

Psalms 86:4-6 (KJV) Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. [5] For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. [6] Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.

Marshall Segal wrote: “Humans were not created just to be rescued from sin, but to be flooded with joy in the Rescuer. Sin disrupted God’s ultimate plan for you; it didn’t create it. Jesus is not only a get-out-of-jail card, but a get-into-eternal-joy Savior and Treasure. God made you to demonstrate his worth by making you happy in him — not just by placing you in heaven, but by giving you himself.”

Americans are fixated on happiness, on being happy, on pursuing happiness. Our Declaration of Independence has the well known phrase:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence at the request of the other representatives from the 13 colonies. He believed that God gave us the right to pursue happiness – and that is true. So Americans pursue happiness. As a people we pursue happiness and shun unhappiness and pain. We are a comfort seeking people, and we are obsessed with safety and ease. We have more stuff, but find in it less and less happiness. That is because there is no true happiness, nor joy for that matter, to those who look for it in things. Things can only bring temporal happiness.

God wants us to pursue happiness in Him

God made us to be happy and joyful only in Him. He is to be our greatest Possession. Our relationship with Him will bring us the greatest blessing. The Bible declares:

Psalms 144:15 (KJV) …. happy (אֶשֶׁר ʼesher) is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Proverbs 16:20 (KJV) …. whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

• A Jet Ski or Four Wheelercan make you happy for a time, but then the new wears off and it becomes common place.
• A fancy car or truckcan make you happy for a time, but then the new wears off, and it’s just ho-hum.
• The new baby brings happiness until it learns to walk and break things.
• A new relationship makes happiness until you come to know that person and find out that they – like you – are broken beings.

The only place you can find fulfillment, true joy, and yes even happiness is in a growing relationship with your Creator and Savior.

When unhappiness and trials come the Presence of the Lord – unlike the lesser presence of your new toy or your new relationship – will comfort you and draw you back into blessing.

thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive

Is there a better companion than our God? The greatest pursuit you can have is in seeking God’s face, getting to know Him better.

Psalms 32:10-11 (ESV) Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. [11] Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Philippians 4:4 (ESV) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Where is rejoicing found? IN the Lord! Where is gladness? IN the Lord!

Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications

The same God Who hung the stars in space, who is still even today creating the Heavens and making planets without number is the same God Who loves us and loves to hear our prayers. We come to Him with supplications, with requests, the request of His child.

Throughout his prayer David spends a lot of time praising and magnifying God. He prayed …

Psalms 86:8-12 (KJV) Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. [9] All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. [10] For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. [11] Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. [12] I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 

David prayed unite my heart to fear your name. He did not want to have a divided heart, but a heart solely committed to his Creator. This is where power is found.

• David was able to kill Goliath with one stone and a sling shot because his heart was focused on God. But when David divided his heart between honoring God and satisfying himself he brought death and destruction into his household. Remember Bathsheba?
• Elijah was able to rain fire down from Heaven and kill the false Prophets of Baal while his heart was focused on God. But when Elijah let Jezebel frighten him he fell into depression and suicidal thoughts.
• Peter was able to walk on water while his focus was on Jesus, but once he looked down – splash!
• Enoch walked with God, never taking his attention from the Lord. And God took him!

We need to stop telling others how BIG our PROBLEMS are.
We need to start telling our PROBLEMS how BIG our God is!

3 God Is Able. God Is Able. God Is Able. Only God Is Able!

Psalms 86:14-17 (KJV) O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. [15] But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. [16] O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. [17] Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

Sometimes the Old English of the King James causes us to stumble a bit in our reading. For instance, the word “holpen” in the last sentence literally means “to help”. But it really means more than that. The Hebrew עָזַר `azar literally means “to surround so as to help, to lift up”. The sense of what David is saying is “Help, Lord, I’m surrounded and overwhelmed. I need you to surround me so that those who surround me cannot get to me”. Then he uses another word “comforted”, which is the Hebrew נָחַם nacham “to be a Comforter”.

David wants to be embraced by God, to be wrapped in God’s arms as a young baby would be swaddled and wrapped in the arms of his mother.

I heard a story once of a king who was in his throne room, holding a council with his advisers, noblemen, and high ministers of state. Suddenly there was a bang and a clatter at the door of the throne room. All eyes turned as the door burst open and a young boy ran into the room. One of the king’s royal guardsmen tried to stop the boy. “Hold there, lad!” he said as he reached out to grab the child. “Don’t you know you’re disturbing the council of the king?” The little boy said “He’s your king, but he’s my Daddy!”. With that, the child scrambled up the throne and into the arms of his father. A child of the king always outranks any nobleman, adviser, minister, ambassador, or dignitary. That is the position we have with God. That is the access we have to His throne room.

Let Him wrap His arms around you. Let Him embrace you as you go to Him in prayer!

Hebrews 8:1-7 (KJV) Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. 6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

1 God Has Always Dealt With His Creation Of Mankind Through Covenants. What is a covenant? Webster’s defines “covenant” as:

“a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement, a compact. (or) a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action”

a God’s First And Best Covenant With Man Was A Covenant Of Love.

• God loved Adam and Eve. God put this first couple in the Garden East of Eden to “dress it and guard it”. Our Heaven created fore-parents were placed in a sinless place to work a work that needed not be done.

Eden was not a covenant of works – it was a Covenant of Love!

God gave man but one command, do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good And Evil (Genesis 2:17). God said:

Eat whatever you want, Eat all you want
The world is your buffet,
But do not eat this one fruit!
If you love Me, keep My Command.

Someone asked me once why God put even one No in a Garden of Yes.
Because true love always has a NO.

Good and Evil are concepts to be decided by God, not by us. God is the Creator. God knows “Good” and God knows “Evil”. You cannot “be good for goodness sake”. That is gibberish. God alone is God, and God establishes right and wrong, not us!

Adam failed to love God, and broke the Covenant
But God loves us still!

• God loved Abram. God came in a Covenant of Love to an old man named Abram. What did Abram have to do? Follow God. Love God. Hear God.

I love my wife. I go home to my wife not because I must. There is no law that make me care for her. I could walk away tomorrow if I wanted. But she is written on my heart, and I will go home to her, I will care for her, I am in Covenant of Love with her.

God was in a Covenant of Love with Abram. Abram’s name went from Abram to Abraham. Love changes things. My wife went from a “Carter” to a “Buffaloe”. Love changes things. When I married God He ceased being “God” to me. His Name changed. He became:

Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Ancient of Days
Alpha and Omega
The God of Knowledge
The Self Existent God Who Sees

Abraham followed God in the Covenant of Love. He did what God bid him do not because he had to, but because he loved God. Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3).

• God loved Israel. When God reached out to Israel it was with a Covenant of Love. Israel had nothing God could want. God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (ESV) The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers …

God said “I love you, and keep My word”. It was a Covenant of Love that God offered to Israel. But Israel rejected the Covenant of Love. They couldn’t love God for 40 Days while Moses was in the Mountain. Why?

Because the fallen heart is deceitful.
Desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
We are, at core, (as that old song once said) “born to be wild”.
We have a heart problem.

b Israel Rejected The Covenant Of Love, So God Gave Israel A Covenant Of Works On Mount Sinai. Israel rejected Love, so He gave them Works. The Covenant of Works says:

“Do this and live” (Luke 10:28)

It was a Covenant of Works, a Covenant of DOING. It was a Covenant of Priests sacrificing animals, animals that believers brought to them. It was Covenant of Blood. It was a Covenant that Found Fault.

Hebrews 8:7-8 (KJV) For if that first covenant (the Covenant of Works) had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with THEM…

The Covenant of Works was faultless, but the people who tried to do it were filled with fault. The Bible says that

“God found FAULT WITH THEM”
There is no fault in the Law.
The Law is good, and perfect, and holy.
It is a reflection of God.
A broken person cannot do a Perfect Law.

So Israel tried and failed. God cannot be pleased with an imperfect person. He kept finding fault with them.

You might be saying “I am good enough to go to Heaven”. No, you are not. When Jesus preached His Sermon on the Mount He showed us how impossible it is to live according to the Law.

Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV) “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:27-28 (ESV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:29-30 (ESV) If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:33-34 (ESV) “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Jesus was not redefining the Law but He was showing us how impossible it us for US to fulfill the Law perfectly. The Covenant of Works said “do this and live”. But we could not fulfill it. Israel could not be perfectly in accordance with God’s Law.

We all need a heart transplant!

2 God Promised His People A Heart Transplant In The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The Writer of Hebrews quotes this Covenant in:

Hebrews 8:8-10 (KJV) For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;

I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

The Covenant of Works was given to show us that we need a Savior. The Covenant of Works was a School Teacher Who, showing us our badness made us despair. And in our despair we cry out to God for a New Covenant, a Covenant not of Works but of Grace. What is distinctive of the New Covenant.

a The Old Covenant Was Written On Tablets Of Stone. The New Covenant Which Comes Through Christ Is Written In The Heart By God.

Hebrews 8:10 (KJV) … I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MIND, and WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

I remember sitting in a meeting several years ago with men who were supposedly saved, born again by the Grace of God. These men were plotting together to cast someone out of the Church. The ringleader – Steve – convinced the others it was better to disassociate from this one man, a man against whom he had a grudge. Steve meant that this person would be cast out. I begged. I pleaded. I yelled at these men. I tried everything I could do to stop it. But they were determined. And when they did the wrong they did, and it hurt the Church as I warned it would, these men – craven cowards all – resigned their posts and left the Church.

The proof of salvation is that God has written His Word in your heart. Pastor John Piper wrote:

“Hebrews is teaching that, when we are born again, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit, and the result is that the law of God written in Scripture is no longer offensive to us. We are no longer hostile to it like Paul says in Romans 8:7. We are not hostile to the word of God, but rather, we are submissive. We delight to do God’s commandments. It doesn’t mean that we know them all by heart, because they are written on our hearts. It doesn’t mean that. It means that, when we read them in the word, the inclination to do them is in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This is a great work of the Holy Spirit, purchased by the blood of Christ called the new covenant.”

God said “I will put MY LAWS into their minds”. Those who come to God through the New Covenant understand the Law of God and acknowledge that it is good. Their minds, once darkened, are now changed. “Their foolish heart was darkened” – but now no more. The mind of the lost is darkened to the Word of God. The mind of the saved is the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. The Apostle highlighted the difference between those under the New Covenant and those under the Old Covenant when he wrote:

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (ESV) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Those under the Covenant of Works had the Law written on stone and on animal skins. Those under the Covenant of Works even today have the Law written only on paper. Some of those are liberal, people who do not accept the Word of God but reject it. Some of those are conservative, like Pharisees were conservative. They memorize the Law, God’s Word, but do not know the Author. Neither liberal nor conservative that is under the Covenant of Works will ever fully understand the things of God.

Not so the Child of God, born again of His Spirit.

The Child of God who receives Christ (for Christ is the Gospel) has the Law of God written in their hearts. We who are God’s Elect read and believe His Word. We do not argue with God, but His Spirit speaks that Word to our hearts. The Old Covenant saint had a High Priest who ministered in the Tabernacle, and served in the shadow of Heavenly things. But we who are of Christ have a High Priest who …..

Hebrews 8:1-2 (KJV) … is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle …

The Old Testament Priest mediated a covenant that was but a shadow of greater things to come. But Christ is the …

Hebrews 8:6 (KJV) … he is THE mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

The Spirit of God comes to His people in the New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace. God said I will place My Laws in their minds, and write them in their Hearts. I cared nothing for God’s Word when I was lost. To me it was a fabrication of old dead men, a fable, a foolishness. But once I met Christ He put a love for His Word in my heart. So it is with every Child of God.

The drunkard now despises the drink that once owned him.
The womanizer now realizes that once he once desires destroys not one but two.
The homosexual does not revel in his desire, but his desire is to God.
The murderer now sees that life is a gift from God, too precious to waste.

The Holy Spirit writes the right and the wrong in every heart, and those who are His find themselves agreeing with both Prophet and Apostle. Whereas we were at war with God under the Covenant of Works, now we are at Peace. God is in us, and God lightens our eyes.

The work of the New Covenant is not just to save us from Hell,
but to put Heaven’s Law in our hearts.
And God does the work!

What does the Scripture say?

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  [9]  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  

Salvation is entirely a work of God in the New Covenant. It is salvation “by Grace”. What does this mean? The text goes on to say in the next verse …

[10]  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are not saved by works, but now saved we work in one accord with one another and with our Jesus.

b The Old Covenant Did Not Bind The Soul To God, But The New Covenant Does. We read:

Hebrews 8:10 (KJV) …. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

God does not force Himself on any to save them, but if a person hears and receives His Gospel then God promises:

I will be to them a God
and they shall be to Me a people

There is a love between the saved and their Savior that cannot be denied.

When Israel was saved from Egypt and led out of harsh bondage
– slavery and torment – by God Himself.
When God led them out by Pillar of Fire and by Pillar of Cloud.
When God destroyed the Egyptian Army by crushing it beneath the Red Sea.

You would have thought that these people would have loved God and followed Him no matter what. Yet they did not. Moses was not gone from them 40 days before they had Aaron the High Priest smelting a golden calf to worship. How dare they?

But God was not in their hearts.

I remember when I was at another Church one of it’s “members” (a Secret Service candidate, for she was never in Church) contracted a terrible abscess in her back. She was going to die. Every other day for 6 months – 6 MONTHS – I drove 45 minutes one way to go and pray with her and her husband. She told me “When I get out of here – if I ever get out of here – I’m going to come to Church”. At the end of that six month period the Lord saved her. She was healed, though the doctors who were treating her gave absolutely no hope for her recovery. A month later she attended Church.

And never came back again.

You would think that she would be in Church praising the Lord, thanking Him for what He did. But she and her husband built a golden calf and worshiped it instead. “I think I’m all right with God. I’m a moral person. I’ve not done anything wrong, not really. Surely I deserve to go to Heaven when I die.”

If you think you deserve Heaven because of what you have done, you are probably going to go to hell. You are under not the Covenant of Grace, but the Covenant of works.

There was another man whose name was David. He was not saved when I first met him. He contracted cancer – the bad kind – liver cancer. I visited him in the hospital, prayed with him, and told him about Jesus. Two weeks later he received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. I remember I heard that he joined a Church near where he lived, and was baptized. I walked in the hospital room some time after his baptism. As he lay there, tubes coming out of his body, he turned, looked at me, and smiled like a lighthouse shining brightly. As we talked he told me that he knew Jesus was going to heal him – if not here, up there. And this precious man was at perfect peace. I helped bury his earthly body a few weeks later, and he left this planet with a smile on his face.

I will be to them a God
and they shall be to Me a people

The New Covenant – found only in Christ – binds us to God and God to us. He is the Mediator of the New Covenant.

3 Has God Touched You? Are You Going To Heaven Under The Covenant of Works, Or Under The Covenant Of Grace?

Let us pray.