Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 70

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: On this podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this Psalm today.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. This is Psalm 70 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Let them be turned back and confused who desire my hurt.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Let them be turned back because of their shame who say, Ah-ha, Ah-ha.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And let those who love your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But I am poor and needy. Make haste to me, O God.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You are my help and my deliverer. O Lord, do not delay.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Now friends, Psalm 70 is entitled Prayer for Relief from Adversaries.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And Psalm 70 is a reprise or a refrain of Psalm 40.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 70 is ascribed to King David. But basically these five verses are found also in Psalm 40.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you recall, in Psalm 40, David is realizing his continual need for God in his life.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And friends, I'd like to think that we have a continual need for God in our life as well today.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: What I'd like to do is let's quickly break down each of these five verses.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Now the first three verses are basically talking about people who come against us.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't really like calling these people enemies, but let's just say these people do not have our best interests

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: in their heart. They are coming against us for whatever reason.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes we find people like this in our life.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And we try to avoid them. We try to pretend that they are not real and they don't exist.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But friends, we do. We will have people, especially if we declare that we are Christians.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: We will have people who will persecute us for being Christians or basically for being different than they are.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin in verse one.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, we will have people who point to us and identify us as being different from the majority of people in their life.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of people if you are different than they are will come against you.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people are that way. And they simply really don't have any love in their heart for people who are different than they are.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It kind of goes totally opposite of the way Jesus was. Jesus told us to love our enemies.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: He told us to pray for those who persecute us. That is not what these people do.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go to verses four and five and hear these verses tell us to rejoice in God and for the goodness of who He is.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go to verse four.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Let all those who seek you, meaning God, rejoice and be glad in you.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And let those who love your salvation say continually, let God be magnified.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Now friends, it doesn't matter if we are talking about God, the Creator of heaven and earth, or His Son Jesus who died on the cross at Calvary for our sins.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: We are to recognize salvation for what it is. Had it not been for Jesus and what He did on the cross and shedding His blood for us, our salvation would not have happened.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: We would still be living in our sins. But because of what He did on the cross, all of our sins have been forgiven.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Now friends, let's go to verse seven. Let's close with verse five.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 71.