Psalms 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

Psalms 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.

Psalms 119:40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness.

Psalms 119:88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.

Psalms 119:107 I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word.

Psalms 119:149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O LORD, revive me according to Your justice.

Psalms 119:154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.

Psalms 119:156 Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your judgments.

Psalms 119:159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness.

In Luke 11:1 we read, “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’” It was when the disciples observed Jesus praying that they realized that they didn’t really know how to pray. Jesus’ own example in prayer inspired them to want to pray as He did. King David was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a number of ways, David embodied what Christ would be when He came into the world. Certainly as a king, David was a type of Christ; and his conquests foreshadowed those of Christ’s kingdom. David was also a picture of Christ in the way he prayed. He was a man after God’s own heart and his prayers are instructive for those who want to learn how to call on God. It is one thing to have a lesson on prayer, and another thing to see what true prayer is by a living example. Though David is no longer with us, his example as a man of prayer lives on through the Psalms.

In the first part of this psalm David gave himself to praise and now in the second half he gives himself to prayer. How few of us today truly give ourselves to prayer! If we could understand just how dependent upon God we really are, we would be much more earnest in prayer. One thing is certain, as one preacher put it, “Prayer is born out of need. The sharper our sense of need, the warmer and louder our cry to God will be.”[1] Do you understand your need this morning? That, I believe, is the secret of learning how to call on God. When I mention your need, I am referring primarily to the needs of the soul. When you and I recognize our spiritual needs before God, then we are in a position to call on God to meet those needs.

Have you ever called to the Lord “out of the depths?” In other words, have you ever cried out to Almighty God from the depths of your soul and from the depths of your sin? Have you ever called on Him in any way that goes beyond a superficial prayer? The psalmist approaches God with a sincere desire to deal with the Lord and with his own soul. Why are you here this morning? Do you come with a sincere desire to do business with God? I am convinced that most of our problems in life remain because we refuse to humble ourselves and deal with God. We turn everywhere else – to our friends, to self-help books and to therapists. We turn to pleasure or the escape of drugs and alcohol. Do you want to know why your life is messed up? Because you haven’t truly taken your mess and come to God out of the depths. Our tendency is to want things straightened out and calmed on the surface so we can get on with living our lives. Are you ready to get beyond this superficial approach to life? Then you are ready for the profound truths contained in this psalm.

When you build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His commands, your life will be truly blessed both here and hereafter. I can guarantee you this morning that if you receive Jesus Christ as Lord, and if you fear the Lord and walk in His ways, you will be happy. There are people out there today who will guarantee that you will get rich if you follow their program. Of course they cannot actually guarantee this and have taken in many foolish people by their false promises. Yet people fall for these “get rich quick” schemes, not so much because they want to get rich, but because they want to be happy! They think that if they had a lot of money that they would be happy. One thing they fail to do is to go and talk to those who have a lot of money and see if it is true that money brings happiness. If they did, they would find out that money does not bring happiness. Those who have looked to money to make them happy are still empty inside. They are not truly happy.

Verses 9-20 record the vision John had of the triumphant, exalted Christ. Verse 10 indicates that this occurred on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week – the day on which our Lord was raised from the dead. Since the resurrection, our Lord Jesus has been meeting with His people in a special way on this day which we call the Christian Sabbath, or the “Lord’s Day.” John was “in the Spirit” on this day – in total communion and fellowship with God. His heart was set completely on God and the world was shut out of his mind. He heard behind him “a loud voice, as of a trumpet.” Jesus spoke and said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” signifying His deity and eternal nature as Almighty God. John was commanded to write down what he saw. John had been a close companion and disciple of Jesus. He was in the inner circle with Peter and his brother James, and of those three, he was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John had seen Jesus after the resurrection and had witnessed Him being taken up into heaven at His ascension. Of all people, John was as close to Jesus as one could be. And yet nothing he had experienced on earth could prepare him for the force of this heavenly vision of Christ.

I trust that everyone in this room today would agree that without the cross, there is no salvation. True conversion must be conversion to Christ with faith in His death on the cross. Yet Christian author Stephen Smallman has written that “In the actual experience of coming to Christ, very few people have an adequate understanding of the work of the cross.” This morning, as we reflect on this passage of Scripture, I pray that we would grow in our understanding of what the cross is all about. Almost anyone you talk to knows that Jesus died on the cross, but hardly anyone understands why. The cross of Christ is the very center of the message of Christianity. Without the cross there is no salvation. Without the cross, and the resurrection which followed, the apostle Paul said, “You are still in your sins!” And without faith in Jesus Christ and His cross, you will die in your sins and spend eternity separated from God in hell. Without the cross and resurrection, there is no good news.

GRP exists to plant reformed churches in Europe.  This is an eye-opening message dealing with the darkness of Europe — the political and spiritual condition and need for the gospel.  You will be encouraged as you listen to this message that our God is sovereign over all.  Let us pray that God would bring another reformation to Europe and the world.