Alright, you can take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. And we went through the first two sections of this last week. And so I'll quickly review those. And then we'll pick up with the third section. And of course, we started just with a bit of an introduction just reminding you that the literal context of this is David. And the messianic or the prophetic context is referring to Jesus. It's believed, well, we know that from some of the quotations in the New Testament, the Gospels, that Jesus at least quoted parts of this when he was on the cross. And there are some who believe that he quoted the entirety of Psalm 22, which I would not be surprised. I'm certainly certain that he was able to do that, whether in his humanity or his divinity, I'm sure he could have. But, of course, the prophetic part of it we'll start looking at, I think we'll finish the first part of chapter 22 this evening looking at the literal interpretation, but next week we'll start, Lord willing, looking at the literal, or pardon me, the prophetic part of it and the different parts that Jesus quoted from the cross and the other New Testament authors as they recognized that. I just mentioned briefly the inscription to the chief musician upon Ejilath Shehar, a psalm of David. And if you remember that phrase, Ejilat Shehar means the deer of the morning dawn. And that probably was a tune or a melody that they used for that. And by the way, that's not an unknown thing now that there will be a tune or a melody with which words will be combined to make a song. In fact, if you look in the back of your hymnal, I can't remember if this one has it or not, but many hymnals will have a tune index or even some of them a meter index. And so it's not an uncommon thing. For instance, how many of you know the song Danny Boy? Okay. And then there's another one called, of course, Miss Sharon, Savior of the World is another one. And he looked beyond my fault and saw my needs. And there's another one. I can't remember. Do you remember the name of the other one, Kara? There's a fourth one. I sang it when the Youngs were here. Is that with the same one? I can't remember. That one's Greensleeves, I think, it goes with that one. But the other three, Danny Boy, the tune is actually called Londonderry Air. And so that's kind of the similar thing here where you have that in the Psalms where they may have something up on such as this one here, upon Ejilat Shehar. That's referring to a tune name that the Hebrews would have known. And that meant here the deer of the morning dawn and the implication is, at least commentators would think this, that it's speaking of the idea that the morning is approaching after a long night of darkness. And David kind of describes his suffering but he ends this psalm with praise and so you can see how it kind of moves in that direction. Last week we saw just from David's life, again the literal part of this, the first part verses 1 through 10, that suffering produces passion. And the idea of passion in that, that is it creates emotions in us, some good, some bad. There are times when our emotions can get the better of us when they really well up and they are not what we want to be in charge. David in Psalm 42 and 43 asked himself, Oh my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? He recognized there that his soul had gone a little bit further than he wanted it to. But then he concluded that psalm in saying, trust in God or hope in God. Okay. So he had kind of brought his emotions back into check. But passions are a result of suffering. It happens. We saw the four different things, verses one and two, there was grief that David experienced and he had grief from his crying. Verses three through five, his grief from confusion and with the thoughts there thinking of, okay, God, our fathers have known you, they've trusted in you, and you've always been there for them, but I don't understand why you're not here for me. Now, there's confusion. Then there was grief from conflict, verses six through eight. I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. And so he's recognizing what his enemies or what others have done to him there. There's grief from conflict. And then there was grief that came again from confidence, and that is he knew the character of God. He knew the nature of God. There was still kind of referring back to or reciprocating back in that thought of confusion. Thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Okay. And so just like his fathers had trusted in time past and God had provided for them or taken care of them, David's saying, look from my birth. From the time of my mother's womb, you have been the one upon who I've either been taught to put my trust or upon the one who I have put my trust." And so David's passions, his emotions are recognized in the first 10 verses. And then verses 11 to 21 we saw that suffering produces prayer. which it should, which by the way, I hope that praying is not something that only comes in your life as a result of suffering. Praying should be a regular part of our lives, whether we're praying or not. You remember what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5, 7 and verse 17? Very short verse, pray without ceasing. I think that's the idea of being a spirit filled believer that whether I'm on my knees by my bed or sitting in my chair at my desk or in my recliner with my Bible on my lap, not just going through my prayer list but that praying, communicating with God ought to be a regular part of my life, just a part of who I am. here demonstrated that his suffering produced prayer. Notice verse 11 and verse 19 he says, first of all, be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help. And then verse 19, be not thou far from me, he repeats that phrase, O Lord. So the first part of that he prayed for God's companionship, he wanted God to be right with him, near him. In verse 12 through 18 he describes the suffering that he was going through. Then he also prayed for Letter B beginning in the middle of verse 19 he prayed for God's control, O my strength haste thee to help me, deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, my life from the power of the dog, save me from the lion's mouth for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. And so there he's praying for God's help, O my strength haste thee to help me. And so here suffering produced prayer for David. And so we'll conclude the psalm this evening verses 22 to 31 and understand this third thought, suffering produces praise. Suffering produces praise. In the mind of many humans and unspiritual or humans that don't know God that doesn't make sense that I'm going through something rough, God is supposed to be omnipotent and omniscient and all of the things that describe his character and yet if that's the case why is he allowing me to go through that? That's the way that unsaved people or people who don't know God would think. And yet we understand, as the scripture says, both specifically I'm thinking of Romans 5 but also James, tribulation worketh patience. The more I understand about the character of God and the more that he works in me the more it grows me. And so ultimately there is reason to praise because I know that what he is doing is changing me. You've heard the phrase before of a diamond in the rough. Okay. That means that God still has more work to do on it. Okay. He's perfecting me. He's working on me. So all of that to say that this idea that we're going to look at here beginning in verse 22 is that suffering produces praise and by the way for suffering to produce praise there has to be a yielded heart, there has to be a heart that is desiring for God to have control and for him to change me and to grow me and also there has to be submission. When I'm kicking, the phrase was made about Paul kicking against the pricks, and Paul wasn't a believer at the time or that was a point of his salvation, but whenever I'm kicking against what God is wanting to do in me, I'm keeping him from accomplishing his work or I'm keeping that change from taking place. Whenever I yield, whenever I submit, whenever I let him have control, even through suffering, that's when I'm going to grow, that's when I'm going to change, and that's when praise will be the result of it. Suffering produces praise. Interesting things in this as far as the way that David brings in not only himself, but there's a corporate praise that is a part of this. Letter A, there's congregational praise that is here. Beginning in verse 22, And then going down through verse 26, David speaks of several different things in praise. Notice verse 23, ye that fear the Lord, praise him. I'm sorry, that was verse 23. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him. All ye seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord forever, or praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever." And I'll come back and just point out a few things about each one of those, but that's congregational praise. If you notice in each of those David, those phrases or verses, David was drawing Israel, the nation of Israel, or Jacob as he referred to them. He's drawing them into His praise. You understand that there are different kinds of praise, okay? There are praises that are personal. There is praise that's just a part of my heart that I may be driving down the road and just think, thank you, Lord, for doing this, or thank you, Lord, for doing that. Or I might even share it with my family and say, the Lord did this. Or I'm thanking the Lord for such and such. Okay. Or we may do it among ourselves as individuals. But here, David is calling on the congregation to participate in this with him. First of all, in verse 22, in the congregational praise, David is speaking to God. Okay. And it's an important thing to recognize in this. Notice what he says, I will declare, what's the personal pronoun there? thy name. Okay, so he's addressing God, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. He's telling God what he's going to do. In the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee in the midst of the assembly. It's an interesting word there. There's some connections with a New Testament word church, okay, as far as in the congregation or the assembly. But basically, this would be the nation of Israel worshiping together. Remember, David predated or preceded the temple, and so the primary place of worship or location would have been where the tabernacle was. The temple had not been built yet. But whenever Israel was together then, David was saying, I'll declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee? Verse 23, now David speaks to the fellow Israelites, okay? He had said to God, I'm going to praise you before the congregation, before my brethren. Verse 23 then, he speaks to his fellow Israelites, ye that fear the Lord, that's those who also are living in reverence of him, awe, okay, respect. Ye that fear the Lord, notice it's all caps, so that means Jehovah, okay, that's who it's speaking of here. Ye that fear the Lord, that's his covenant name, praise him. In other words, if you're right with God, if you're in the same kind of relationship with him that I am, if you're one who fears the Lord, then praise him. All ye seed of Jacob, okay, referring to all the people who are the offspring of Jacob. And remember, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, okay? So we're referring to the nation of Israel, him. Glorify him. Show the weightiness of who he is. Fear him, and that's to live in awe or reverence of him. All ye the seed of Israel, Jacob and Israel are the same one. So David is speaking to all of the nation of Israel, the seed of Jacob, and all of them together, he's saying, you need to be praising the Lord with me. Together, we're going to glorify him. Together, we're going to lift him up or to magnify him. Then verse 24 is the reason David and the congregation of Israel should praise the Lord. Four, okay, that's the word because, for he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. Several thoughts in that verse 24, he hasn't despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. And basically what that is, is that those who are suffering, okay, those who are in affliction, the ones who are afflicted, he has not despised the things that they're going through. Understand this. Okay, whenever you are going through a struggle or a trial, whenever you're going through affliction, God's not doing that in anger. What does the scripture tell us? Who are the ones who receive chastisement? For whom the Lord loveth, okay? And so this is not just spite, okay? He is not abhorring the affliction. He's looking at the affliction, if I can say it like this, as the file. that's filing off the rough edges, okay, or something that he loves and he's seeking to perfect it. He doesn't take it lightly. He knows the value of it. And because of that, David said we should be praising him. Notice also in verse 24, neither hath he hid his face from him. And so the one that is going through affliction, though it may seem that way, Job acknowledged that. I look all around me and it seems like you're not there. It may seem like he doesn't know where he is, okay? But David says he has not hid his face from him. He knows where he is. But when he cried unto him, he heard. He still knows your prayers. He still understands. He still hears. And so that is the reason that David and the congregation of Israel should praise the Lord. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he heard. And by the way, I need to again point out the context in this, that as we're looking at this, remember that David is not, there's nothing in this Psalm that indicates that David had sinned to do anything to deserve God's judgment. Okay. Whatever God is allowing to happen to David, we don't know the context specifically, probably when he's running from Saul and one of the different times. There is affliction that is there. Okay. There's, there's tribulation, there's persecution that is coming upon him and God has not hid his face from him. Okay. God has heard him. We don't know what it is, but it is in God's love, whatever is happening, David. Verse 25 David goes back and again addresses the Lord. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. He speaks again to God and says before the great congregation meaning the large assembly of all of your people before them my praise shall be of thee. Now there's an interesting thing in this we think that probably David was not yet king if he's still running from Saul. But there were many people in Israel who loved David. Do you remember what it was, one of the first things that happened that caused Saul to hate David? Whenever they were coming back from the battle with the Philistines and the women were singing, Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands. You understand then that the nation of Israel, the great congregation, They looked on David. They saw him. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. David was a well-known man. He had the opportunity to praise the Lord and to show influence among the people. Then at the end of verse 25, David vowed that his worship would be public. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. Speaking of that again, those that fear him, remember that word. It's not the idea of fear as in terror, I'm afraid of what's going to happen. But this is the idea of reverence or respect. When we think of someone living in the fear of the Lord, it's living in awe of who he is. Here, David says, I will pay my vows. I'll fulfill my responsibilities before them. And here, it's his mindset that he's going to be working before the Lord, praising before the Lord, worshiping before the Lord. He's going to do this before them that fear him. He's going to publicly do this. Incidentally, understand that whenever David says, I'm going to pay my vows before them that fear him, he's not doing what Jesus warned against with the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 5, when he was speaking of, you know, when you're giving of your alms, don't do that before men. When you're praying, don't do that before men. fasting don't do that before men because those men were doing it to be seen of men. The reality is Jesus knew their hearts and those kinds of men they were doing it for that purpose to be seen of men. What did Jesus say of them? They have their reward. That's it. They've got all they're going to get out of it. David is not like that at all, he is the leader of course or a leader in Israel at this point but he's saying I'm going to pay my vows before them that fear him. In other words publicly I want people to know the relationship that I have with God, I want them to know that he's fulfilled his word, I want them to know that he's faithful, I want him to know his glory, I want him to know everything about him that I can. In David's mind it was all about God, for those people in Matthew 5 and 6 it was all about them, you get the difference. And then also in verse 26, David asserted to the congregation the value of praising the Lord. Verse 26, the meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. Three phrases in there, the meek shall eat and be satisfied. The meek is the idea of those who are not arrogant, but those who have recognized who God is. They've recognized who they are before God. They realize who they are. But in that, they recognize who God is, the provision that he offers, they'll eat and be satisfied. That could be either metaphorical or it could be physical. But recognizing that those who are seeing themselves in life, in light of God, they're going to have a satisfied life. The best way to be satisfied is to live in a right relationship with God. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Those that are seeking after God, those that have, as Paul said in Philippians chapter three, that they're pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, those kinds of people that are seeking the Lord, they're going to be praising him. Those who are seeking after him will be praising him. And then he says to them individually, your heart shall live forever. Interesting phrase there. David obviously believed in an eternal life. Okay. when he says, your heart shall live forever. recognizing that this kind of life, the life that is the pursuit of God, there is an eternal value to it. That when you have set your focus on the pursuit of God there is going to be an eternal benefit that comes from that. And so he asserted the value of praising the Lord to the congregation. Just a synopsis of those verses, David began his praise by revealing that it would be to his brethren the assembly of people who worship with him and then all the seed of Israel. His praise was not contained. It was contagious. He was going to share this. He exhorted those that feared the Lord like him with him to praise the Lord. He encouraged all of Israel to glorify the Lord. Their individual turned or his individual turned corporate praise was based upon the fact that God had not allowed the affliction of David to go unnoticed. He had not turned away from him. Those who had trusted him would be provided or they would have their provisions met. They would be satisfied. David realized the deliverance of a satisfied life. And this satisfied life was from God. He could not help but to praise. Even though his suffering had been intense, he could not help but exhort others to praise God. You see how this whole thing, everything that David has gone through, this suffering has turned to praise, not only personally, but also corporately. It's in the congregation now. It goes even further. He described the congregation as the seed of Jacob or the seed of Israel, describing who they were. Verse 27 and moving down to verse 29, it's not just congregational praise, which would be referring to Israel, but it's also universal praise. Some interesting things in this. There's a general declaration in verse 27, all the ends of the world. shall remember and turn unto the Lord." You notice how he's gone from the seat of Jacob to now everybody on earth? Okay. It's fascinating that David has gone through the suffering that he has when he's talked about the bulls of Bashan and the lions in the previous section and how they've pierced him. And now he's saying all the world is going to come to the point of praise, that's again Philippians chapter two that every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father. But this is here then verse 12. excuse me, verse 27, all the ends of the world, that's the extremities of the world, shall remember and turn unto the Lord. And then also in verse 27 there's another acknowledgment to God, and all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee. David is interesting, he's much like the Apostle Paul. In First Timothy chapter one the Apostle Paul was writing his purpose of giving his book to Timothy, telling him what he needed to be teaching and to be watching for those who are misusing the law and so forth. And then Paul broke into his own testimony. Sometimes it's a little bit difficult to analyze where writers are going or how is it that their mind went this way? It's under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but still it happened. Paul got caught up in talking about Jesus. Paul got caught up in talking about his own testimony. And here David goes back and forth between telling the whole world, you need to be praising God. And then it's like he says, and God, I'm telling them to praise you. Okay. He's just, he's going back and forth in his conversation. All the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee. The acknowledgement to God, the kindreds of the nations, that's the relatives of the ethnicities, if we could say it that way. They will worship you. And then there's an assertion to all humanity in verse 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's. Notice again, that's all caps. and he is the governor among the nations." There, David's essentially saying to the whole world, God rules over all nations and all kingdoms. Every one. He is above all. And so there is this assertion that they should know this. The kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among all the nations or among the nations. Verse 29, the rich are going to worship. They that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship. Those who are wealthy, those who have everything that they need, those who are fat, they are going to. worship. And then also in verse 29, all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him. And this is the idea that even in death, men shall praise the Lord. That even when they're going down to the dust, they are going to be bowing to the Lord in praise. And then every life is entirely dependent upon him. Verse 29 concludes with this, and none can keep alive his own soul. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? By worry which of us can add 18 inches to the length of our life? There's nothing that we can do apart from God to extend our lives. There's things that we do to live a healthier life and there may be some medicinal things that we'll do to make our life last another year or two or something like that but ultimately The length of my life is determined by God and that's the way it is for each one of us. And here David says none can keep alive his own soul. It's entirely up to God. And so David's praise grew from congregational to universal. He ambitiously states that praise would come from all the ends of the world. The peoples of the nations would worship him. Not only was Israel the Lord's, but he governed all the nations. To David, it was binding upon all who lived and died on the earth to worship and bow before him for all life was in his hands. To David, praise and worship would not only be congregational, it would also be universal." And the next thing that is seen there. So verse 27 through 29, letter B, universal praise. And then finally, He's gone from congregational praise, the seed of Jacob in Israel, to universal praise, referring to all the nations. We would say the four corners of the earth, but all the nations, everybody on the earth, the kindreds of the nations. Now he moves to verse 30 and 31, generational praise. And so he's moved out of just our generation, whether it's Israel or any nation on the earth, to now he's saying that praise is going to go beyond even this generation. Notice what he says in verse 30 and 31, You realize or you see the growth of what's happened in David, he starts with his passion, he starts with all the suffering that he's enduring, he moves to the point of praying in all of this and he ends with praise. And it's not only the nation of Israel that he's exhorting to praise, it's the entire world that he is saying you need to be praising the Lord and all the world will praise God. But then he says, and it's not even just those who are living on the earth right now. The next generation, the people yet to be born, they are going to be praising the Lord. He's referring of this. And so thinking of those verses again, a seed shall serve him. Speaking of those who would come after, it should be accounted to the Lord for a generation or for a time, for a period that they would be praising him, this seed that would serve him. they shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born. And so the one seed would declare to the next generation the righteousness of God unto a people that shall be born. It's very similar to when Paul was speaking in second Timothy chapter two when he's speaking of the things which thou has learned of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to tell or teach others also and Paul goes through five different generations and so Paul's speaking of the ones who are living now would praise the Lord and then there's a seed that would come and they would tell the ones to be born of the righteousness of God. They would speak of his righteousness unto people that shall be born that he hath done this. that God's the one who has done this, the way that he has worked. And so it's just a fascinating picture the way that David moves from passion to prayer, the passion of suffering to prayer, and ultimately ending in praise. That ought to be what is the direction of our hearts whenever we're going through suffering. Suffering is going to lead me to prayer and prayer is going to lead me to praise. the conclusion of this final two verses, David moved beyond the singular generation in which most people live. By the way I think of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was generally a good king and yet there's one thing that is just striking about him or a couple of things really but one of them after he was sick and he asked God to spare his life, God gave him 15 more years, a couple of things happened in that. First of all his son Manasseh was born who ruled for more than 50 years as a wicked king. And Manasseh would not have been the king if that was the case, that was one. And then he showed all of Syria his riches and his wealth. And God told him, well, Isaiah came and said, would you show me? He says, everything. He says, they're going to have it all. You remember what Hezekiah's response was? So long as there's peace in my day. David didn't think that way. David was saying the next generation is going to praise you and then the next generation is going to praise you, it was his desire. David would not have been satisfied thinking like Hezekiah did, he was thinking of multi-generational praise, a seed shall serve him. The praise would be recounted to the next generation and that generation would then declare the righteousness of God unto a people not yet born. We just found out that Laura is going to have another boy. which I finally was given permission to tell. I should say we just found out. We found out several weeks ago, but we finally were told we could tell. You know what I want for my grandsons? I want them to praise the Lord, they're on my prayer list and I pray for them regularly and daily thinking of Lord what will you do. I laugh at you and tell you I want to see a picture of Jack, usually every other day or something like that I get a picture but you know what that does for me when I look at him and I think of that little boy and think of what he could become. How many times already just in his one year I prayed Lord use him, Lord keep him humble, Lord work in his heart, help me, this is a favorite phrase, bend his heart towards you. And David had that kind of sentiment, I want my grandsons to praise the Lord, I want my great grandsons to praise the Lord. David's suffering in this chapter led to not just personal praise but to congregational praise, universal praise, and then multi-generational praise and that should be our desire as well. All of us are going to face suffering, it's going to produce passion in us, sometimes very grievous. I mentioned this last week, will it make you bitter or will it make you better. Which one? If it makes you better your suffering will produce prayer. God's companionship and his control is a part of that but suffering that leads to prayer will eventually and certainly lead to suffering that leads to praise. And that's David's pattern here and I think a tremendous illustration for you and I. Next week we'll look at this as it relates to the Lord Jesus. Father I thank you for this passage of scripture and for the many things that we see in this passage which will encourage and challenge us We know that suffering is a part of life, I pray that when our passions are stirred you would help us to turn to prayer and to praise and we just ask that you would grow us to be the way you want us to be. Lord, we know that you love us, we know that you are gracious and merciful and that you'll help us through different times, I pray that you would help us to depend on you as we go through various circumstances as David did. not the same kind that he endured. I pray father that you'd give us grace. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. All right you can take your prayer list.