We've done a lot of singing about a king. And as Americans, we don't have much use for kings. Monarchy, however, arguably is one of the most efficient forms of government. No elections, which means no campaigns. I thought at least there would be an amen there. It's already started. We are 15 months out from the next election, and already there's campaigning. Lots of candidates. You live under a monarchy, there is no election. You have your monarch, king or queen. And you have him or her, for good or for ill, for a long time perhaps. Monarchies tend to be stable. The line of succession is clear. Think about the English royal family. They already know who the next king is, and who will the next king be, and the next king, and the next king. That's already in line. Again, no need for elections, no need for campaigns. They're trained for leadership. Some might look at some of the candidates who are running for office and say they lack the requisite experience. And every time he or she opens his or her mouth, it's confirmed. Kings, queens, are trained for it. They know growing up, you will be the next monarch. They're trained to be that leader. It's very efficient. They're taught to think about governance, not politics. They're the king. You don't have to convince people. You have the authority, you have the power, you rule. Kings often inspire loyalty. I'm always amazed at that. As an American, kind of viewing the royal family when they travel around the world, how well they are received in commonwealth countries. They kind of embody the spirit of the nation the way an American president often does not. And yet 239 years ago, the colonists threw off the British crown with the publication of the Declaration of Independence. And this is in part what they said. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. They go on then to list at least 18 major complaints that they had with the monarch. And then they said this, in every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. and that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved. And the American experiment was an experiment in a Republican government. Could it work? So even today, as citizens of the United States, We may scoff at the pomp and circumstance and privilege of kings and queens and the royal family, yet our fundamental identity is not as American citizens. But if you are a Christian, it is a citizen of the kingdom of God. Monarchy is our past, present, and future reality. Thus, our blessing rests on the success of the Lord's anointed. We don't tend to think like that. This is countercultural. Psalm 20 is a countercultural psalm. And I think it's hard for Americans particularly to get a grasp and a handle on what does this mean for us? Because at the heart of it lies a desire for the success of the king. And we as American citizens don't have one. But we as Christians do. So take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 20. We have sung it. Not an overly familiar tune. Many of us may have been more interested in the tune, and we didn't really get the words of what we just sang. So I'm going to read it again for us. Then after the sermon, we will sing again Psalm 20, selection A. Hopefully, the tune will be not as challenging to us as it just was. But this is what you sang and what we sang together. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. May we shout for joy over your salvation in the name of our God, set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some in chariots, some in horses, but we, in the name of the Lord our God, remember. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. O Lord, save the king. May he answer us when we call. Psalm 20 petitions the Lord for the king's success. In fact, so tied together are the fortunes of the nation and the sovereign that at least nine times The psalmist expresses the wish or desire for God's blessing on the king. The you in this psalm is singular. So it's being addressed to a singular person. Evidently, the king and the nation faced some sort of trouble or distress. That's where it begins. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble or in distress. Back in Psalm 18, David used that term in verse 6. In my distress, I called upon the Lord. So here, in your distress, may he hear and answer. Likely, the crisis was war. This is a fairly martial psalm. chariots, horses, banners, it has all of the trappings of a military expedition. Maybe there's an army coming against them and Israel realizes we are in crisis, we are in distress, we're in trouble and we're getting ready for war. May the Lord hear you, may the Lord save you. So as the king prepares for battle, the congregation or the army expresses its desire, may the Lord answer. May he protect, and literally says here, may you be set on high. The idea would be, may you be unassailable. May he send help, give support, remember, regard, grant, fulfill. The congregation that's singing, the army that's singing, they want him to succeed. One of the things that marks American politics, partisanship. There's often a desire in a significant part of the country for the failure of the current executive. That's the way it's kind of set up. With a monarchy, that's treasonous. The desire here is for the success of the king, because in the success of the king, the army, the congregation, the nation has success. And it makes complete sense that on the eve of battle, the kings of Israel would seek the favor of the Lord. 1 Samuel 13, Saul does that. It gets him into trouble. Samuel tells Saul, I will get there before the battle. And Saul waits, and waits, and waits, and waits, and Samuel doesn't come, and Samuel doesn't come, and Samuel doesn't come. And Saul, as he tells Samuel later, I forced myself, because you didn't come, I forced myself to offer the sacrifice, because we're about to go into battle, the Philistines are here, my army is running away, and I hadn't sought the favor of the Lord. Samuel says, you've done a foolish thing. It's not for the king to offer sacrifices. But Saul understood, at least in part, I need to seek the favor of God before we go into battle. In 1 Samuel 23 and in 2 Samuel 5, David, on occasion, is seeking the Lord. Shall I go up? And God tells him, yes, go up, and you will have success. I will give them into your hands. 2 Chronicles 14, King Asa, the same thing. They're faced with an invading force that's allied against them, and they seek the Lord's favor. They pray, and God says, I've delivered them into your hand. In fact, you won't even have to fight. And Asa, the next day, takes his army out, and this force that's been allied against him has fallen upon themselves and have killed each other, and Israel doesn't even have to fight. But these kings acknowledge that the battle is the Lord's. So let's seek his face. And that makes sense because they are in covenant with the Lord and he is in covenant with them. So in verse three, may God remember your offerings. The king has been worshiping. The king is keeping up his side of the covenant to offer sacrifice. And the congregation says, may he remember that. And then in verse 7, I read it a little differently from how it's written in the text. Because the word translated trust in verse 7 is the same word remember in verse 3. So may the Lord remember your sacrifices, and we in battle, not in chariots, not in horses, but in the name of the God, we remember. That's the two sides of the covenant. They have an arrangement. There are duties and responsibilities for each party in this covenant, and the singers are saying, we have done it. May the Lord remember our sacrifices, your sacrifices, because we in him remember. We are in covenant together. And the appeal is made to the God of Jacob. Why the God of Jacob? Well, if your Bibles are open, turn back to the beginning to Genesis 35. I want to put this before you so you can see it. Genesis 35 verse 3. This is Jacob speaking. Let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. That's the language of Psalm 20. Psalm 20 borrows it from here. This is the God who answers in your distress. May the God of Jacob answer you in your distress. He answered Jacob, and he will do it again because he is very near. He's in Zion. He's in the sanctuary, represented by the Ark of the Covenant. But what's more, the God of Jacob is very, very near. Genesis 28. Starting at verse 13, you can read of Jacob's encounter with God. He takes, well, he sleeps overnight at a place called Bethel. So in chapter 35, he's actually going back to Bethel. And at Bethel, he sleeps, and he dreams. And in that dream, there's a ladder between heaven and earth. And God comes down the ladder. and stands next to Jacob and says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give you the land, and I will make you a great nation. This God is very near. And he answers prayer, and he saves when in distress. And now he lived in a place called Zion, where David had pitched a tent for the ark, And the psalmist, the congregation says, may he protect and may he deliver and may he save. The name of the Lord was his confidence because he alone is God. And the singers here say, in his name, we will unfurl our banners. It's the victor who raises the banner. The defeated have to leave the field. They furl their flags, they droop their flags, they disappear. Maybe you've seen that in a football game. After a team has won, or even maybe a touchdown, somebody runs up and down the field, often with a big flag. We're victorious. You don't see the losers do that. They kind of just wander off and kind of disappear down wherever they go to the locker room, and it's all quiet. saying, in the Lord we will triumph and we will unfurl our banners. And then verse six, it's a solo voice. I, I know that the Lord saves his anointed. There's an insurance of faith. There's a prophet. who speaks in answer to the prayer of verses 1 to 5. God saves. He will answer. And that solo voice then inspires the congregation to affirm, indeed, that their trust is in the Lord alone, not in weapons of war which cannot save, not in chariots, not in horses. Kings of Israel, indeed, were forbidden to multiply horses. They were forbidden to trust in weapons, so they often destroyed them. Both Joshua and David, after great victories, burned chariots and hamstrung the horses. Why? It was a reminder that the battle does not rely on whoever has the biggest divisions. It was a reminder that the battle is not technology. So chariots were destroyed and horses were made useless for battle. And the psalm then ends as it began. God save the king. Answer us. It's become a corporate prayer. Starts, may he answer you. It ends, may he answer us. And the prayer for the king has become the prayer for the whole congregation. That's what the psalm is about. That's the historical nature of the song. And if you're like me, I got about that far in sermon preparation and said, OK, so what? Cool poem. There's its historical connection. Do we just sing it as an interesting historic relic? Well, think about it theologically for a moment. What is the relevance to us? How do we sing this? Well, we have to think kingdom of God. We are part of a kingdom. And while this psalm may have originated with King David, it takes on a brand new meaning when sung about King Jesus. Think through it again now in terms of the king. Jesus, the righteous one. As our mediator, Christ, which means the anointed one, executes the office of a king. And how does he do that? In subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. He subdues us. He rules and defends us. He restrains and he conquers our enemies. We're told in Hebrews chapter five that in the days of his flesh, in his distress, Jesus prayed and was heard. Psalm here is about the king praying, may he hear. And we're told in Hebrews that he did pray and he was heard. And because of that, he became the source of eternal salvation by the sacrifice of himself. The original army said, may he consider your offerings. Our king has offered himself. And in him there is eternal salvation. May we rejoice in your salvation. Indeed, may we. Because it means for us eternal life. We're told in the book of Hebrews that he ascended on high and sat down in order to rule. This is our king. May he be set on high. Our King has gone into heaven. He has ascended on high. He has been seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And because of his faithfulness, he has received all authority in heaven and on earth. And he has been given a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance. This is the name we must remember. This is the name in which we must boast, for there is no other name by which we must be saved. There is salvation in no other than in Jesus Christ. Is he the name, is that the name in which you hope today? Is that the name in which you boast today? Is that the name you remember today? You boast in Him or in some other source of salvation. Maybe your hope today is in your skill. Maybe your hope is in the position you hold, the wealth that you have. Maybe it's in your good works. Those will all prove to be as worthless as chariots and horses. Explorers, when they went out and they found new land and new discoveries, they claimed them for king and country. Why is this even North America? Anybody remember his or her American history? Why are we called America? And what's his nationality? Yeah, North America and South America is named after an Italian. What? It got claimed. Land gets claimed. There were some men who went to the moon. Other than a lot of other junk that they left behind, what did they unfurl? As much as you can unfurl something in zero atmosphere, what's up there? An American flag. Let's strike anybody as a little arrogant. We've claimed the moon. I don't really know what that means, but that's what it implies. In the name of America or in the name of Italy or in the name of whomever else made this discovery, flags are unfurled and the name is, we're claiming it for king and for country. Has Jesus planted his banner over you? Have you been claimed by King Jesus? Do you live for Him? The psalmist says, in His name, in your name, we will unfurl our banners. Do you do that? Is that the object of your life? Because in the death and burial and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, He defeated and disarmed and overcame our enemies. The world, sin, death, the devil, these no longer have real power because he has triumphed over them in the cross. Their power is broken. The Lord God saved Christ from death, and he will do the same for you if you seek him. So we can sing Psalm 20 historically about David. And we can sing it theologically about the Christ. But I actually want you to think a little more deeply that we can also sing this psalm very personally. Israel sang about their King David. And we join their chorus in honor of King Jesus. But we are also the object of the psalm. By faith in Christ, we have become the Lord's anointed. So the psalm is rightly sung about us. 1 Peter 2 verse 9, we the church are called a royal priesthood. Your royalty. You are part of the royal family. I don't know if you ever thought about your position like that. Read it in Revelation chapter 1. He has made us a kingdom, is what's in our text. He has made us a kingship and priests. you have been made a king. And in reformed circles, you may hear much about the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. It was one of those fundamental foundational reformational doctrines. that we didn't need an earthly priest because we had one in heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous. I don't need a earthly mediator because I have one in heaven, and Jesus has opened the way into heaven, and I can approach the Father through him. We hear a lot about that. We hear less about the prophethood of all believers. God has poured out his spirit upon all flesh that your sons and your daughters may prophesy. We can speak the word of God to one another. We hear even less about the kingship of all believers. But it's clear that as much as you are a priest and a prophet, you are a king. You're a king, and you have been given dominion under Christ. You are a fellow heir with Christ, according to Romans 8. What does he inherit? A kingdom. You are a fellow heir with Christ and you too will inherit a kingdom. That's the point of Matthew 25. Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Now turn to Ephesians chapter two. Here's another text I want you to have in front of you to see this. The book of Ephesians. Chapter two. Verse six. He raised us up with him, that is with Christ, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And back in chapter one, verse 20, you see where Christ has been seated, at his right hand in the heavenly places. So today in Christ, you are a king. Seated with Christ at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Do you feel like that? Is that how you interact with the world? Seated at the right hand of God in Christ? You've been given a dominion. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that we will judge the world. He says, do you not know that we will judge angels? So in Christ, you are competent to make judgments now. In fact, that's the whole point of that. He rebukes the Corinthians over and over again because they went to judges on earth who were not believers. He says, are you not competent to judge? We will judge the world. We will judge angels. So you need to judge these matters. So twice more in 1 Corinthians 10 and 1 Corinthians 11, he says that clearly. Judge for yourselves. That's what kings do. They make judgments. So we're called to make judgments. In fact, the whole idea of the consent of the governed is based on this doctrine, that we can judge. We have a say in our own governance, both in the church and in the state. So as Presbyterians, we elect our ruling elders. We do it in a Republican kind of form of government. They represent the congregation in session. And every two years, we do the same with our elected officials in government. We elect them at the state level. We elect them at the local level. We elect them at the national level. That's part of the consent of the governed, and we are competent to judge. We are competent and called to rule and to exercise dominion. So I have to ask, how is your kingdom? If you're a king, seated with Christ, you have a kingdom. How's it going? You might say, well, what is my kingdom? What is my dominion? Well, let's start with your soul. Nobody but God cares as much about your soul as you should. But that's your dominion. Nobody can care for your soul more than you can. How's your kingship over your own soul? God has put some of you in families. How is your dominion and your kingship in the family? We have households to manage, whether you're married or not. How's your kingship? Some of you have been entrusted with business. You've been entrusted with finances. These are areas of dominion. Some of them might be quite small areas. You might have a bedroom to manage. You might have an allowance of $1 a week or $5 a week, and you're supposed to manage that. Autumn, how old were the kids you were teaching about money this week at White Lake? How old were they? Okay, teaching them about dominion, about money. They have a little bit of money. Hopefully later in life they'll have much more to manage and to govern the way God wants them to. So how is your kingdom? Kings also fight. This psalm is a fairly martial psalm. How's your battle? You have an obligation to arm yourself with spiritual weapons and to go to war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. You have a battle plan? The evil one certainly has one. Your flesh has one. The world has one. and it is to assault your soul. If it can separate you from the love of God in Christ, it will do everything it possibly can. The assurance we have is nothing can. But that is no excuse for us not to wage war against the remaining sin in our lives. Or to hold forth the standard of righteousness for our culture and community. So in Christ, you are a king. I suppose you could be a queen. And he exercises his dominion through you. We pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How do we think that that happens? It happens through us. faithfully living our lives in community, and in our families, and in our business, and in our voting, and in our art pursuit. All of those things to the glory of God, and so his kingdom comes. Do you act in light of that reality? So Psalm 20, I want you to thank King David King Jesus and King, put in your name. It's about you. Psalm 20 is a song for battle. And we as Christians on this side of the cross sing it in light of the kingship of Jesus Christ. We sing it to one another. expressing our desire for each other that we together might have success. We're going to pray first, and then we're going to sing. But when we sing the psalm again, I want you to sing with kind of one eye on John as he presents, and one eye on each other. Because the you is you. May the Lord give you success. May he hear your desire. May he answer you. May we, in his name, unfurl our banners. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for giving us this psalm. May it be our own testimony that we will trust, we will remember the name of the Lord our God. May you be our focus. And it's hard for us as American citizens to grasp the idea of monarchy. Holy Spirit, give us insight that we might fully internalize this psalm, that it might become our song as a community, that you might get all the glory. And in a moment, we're going to share some needs and requests. And then we're going to pray, hear us. Hear us as we speak to one another, and hear us as we pray. And may you get all the glory. Amen. Luke.