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ប្រតិចារិក
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And please open your Bibles with me to Psalm 3. Psalm 3. If you're using one of the Pew Bibles there, it's page 448. Psalm 3. We're gonna be reading the entire Psalm today to begin our time, Psalm 3. Follow along as we read Psalm 3, if you would. This is the Word of God. A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me, many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hell. I lay down and slept, I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you strike all my enemies on the cheek, you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord, your blessing beyond your people." May God give us ears to hear his word. Whoever you are, there is something I know for certain about you. You need to sleep. You need to sleep, some of us more than others, but you have a physical need for sleep, regardless of your age, gender, race, culture, religion. This is something that God has just built within us. We need to sleep. I'm hoping you won't need to exercise that too terribly much during this sermon, but this is who we are. Now, sleep is a very curious thing. Scientists will tell you that they aren't entirely sure why we do this. I mean, sure, it recharges our batteries, but why do we even need this to begin with? I mean, molecules don't sleep. Rocks don't sleep. Plants don't sleep. What is it about living creatures whereby we need to sleep? Talk to me about that afterwards, because I actually think the Bible gives us the answer to that question. Now they tell us that we need between seven, sometimes eight, sometimes even nine hours of sleep a night. And I realize that this is hard for some of us. I mean, there's just so much fun stuff to do in life that we want to skip out on sleep. You ever been there? But as with any physical need, depriving yourself of sleep for long periods of time, that has detrimental consequences. It hinders concentration, it diminishes reading comprehension, it weakens your immune system, it makes driving dangerous, some of you have been there, and it even prevents proper brain development. So for whatever reason, we humans have this need to sleep and we need to live accordingly. Now something the Bible is very clear about is that there is often a connection between your sleep and the state of your soul. There's often a connection between your sleep or lack thereof in the state of your soul. Now, even as I say that, I wanna be very careful here. Obviously, there's no one for one connection here. Our sleep can be affected by a thousand different things, from crying babies to too much coffee to too little exercise. We can induce sleep through things like sleeping pills and soothing music and large pieces of apple pie. So there's no perfect one-for-one connection between your sleep and your soul. And yet, all of that being said, I still think most of us understand that deep down there's a connection here. I mean, who of us has not had an experience where we lay awake at night because we're gripped with anxiety, or gripped with guilt, or gripped with fear? We understand this. And as we're going to see today from our study of Psalm 3, King David, the great psalm singer of Israel, he understood this connection very well between the state of his soul and his sleep. As we're going to see on one particular occasion, David had such faith in God's promises that he was able to sleep like a baby even while people were hunting for him, wanting to kill him. Now, like I did last week, let me give you the big point of Psalm 3 up front. And your job during this sermon is to determine whether or not this is actually what Psalm 3 teaches. This is the big point of Psalm 3. It should be coming up on the board here. Faith in God's promises produces calmness and chaos. That's what I believe this psalm is teaching us. Faith in God's promises produces calmness and chaos. And like we're gonna see in David's situation, that enabled him to sleep sweetly while arrows are flying over his head. Now, thinking about the context of Psalm 3, it's not insignificant that Psalm 3 is the third Psalm in the book of Psalms. Like we've been saying all along, the book of Psalms is organized intentionally. These Psalms are not just thrown in here willy-nilly. There's a certain shape and flow to this book. And Psalm 3 ties in very nicely with Psalm 2, which we looked at last week, and Psalm 4, which Lord willing, we'll study next week. If you were with us last week, you'll remember how Psalm 2 is all about God's anointed king in Jerusalem. You remember this, Psalm 2? The Lord has this anointed king reigning in Jerusalem, and to rebel against that anointed king is to rebel against the Lord. You remember that? Well, look here at Psalm 3. Psalm 3 is all about that. David is God's king in Jerusalem. And more than that, you'll remember from Psalm 2 last week, the way in which the nations would rage against God's king. Well, here in Psalm 3, we have a very clear illustration of that. Absalom, his son, is raging against God's Davidic king. It's very interesting the way in which these Psalms are all organized, and you can keep going throughout the book that way, seeing how one connects to the next, and the next, and the next, and so forth. Well, keeping that in mind, if you would, let's turn now to our Psalm, and the first thing I'd like you to notice with me is David's trouble. This is in verses one and two, David's trouble. And look with me, if you would, at verse one, which might not even be labeled verse one in your Bibles. But look at what it says there, a Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son. Now something I want to make very clear this morning is that these Psalm titles that you see in your Bible, they're actually part of the Bible. Okay, those little words above verse one are actually part of the biblical text inspired by God. Now I wanna make this very clear, so look up here on the screen if you would. Let's pretend this is your Bible here. If you notice your Bible, you can see where verse one is. But above verse one are these little words all in capitals. A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. You see that? Maybe look at your own Bibles and make sure it's there. If you have a Bible and they don't include those, you might wanna get a different Bible. But what I'm trying to emphasize is that those are actually part of the inspired biblical text. You see what I'm pointing at? Bring up that next slide there. Those are actually part of what God inspired. Those are written in Hebrew. They're part of the Hebrew manuscripts, which we have. The Jews have always considered those part of sacred scripture, and the New Testament even makes significant points from those headings. So I believe we need to consider them inspired scripture too. Emphasizing this point, commentator Derek Kidner writes this in his great little commentary on Psalms. He says, the notes reproduced in small print in most of our versions at the head of all but a few of the Psalms are part of the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible and are included in its numbering of verses. Hence, in most Psalms which bear a title, the verse numbers in the Hebrew text are at a step with ours. If you didn't get that sentence, don't worry about it. That just means the verses in Hebrew are different than the verses in English. The New Testament not only treats these headings as Holy Scripture, but following our Lord's example, it is prepared to build its arguments on one or another of the notes of authorship which form part of them. Now these little notes, they're incredibly important for appreciating these songs, these Psalms. And they're kind of like this. Have you ever heard a song leader tell a little story about a hymn that you're about to sing? You've probably heard the stories about John Newton, the slave trader, and how he then went on to write Amazing Grace. You know, hearing that little story enables you to appreciate the song more. So also, when you get these little titles of the Psalms, it gives you a much deeper appreciation of what's going on in the Psalm. Now, if that's the case, what do we learn about this Psalm here, Psalm 3? It says, a Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son. What's that talking about? Well, to get this, we've got to go back in the Old Testament. You'll remember that God made David king over Israel. Remember this? Samuel anoints him, he takes the place of Saul, and things are going along quite well for David until one day, the kings go out to war, but what does he do? He stays home. And he just so happens to be walking around on his roof one day, and he looks out, and what does he see? He sees a woman who is not his wife bathing. Remember this? Her name was Bathsheba. Well, one thing led to another, and before you know it, David is engaging in all sorts of sin. He commits adultery with Bathsheba. She winds up pregnant. So David puts this conspiracy into effect to kill her husband and then to marry her to cover up his sin. David thought he got away with it, but obviously God knows. God knows everything. He can't hide anything from God. So God sends Nathan to confront David in his sin, and fortunately, David repents. He returns to the Lord, he is forgiven of his sins. But one of the things that Nathan says is that there will be consequences for what you did. There will be consequences. And this ties into Psalm 3. Let me read these consequences from 2 Samuel 12. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. So these are the consequences for what David did with Bathsheba. There's gonna be turmoil in your family and somebody from your own family is gonna attack you. Well, you move the story forward several years here, and David's son Absalom fulfills those consequences, fulfills that prophecy. David's son Absalom kills another one of David's sons, Amnon, for reasons we won't go into here. Absalom flees, but then David, in his kindness, lets Absalom back into the kingdom. And how does Absalom repay David? He tries to throw a coup. He spends four years earning the trust of the people, winning friends, influencing people. And after four years of doing that, he tries to throw this coup and make himself king instead of his dad. This forces David to flee for his life from Jerusalem. And listen to 2 Samuel 15, 13 here. Try and imagine this. A messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom. Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword. So David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. That's the context of this Psalm, Psalm 3. We won't go into the details of how that story played itself out, what happened to Absalom and his fearful end at the hands of Joab. All of that is recorded in 2 Samuel 15 through 18 if you wanna go read it. But that event is the context for Psalm 3 here. And look at how David describes this. Look again at verse one. Oh Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for him in God. You've got to imagine David on the run writing this. It's almost like a soldier in World War II would scribble something in his journal as the bullets are flying overhead. So also David is composing this while he's on the run, while he's out there in the wilderness running for his life. And you can feel the emotion he's expressing. How many are my foes? Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. I mean, just try to feel how painful this would be. You know, just try to put yourself in David's shoes emotionally for a minute. David had to flee his palace, had to flee his city. His very son is the one trying to kill him. If one of my sons wanted to kill me, that would devastate me emotionally. But that's what we have here. Moreover, his city has turned against him. They've gone after Absalom. Ahithophel, one of his trusted counselors, has gone over to Absalom's side. And maybe worst of all is the realization that this is all his own fault. His own sin because he couldn't control himself with Bathsheba brought this on himself. I mean, how would you feel under those circumstances? Just as a quick aside, something I would really encourage you to do sometime is read 1 and 2 Samuel and read the corresponding Psalms at the same time. Okay, this is one of the most encouraging, enjoyable devotional experiences I've ever had. Read 1 and 2 Samuel, which gives us David's history, biography, and then read the Psalms which he wrote as he went through those experiences. So you get the history over in 1 and 2 Samuel, but the emotions in Psalms, and it's really a refreshing experience. You understand what it means that David's a man after God's own heart. And if anybody's looking for a chart which lines up what passages in 1 Samuel correspond to which Psalms, let me know and I can send that to you. But anyway, looking here again at Psalm 3, a few observations I want you to make with me. Notice first the repetition of many. There, did you see that? Many are my foes. Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul, there's no salvation for him in God. Many, many, many. Very clearly, David wants us to notice it's not just one guy who's coming after him. It's not just a few, but many are after him. We know from 2 Samuel 15 that David had won over the confidence of most of the men of Israel. He apparently was this very charismatic, smooth, winsome guy. And because of that, most of the nation had turned to following him. And look at what they're saying in verse two. Many are saying, if my soul, there's no salvation for him and God. Essentially, what they're saying is that David's committed the unpardonable sin. He's sinned too much for God to help him. That's what they mean, there's no salvation for him and God. Oh, David, he's gone too far. God has forsaken him. This is almost certainly a reference to David's sin with Bathsheba. And what they're implying, they're implying that adultery, murder, conspiracy, a person like that, God has no mercy on individuals like that. It's interesting here how David identifies their words as what is most hurtful to him. You see that? I find this interesting. He points out their words as what most hurts him. Realize that at this time, they're coming after him with literal swords, literal spears, wanting to literally kill him. And yet for whatever reason, it's their words that hurt him the most. This is something the Bible often recognizes, that words are often far more painful than weapons. That it's verbal persecution that stings the most. You know, we tell our kids, How does it go? Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But the Bible doesn't really teach that, and I think deep down we know that's not true. Let me give you just a couple of examples of the persecuting power of painful words. Listen to these. Matthew 10, 24. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant to be like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his own household? Matthew 5.11, blessed are you when others revile you. What's that? That's a verbal thing. And persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 1 Peter 2.12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. This is something we need to admit. We need to admit that words hurt deeply, sometimes more than physical pain. I mean, just ask yourself, which would you rather experience, a good punch in the shoulder or to have a good friend look you in the eye and say, I don't like you anymore? I mean, that's far more painful for me. And this is something I believe we need to prepare ourselves for. In our American context, most of us will probably not get thrown in a lion's den. But most of us will at one time or another be faced with verbal persecution, with painful words. And I think this is gonna become more likely as time goes by. You need to prepare yourself. What are you going to say or how are you going to respond when somebody looks you in the eye and says something like this? Can you believe those crazy Christians? They are just the most bigoted, prejudiced people. Can you believe they actually believe that marriage ought to be between one man and one woman? I mean, isn't that kind of like the KKK? When somebody says something like that to you, how are you going to respond? It is painful, difficult persecution, and yet it's the kind of persecution we need to anticipate. Well, this then is David's trouble. He's on the run. He's being hunted by his own son. The majority of his nation has turned against him. They're even saying that God has abandoned him, and worst of all, he knows it's his own fault. It's due to his own sin. And at this point, I want to ask you, can you sympathize with David here? Have you ever felt like this? Felt abandoned, hated, harassed, and maybe because of your own sinful choices? You ever feel like that? If so, realize the Psalms are written specifically for you. The Psalms are written specifically for you. This book is custom designed for people in trouble. This book is custom designed for people who are suffering due to their own foolish choices. This book will give you a language to express your pain in a God-centered way. This book will give you a hope to endure through. These Psalms are written for people just like David, just like you, just like me, who find ourselves in painful trouble. Moving on, notice with me next, David's confidence. This is in verses three and four. David's confidence. And look at verse three. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill. Now, many things we could notice here, but first, notice the way that David still has strong faith that the Lord is his God. You see, David still has strong faith that the Lord is his God, though he's sinned and sinned heinously, and though he's on the run for his life and out in the wilderness somewhere, he knows that the Lord has not left him, the Lord has not forsaken him. This comes out throughout this entire Psalm, but it's especially there in the terms David uses to address God. In verse 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, David uses that covenant name of God, Lord in all capitals, Jehovah. Writing on the significance of this little detail, commentator Van Gemeren writes this. Here in verse 3, David addresses God by his revealed covenantal name Jehovah, which is the Lord in our translations. In the language of prayer in the Old Testament, this address has the same connotation as Abba Father in the New Testament. For the people of God, the name of the Lord was the assurance that his promises to David would be fulfilled. He is the father of Israel and particularly of David and his sons as the anointed king. Now never forget that this is all taking place after what David did with Bathsheba. And you'd really think, wouldn't you, if somebody had committed the unpardonable sin, it'd be David. You'd think that if somebody did something so bad that God would forsake him, it would be David. I mean, just imagine if someone told you, you know, earlier in life I committed adultery, And then that wasn't bad enough, so I rigged up this big conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and I actually carried through on it, and I married the woman, and we tried to cover it all up. If somebody told you that today, I mean, you probably wouldn't want to be in the same room with them. And yet that's David, the man after God's own heart, and God, in his mercy, doesn't forsake David. Remember, this is the exact opposite of what they were claiming about David in verse two. Verse two, there's no help for him in God, but David knows better. It's almost as if David knows before it's written, Romans 8, 38. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What this means is that David interacts with God not on the basis of his works, but on the basis of grace. Get that, this is huge. A lot of people misunderstand the Old Testament and think that David's so great because he did so many great things. No, David interacted with God on the basis of grace, not on the basis of how good he was. And actually from Romans 4, we know that David was forgiven only because of the death of Jesus. You ask, what does that mean? Jesus hadn't been born yet. That's right, but God knew better. God knew that 1,000 years later, Jesus would die on the cross. And Jesus, as he's dying on the cross, is paying for the sins David did 1,000 years earlier. And that's how God could remain holy while not forsaking David, you see? What this means is that those of us who have been forgiven by God, by the blood of Jesus, can have the same kind of relationship with God David enjoyed. We can sing these Psalms because we too interact with God on the basis of grace. No matter what we've done, even if we've sinned as bad as David or even worse, we can say, God will never leave me. God will never forsake me because my sins were put on Jesus. We also need to realize that the opposite of this is true. You will not enjoy the kind of relationship David had with God until your sins are forgiven. If you're here today and you've not run to the cross, you've not put your hope in Jesus' death and resurrection, you'll never know this kind of grace relationship where God treats you far better than you deserve. Until you can say with David in Psalm 51, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered, you'll never know the God who says, I'll never leave you or forsake you. I ask you, have you been forgiven of all of your sins by the blood of Jesus? Have you? Has there ever come a time in your life when you've come to realize, you know, I'm pretty rotten. There's not a good thing in me. All I've done all my life is rebel against God. I justly deserve the condemnation of God, and yet God is loving. And I put my hope in Jesus' death. I believe in his resurrection. I beg you, God, to show me mercy, not because I'm worthy of it, but because you are a loving, gracious God and punished Jesus in my place. Has that ever taken place in your life? And if not, I'd say that today is the day. Today is the day to turn from your sins and put your hope completely in Jesus' death. Enter into the kind of gracious, loving father-son relationship David illustrates in this Psalm. Come to Jesus today. And as always, if any of you would like to discuss this further, need clarification on anything, would like anyone to pray with you, pray for you, please come see me after this morning's service. I'll be right here down front, but trust Jesus today. Now looking here at Psalm 3, what I want you to notice with me is how certain David is that he's gonna get out of this safe. Did you pick that up? He is confident that God is gonna bring him through on the other side. Verse 3 says, but Lord, you are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill. The clear implication is that David knows he's gonna get out of this safe and sound. This is even clearer down in verse 6. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Though they've surrounded him, though they got their arrows pointed at him, I'm getting out of this. I will be back on my throne, David says. Now the question I want you to consider is how does David know this? I mean, is this just wishful thinking? How does David know that God's gonna get him out of this? And I ask that because there are many examples of godly people whom God does allow to get killed. I mean, the Bible's filled with people who were martyred for their faith. Today we have, I think if I remember correctly, 160,000 every year professing Christians who are killed for their faith. So what's so special about David that God's gonna get David out of this when he allows so many others to die for their faith? Maybe you don't answer out loud, but think about that for a second. Well, I think it has everything to do with a specific covenant promise God made to David. Everything hinges on this. It's what's known as the Davidic covenant. And this is actually one of the most important promises in the entire Bible. You might remember, but back in 2 Samuel 7, God made some special promises to David about his kingdom. And listen, if you would, to 2 Samuel 7, 11. God says this to David, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Talking to David. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I think that's ultimately pointing to Jesus. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. Now let me see if I can put the pieces together and see if this makes any sense. David recognizes that that promise has not yet been fulfilled. It's Solomon, not Absalom, who's going to bring forward the Davidic covenant. David's confidence in that covenant is so sure that he knows God's going to get him out of this situation in order to fulfill that covenant. Did that make sense? He is so certain, even as the arrows are flying over his head, he knows that God is faithful, that God's promises will always stand, and even though everything around me is telling me otherwise, God's covenant will be fulfilled. I will be back on my throne, Solomon will be the next in line, and Absalom's not gonna be victorious. Did that make sense? I think this is similar, in a way, to the promises God made to Abraham. God promised Abraham that his son Isaac would be the special son, the son of the covenant. Remember this? But then God says to Abraham, go sacrifice Isaac. That doesn't seem to make sense, but Abraham is so sure that God's promises will be fulfilled that he has every intention of sacrificing Isaac. And this is what it says in Hebrews 11 about Abraham. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him back from the dead, from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. You see, this is how God's covenant promises in the Bible work. They're so sure, so certain, that even when everything else around you is telling you otherwise, they will come to pass. You might say, I don't know how it's gonna come. Well, that's not for you to worry about. If God has said something, he will do it, and you can stake your life on it. Moving on, notice with me thirdly, David's peace. Verses five and six, David's peace. In verse five we read, I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Now obviously here in context, David's peace is a result of his confidence in God's promises. He's so sure that God will do what he said that he's at ease. He's calm, he's at peace, he's able to sleep like a baby even while he's on the run. And try to imagine where David is. He's not sleeping in the Marriott here. He's out in a cave or out under a bush somewhere, maybe sleeping on a rock. And yet his faith in God's promise is so sure and strong that he's able to sleep sweetly. Now repeatedly, the Bible teaches us that faith in God's promises, it produces peace of conscience. That's simply one of the benefits. It produces peace of conscience. peace, calmness, blessed assurance, even as we live in a dark, sinful, evil world. Let me quickly just give you a few examples of this. It's all over Scripture. Matthew 6.30, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Proverbs 3.24, the language in Proverbs 3.24 is so similar to Psalm 3, they actually think that Solomon may have been echoing this. Maybe something his dad taught him. But listen to Proverbs 3.24. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. One more, Philippians 4.6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And you remember the next part of the verse? It was what's on your bulletin this morning. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts, your minds, and Christ Jesus. Do you see the connection there? When your faith in God's promises is strong, He can give you peace, calmness, serenity, even in the midst of a dark, evil world. Even as the arrows are flying over your head, even as they're saying, we're going to get you, David, you can so trust the Lord that you can sleep like a baby. We should also say that the opposite is true in the case of those who don't know the Lord. In the case of those who do not know the Lord, they don't have this kind of confidence. They don't have this kind of inner serenity. The Bible often depicts this. Let me just give you one example of this, Isaiah 57 20. This is a vivid verse if you think about it. The wicked are like the tossing sea. It cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. I want to be careful here in something I'm about to say because I don't want to be misunderstood. But I really believe that oftentimes sleeping problems and anxiety problems are actually spiritual problems. Okay, let me explain what I mean there. Again, not always. Sometimes we can't sleep because we drank too much coffee. But in many instances, sleeping problems and anxiety problems are spiritual problems. And what people need in those instances is not sleeping pills or anti-anxiety meds, but to confess their sins to God, to claim the blood of Jesus, and to be forgiven. Again, I wanna be very careful there because we don't want to give false guilt to people who haven't done anything wrong. So if that's concerning to you, talk to me afterwards. But I really believe that this, I know from my personal experience that this has been true from time to time. Now looking again at our psalm, notice next what David says. Not only does he sleep sweetly, but look at verse six. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Now notice with me, David doesn't minimize things here. He doesn't downplay things as if there's no big problem. He doesn't say, oh, don't worry about it. There are thousands of people coming to kill him, and he doesn't minimize that. But what is he doing? He's saying that with the Lord, I got a majority. With the Lord, I've got everything that I need. Even though there are thousands of people coming to get me, the Lord is on my side. What can man do to me? Again, it reminds you of Romans 8. So much in the Psalms reminds me of Romans 8. I'm gonna try and draw these connections out as we keep going. But it reminds me of Romans 8, 31. If God is for us, who can be against us? Now, something I wanna pause here and ponder is the way in which it's very easy for the majority to be wrong. It's very easy for the majority to be wrong. In this instance, it was the majority of Israel who had turned against David, and yet they were wrong in so doing. And you see this all the time in Scripture. In God's eyes, popular opinion really means very little. In God's eyes, polls, which I know that Americans love, mean hardly anything when it comes to right and wrong. In fact, in the Bible, usually it's the opinion of the small remnant that's right, whereas the majority are wrong. In Noah's day, the majority of humanity thought Noah was crazy to build an ark. In Moses' day, the majority of the Israelites turned aside to worship a golden calf when Moses was gone. When the spies went and spied out the promised land, you remember what happened? The majority came home and said, we can't do this. They're too big for us. During the time of the judges, the majority of the people were saying, we're going to do what's right in our own eyes. And in Samuel's day, the majority wanted a king just like the rest of the nations. And yet in every one of those instances, it was the majority who was in the wrong and the little remnant who was in the right. And I believe an identical principle holds true today, and we really need to get this, because, I mean, as Americans, we do love popular opinion, don't we? And we're affected by it. You know, when we see so many of the world mocking us, that's hard to grasp, but we've got to get that in the Bible, the majority opinion means very, very little. Simply because the majority of teenagers are promiscuous means nothing, as far as right and wrong goes. Simply because the majority of Americans believe in evolution doesn't mean it's right. Simply because the majority of Americans might want to redefine marriage, that says nothing about what marriage needs to be. When it comes to right and wrong, when it comes to discerning the will of God, popular opinions and polls mean next to nothing. And you've got to remind yourself of that. When you're watching the news and you're seeing stuff that doesn't look good, and you're feeling a little freaked out, which happens to me, Remind yourself of these scriptural principles. God doesn't determine right and wrong by numbers, by polls. It's the word of the Lord which stands forever. Now as we think about how do we apply this entire psalm to our lives, we need to be careful here. Because we don't have Davidic covenant promises made to us. I don't have a promise that I'm gonna go reign in Jerusalem like the sons of David. So we need to be careful here. And yet I do believe we can apply this psalm in this way. While we are not literal sons of David, we do have thousands of precious promises in scripture that are just as sure and just as reliable as these promises were to David. And just like David, we can enjoy peace of conscience when we build our lives on those promises. And I believe we've got to actively do this to ourselves. We've got to confront ourselves when our minds are going the wrong way with the promises of Scripture. When you're in the chaos of life, you've got to fill your mind with promises of Scripture, for that's what the Lord uses to bring you peace. This, by the way, is just one more reason why Scripture memory is so important. You know, if I got the promise in my mind, I can bring that up, even if my power's out, even if I can't locate any candles. You know, I can say to myself, the Lord is an ever-present help in time of trouble, whom will I fear? I can say that if I've got it memorized, but I can't if I don't. Let me give you a few illustrations of this, just to clarify what I mean here. We've got to tie promises of God to the trials we're experiencing. So say, for example, your car gets a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere. What do you do? You remind yourself, Romans 8, 28, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. So the boss calls you into the office and he says, I'm sorry, I've got to lay you off. I hate to do this, but your job's not here. Speak to yourself, Philippians 4, 19, my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Say you've stumbled into some tempting situation, maybe due to your own foolish choices, and the temptation just feels overwhelming. You feel like you're going to buckle any minute. Fill your mind with 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No, temptation has overtaken you. That's not common to man. And God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Say the doctor tells you you got six months to live. I hate to tell you this, put your affairs in order. Speak to yourself, Psalm 73, 25. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And again, when you're watching the news and it's just freaking you out and you feel like this world's just going down the toilet, speak to yourself the whole book of Revelation. But in particular, if you can do that, that'd be awesome. But in particular, Revelation 11, 15, there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. You see, this is how God's promises work, and if you can really grab them with faith, that can give you the peace, that can give you the serenity, even as we live in this chaotic, crazy world. But like here with King David, that only works if we've got the promises in our head. Notice lastly with me, David's worship in verses 7 and 8. David's worship, in verse 7 we read, Now don't forget that when David's writing this, he's still on the run. He's not yet back in the palace. He's still out there in the wilderness. And yet, as you can see, his confidence is so certain that he writes as if it's already taken place. He knows that God's gonna get him back on the throne. And notice a few things with me. First, he says, strike my enemies on the cheek, you break the teeth of the wicked. Now, why do you suppose he focuses in on their teeth? We don't know this for sure, but a good guess is because they were using their mouths to attack David. Remember that earlier on? They're speaking lies about David, lies about God. It's possible David's saying, bust them right in the chops and prevent them from saying wrong things about you, Lord. Now obviously these verses bring up the entire question of what do we do with these verses in the Psalms where somebody calls on God to take violence. If you read the Psalms, you know these are in here rather frequently. These are what are known as the imprecatory Psalms. And for those of us who believe that every jot and tittle of the Bible is scripture, we've got to grapple with these. You know, some people just say, cut them out of the Bible and throw them away, but we're obviously not gonna go that route. So for those of us who believe that the Bible is the entire word of God, how do we process this? Well, let me quickly give you a few quick thoughts. We're actually gonna be talking about this a lot more in future sermons, because this comes up a lot, but quickly, a few things. First, realize that at this stage of history, David's enemies and God's enemies are one and the same. At this particular point in history, David's enemies and God's enemies are one and the same, and to rebel against David was to rebel against the Lord. What that means is that we can't use these Psalms and these verses against people that we don't particularly like. Say there's a guy and he's dating a girl and you really would like to date that girl, don't pray God, bust his teeth out. You know, if there's a person at work and they're kind of cruel to you, don't pray God smite the wicked. You know, you're not David, things are quite different, and instead you should be loving your enemy and praying for their salvation, not praying that God would smite them. Here's the second thing to realize. This one's long, so let me say the whole thing and then maybe repeat it. The nation of Israel was a nation with a military. And as a nation, they sometimes declared war on pagan nations, but the church doesn't do anything like that. Did that make sense? The nation of Israel was a nation with a military. And as a nation, they sometimes declared physical acts of war, but the church is nothing like that. We don't declare war, or at least we never should. In our age, things are different. In our age, the sword is entrusted not to the church, but to the state. The state, according to Romans 13, bears the sword. They punish evildoers. The church, on the other hand, never should use violence to accomplish spiritual goals. Oh, I know that from time to time we in our sinfulness have done so. Here's a third thing to consider quickly. In this particular instance, for David to be rescued, that would require the death of his enemies. Okay, in this particular instance, for David to be rescued, that would require the death of his enemies. I mean, for David to get back on the throne, that means Absalom's gotta be gone. So if God is gonna save David and further the Davidic covenant, that means he's gotta get rid of Absalom. And then one last thought here. Realize that in this Psalm, David is asking for God to act, not taking revenge himself. He's asking for God to act, not taking revenge himself. You know, he's taking it to the Lord in prayer, asking God to do something, and then leaving the results up to him. Now again, I realize these imprecatory Psalms are difficult to process, especially as we think about how do we apply them today. But I totally affirm they are holy scripture given by God for our edification, and we need to understand them in that way. But talk to me more about that afterwards if you still have questions. One last thing to notice about Psalm 3. Notice how David has confidence that God will eventually bless the entire nation. You see that, the last verse? He knows that God will eventually not only restore him individually to the throne, but pour out his blessing on the entire people of Israel. Verse eight, salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people, your people Israel at this time. It's interesting that up to this point, David's been mostly concerned about himself. Save me, rescue me. But here he turns and looks at the whole nation. And why do you think he does that? I mean, this doesn't seem like a likely thing. God's really gonna turn the hearts of the entire people? The entire people who have gone after Absalom, God's gonna turn them? Yes. And it ties in again to that Davidic covenant. For God to be working through David, that would require David reigning over Israel. Therefore, to bless the people is to bless David and vice versa. Now thinking through this Psalm, it's impossible here not to see parallels between Jesus and David. Fascinating, you may have picked some of this up as we've gone. Parallels between Jesus and David. Like David, the Lord Jesus has a covenant promise. A covenant promise that one day every knee will bow to him, every tongue will confess to him. A covenant promise that one day he will reign over the entire earth and his glory will cover this earth like the waters cover the seas. And yet like David, in this Psalm, the Lord Jesus was opposed and harassed and persecuted. The nations raged against him, his enemies hated him, and they even killed him, nailed him to a cross. And yet, just like God restored David, God raised up Jesus back from the dead. He seated him at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. And one day, as Philippians 2 says, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. You see, part of the reason God was so diligent to fulfill his promises to David was because David was functioning as a picture of Jesus. And so that we would rightly appreciate Jesus and his kingdom, he's gotta get David back on the throne. Isn't that amazing about the Bible? Well, to wrap up our time this morning, let me give you again the big point of Psalm 3, and I hope I've persuaded you that this is what Psalm 3 teaches. Faith in God's promises. produces calmness and chaos. For David, that was faith in the Davidic covenant. For us, it's faith in a thousand different promises. But the lesson is the same. It's faith in what God will do that can give us calmness and peace, even as the world spins out of control. Now, if that's true, let me give you three quick, quick applications. We're almost done, but three quick applications. First, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, you're not a follower of Christ, we're honored you're here. You're always welcome to be with us. But if you're here today and you're not a Christian, the application should be obvious. Put your faith in Jesus, God's Savior, and begin that life of faith today. Today, put your faith in Jesus, God's Savior, and begin this life of faith. Remember what John 3.36 says, whoever believes on the Son has eternal life, but whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, for the wrath of God remains on him. Through his death, through his resurrection, Jesus has done everything necessary so that you can be forgiven, so that you can be made right with God, even if you've been as bad as David. So put your faith in Jesus, God's Savior, today and begin this life of faith. Quickly, a second application. For those of us who are Christians, commit to increasingly growing in your knowledge of God's promises. If you're a Christian, commit to increasingly growing in your knowledge of God's promises. What do I mean by that? You've got to read the Bible. You've got to jot down promises that really relate to you. You've got to memorize these promises. You've got to be actively doing this. There are thousands of precious promises in Scripture that God has for you if you'll take advantage of them. So search them out. One final application for those of us who are Christians, commit to actively using God's promises in the situations you face. You gotta be active about this. Commit to actively using these promises. You know, to have these promises and yet not to use them is kind of like having a precious medicine and letting it sit on the shelf when you're ill. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. So also, God has given you promises you need to address your needs in this book. And yet if we don't take advantage of them, they won't bring us the comfort they're intended to bring us. And once you start doing this, it's really amazing. You start seeing how wonderful the word of God is, and after a while it becomes almost second nature. You know, that's really the mark of a spiritually minded person when thinking these things become second nature. And you'll be noticing connections in your head between different scriptures and different situations, but you gotta start somewhere. So begin connecting the different situations you face to the different promises in scripture. For I say it again, it's faith in God's promises that produces calmness and chaos. Pray with me.
In Trouble... Yet Asleep
ស៊េរី Exposition of Psalms
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