Well, I invite you to take a copy of the Bible, if you have one, and turn to Psalm 27. And we'll be considering Psalm 27 for our sermon this morning. I just want to say that it's a privilege to be able to stand before you and share God's Word with you, even being on short notice. I'll just say, too, that we can be really thankful, even as Pastor Byrd is not here today, as he's not feeling well. The reason he's not here is because he just wants to be considerate of all of you. And there are times in the past before this pandemic when he did not feel well, and he continued and preached anyway. But we can be thankful that the Lord has continued to spare our church from any widespread illness, significant illness. And one reason for that is that I think we're being considerate of one another. And we know that folks who have not been feeling well have been staying at home, and we're so thankful for that. Lord willing, Bert will be back with us next Sunday, but it's a privilege now to look at Psalm 27 with you. So if you would follow along with me, I'm going to read the entire Psalm and then we'll go back and consider one section at a time as we work through this passage today. Psalm 27 of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. Oh, you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, oh Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Amen. This is God's word. Well, what is your greatest fear? Have you ever stopped to think about it? In all likelihood, you probably try not to think about it, but it's there in the back of your mind. You know what your greatest fears are. Maybe your greatest fear is losing your job and not being able to pay the bills and provide for your family. Maybe your greatest fear is losing your spouse, or maybe not finding a spouse at all. Maybe your greatest fear is that those closest to you would reject you. Maybe your greatest fear at the moment is the coronavirus. Maybe your greatest fear is death itself. You might fear something theoretical, something that you've never had to encounter, but you just worry, if I did have to face this thing, I don't know what I would do. It would be awful. Or maybe the thing you fear isn't theoretical at all. Maybe you're in the midst of dealing with it right now, today. Or maybe you have dealt with it in the past and you're struggling to recover from the experience. Well, whatever it is that you fear, the thing that makes it so threatening is the sense that it would be so terrible, so overwhelming that you would never escape it, that you would be consumed by it, and there would be no getting away from it, no coming back. We don't know the specific historical event that David was in the midst of when he wrote this psalm. We don't know what David's greatest fears were, per se, but he was in the midst of a fearful situation, it seems. We can speculate that maybe he was dealing with one of the very real military threats that he encountered as king of Israel. Maybe he was facing a plot to overthrow him as king. Maybe he was thinking of several of these types of experiences that he had throughout his lifetime. When writing Psalm 27, the Lord has given us through David, he's given us a snapshot of what it looks like to live by faith as we encounter the fears and the trials of life. It's not just a teaching that we ought to live by faith when times are uncertain, but it's actually an example. It's a picture of what it looks like for us to do that. The reality is that probably all of us today are coming to this Psalm with some anxiety, with some unsettledness in our hearts and in our minds. There's something in our life that isn't quite right, isn't quite the way we would like for it to be. And it makes us feel anxious or unsettled. It might be a pretty big thing. It may be that greatest fear that we thought of, maybe a relatively small thing. But the reality is it would be hard to find even a single day in which the message of this psalm doesn't apply to every one of us. So I encourage you as we approach the psalm today, look at these words expectantly, because there is hope here. There is nourishment here for our souls. I'm struck by the beauty of how this psalm flows. It's something we can very much relate to. We're able to see David's train of thought, and we realize that he was a man just like we are. He struggled with the same anxieties and fears that we do, and he held fast to his faith in the midst of it, the same as we seek to. So he gives us a glimpse of what this looks like to live by faith. And that's the main idea of the sermon this morning is that Psalm 27 gives us a picture of what it looks like to live by faith through the fears and anxieties of life. We'll walk through the psalm in four parts this morning with one word to capture each section. So here's our outline. First, we'll see truth in verses one through three. Second, we'll see longing in verses four through six. Third, we see prayer in verses 7 through 12. And then we see hope in verses 13 and 14. So truth, longing, prayer, and hope. So first, the psalm opens with a statement of truth in verses one through three. Let's look at these verses. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. You know, when things are spiraling out of control, when we're in the midst of absolute chaos, one of the things that can be really helpful to do but also really difficult to do is to just step back and try to get above it all for a moment and see the big picture of what's happening, to take stock of the things that are stable, the things that are known to be true and that are reliable, things that we can hold fast to. Again, we don't know exactly what David is facing as he writes these words, but these opening verses give us a sense that things were a little bit messy for David. And this is what he does is he takes stock of the things that he knows to be true. There's a movie, Apollo 13, that tells the true story of three astronauts who were on a spacecraft headed to the moon when they had an explosion and things just went terribly wrong and they had to turn around and come home. And the astronauts had to cobble together a plan to get back home. and repair their damaged spacecraft using only the things that they had on board with them. They couldn't get extra parts up in space, so they had to use just the items at their disposal. And there's a scene in the movie when they've got this one especially urgent problem that has to be dealt with right now. And alarms are going off, and warning lights are flashing, and they start by just saying, OK, hold on, what all do we have? And they kind of lay out in front of them the things that they have to work with. They've got a glove, they've got a notebook, they've got a helmet, and a pencil, and a roll of duct tape. They've got all these random things, but this is what they have. And so they take stock of what they have that is stable and reliable, and they figure out how they can use it to put together a solution. That's a little bit like what David is doing here. He's taking inventory of what he's got to work with. Things are falling apart, alarms are going off, warning lights are flashing. There's a whole lot that's unknown. But he can look at the big picture and affirm the things he knows to be true. I know that the Lord brings light when the situation is dark. I know that the Lord is the one and only source of my salvation. I know that the Lord is a stronghold. He's a mighty fortress, a secure and safe place where I can hide. David also affirms the reality of the danger that he's facing. These aren't just people who are being rude and mean to him. These are evildoers who are wanting to eat up his flesh. So it's pretty intense trouble that he's facing and the danger is real. But he continues reciting what is true. I know that my enemies, my adversaries, my foes, they are the ones who will stumble and fall, not me. I know that even if the greatest opposition imaginable, if an honest to goodness war breaks out, if there's an army of bad guys camped all around me waiting to pounce and destroy me, I know that even then I can be confident. David's strategy here is not a simplistic. It'll be all right. He's not not just giving himself a little pep talk and put a smile on his face and say, that's all good. Everything's going to work out. Instead, David's strategy here is a reasoned recalling of truth. He's reminding himself who God is. He's reminding himself that God is on his side. And this logically implies a certain outcome for him and for his enemies. And the logical conclusion for David is that he doesn't have to be afraid. So David starts by laying it all out on the table, taking stock of what he's got to work with. And these are the things that he knows to be true. Second, David reveals what he wants, what he is longing for in the midst of this uncertainty. We see David's longing in verses four through six. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high up on a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Now if the first few verses of the psalm reveal a logical reasoning through what is true, verses 4-6 then reveal an emotional, heartfelt, gut desire. David just wants to be in the presence of the Lord. He just wants to enjoy the beauty of the Lord forever. Even with all the truths he has recounted, David really has one simple, singular desire. You know, there are times that we can reason it all out, right? We can think through the facts and we can talk ourselves into arriving at the right way of thinking the correct answer. But there are other times when all we can do is just express the deepest longings and desires that we have to the Lord. In those times, we may pray, Lord, I can't begin to list all of the things that I think need to happen in order to fix this situation. I don't even know what it looks like for You to remedy all these problems that I'm facing, but Lord, I just want to be with You. I know that You are beautiful, that You are everlasting, that You are the source of peace and comfort and joy. Lord, I just want to be with You. David knows what is true, and he records his deepest longing, and then he turns to apply those things to his present situation. And we see his resolve there in verse 6. It's as if David has closed his eyes in meditation and prayer, thinking about what is true, thinking about what his longings are, and then he opens his eyes and resolves to turn and face the hard realities right in front of him. David resolves to live in light of the truth he has recalled and the longing he has to be with God. He will not be timid. He will not be fearful or ashamed. No, instead, he will worship the Lord through sacrifices and singing and music. And one of the things that the difficulties and trials of life can do is show us where our true priorities are. When we face some incredible struggle or fear or challenge, it's worth asking ourselves the question, what is this moment right now teaching me about myself? What is it revealing about the things that I really value the most? What are most important to me? Is this trial showing me that I simply want to be free of unpleasant circumstances? I just want everything to be nice and easy. Well, hopefully as we grow in faith, the struggles of life will serve more and more to remind us that our final hope, our final rest, our final comfort is in the Lord. And hopefully our desire for those things just increases as we walk through our life. John Piper comments on these verses, in the end, the heart longs not for any of God's good gifts, but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presence is the soul's final feast. Beyond this, there is no quest. And this is David's ultimate longing. In the third section of this psalm, we see David speaking directly to the Lord in prayer. Look at verses 7 through 12. He writes, Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. Oh, you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. In this prayer recorded here, David reveals his fears to God. So he is talking to the Lord and he just lays out the fears that he has. And he answers his own fears with truth and demonstrates faith that God knows how to keep him through the danger that he is facing. One of the reasons the Psalms are such a treasure for us is because they don't gloss over the common human emotions and weaknesses and struggles that we all have. And in this Psalm, David shows himself to be a man just like us, struggle with the same fears that we struggle with today, even as we seek to walk with the Lord. And specifically here, David reveals his fears. He fears that God won't hear him. He fears that God won't hear his prayers or won't answer his prayers. He fears that maybe somehow God is angry with him and therefore won't help him. And we struggle with those same things, don't we? When you get the wrong diagnosis from the doctor, when you are laid off from your job, you have just a string of difficult events one after the other, you start to wonder, has God got angry with me? Is He trying to punish me? Has He forgotten about me? Is He not aware of my situation here? When things look bleak and we pray to God for help, don't we worry in the back of our minds, what if God doesn't hear my prayer? What if somehow I'm not praying correctly? Or what if He's just choosing to ignore me? We all struggle with this. David struggled with these same things. And what he does is really instructive. He doesn't keep those fears and struggles off to one side. He doesn't try to play them down or suppress them while he he prays in this beautiful, grand language. Instead, he actually makes his fears the subject of his prayers. The things that he's fearful of, the things he's worried about, those become the things that he prays about. David doesn't suppress and try to ignore the things that he's worried about. He says, God, I'm afraid that you won't hear me. So I'm asking you, please hear me when I call to you. God, I worry that you won't answer me. Please be gracious to me. Answer me. God, I wonder if you might be angry with me. Don't hide your face from me. Don't turn away from me. Don't cast me off or forsake me. Not only does David lay out his fears before the Lord, but he then incorporates truth into his prayer. God, you invited me to seek you, and the truth is I have done that. I'm seeking you even now as you invited me to do. God, the truth is you are the God of my salvation. My only hope comes from you. The truth is you have been my help in the past. I have proof that you do here and you do rescue. I've seen it in the past. God, I worry that you might abandon me or turn away from me. But the truth is, even if the worst abandonment I could imagine were to happen, even if my own parents were to forsake me and turn against me, the truth is that even then you will take me in. You will never abandon me. Then David ends his prayer expressing faith that God is able to keep him and to save him. In verses 11 and 12, he prays, Lord, will you make a level path for me because of my enemies? He says, I need you. Will you give me your wisdom? Will you teach me your ways? I know that you know how I can get through this. I know that you can save me from my enemies all around me. One author writes, don't be embarrassed by how needy your heart is and how much it needs to cry out for grace. Just start praying. And that's what David does here. He's needy and he doesn't try to hide it. He just lays it out before the Lord. Well, this brings us to the final verses of the psalm. We see that the psalm ends with hope and maybe not the hope we would expect, but hope nonetheless. So fourth and final point, look at verses 13 and 14. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. It's worth noting, while the psalm ends here on a positive note, it does not end with God having answered David's prayers. It does not end with God rescuing David from the grip of his enemies or with God destroying his enemies. And we can relate to this, right? It rarely, if ever, is the case that we finish praying and we say amen and we open our eyes and find that our problems have just gone away, that God's just removed them completely. Usually what happens is we finish praying, We stand up and we walk right back into the situation that drove us to our knees in prayer in the first place. The psalm does not end with God having answered David's prayer. Nevertheless, David manages to find hope. And how does he do that? Well, David finds hope by faith in the certainty that God will, in his own time, rescue David and grant his deepest desires. John Piper would describe this as faith in God's future grace. At present, David still has no tangible reason to be hopeful. The circumstances haven't changed from the beginning of the psalm. And yet he has faith that God will provide grace that is sufficient to the problems at hand. He has faith in God's grace still to come in the future. And this is where he places and finds hope. David believes that God will walk beside him moment by moment, day by day, that God will not abandon him, and that God will wisely, generously, and graciously dispense the grace that is needed, little by little, step by step, as he faces the challenges in front of him. His hope is in a future grace that can never be exhausted. And so he ends the psalm much like he started by preaching to himself, by reminding himself what is true and what he needs to do. He tells himself, wait for the Lord, be strong, be courageous, wait for the Lord. And it's in this confidence that he concludes the psalm. Now, this psalm certainly is an example of how we should respond to the fears and the challenges that we face in life. But even more than that, it's a picture of the realities that are ours today if we are trusting in Jesus. David's confidence can be our own confidence, not because we're just trying to be like David. but it's a reality because of the finished work of Jesus and what he did on our behalf. Jesus took on himself our greatest fears, our greatest threats, our greatest enemies, and he conquered them for us. We fear being rejected. Jesus was despised and rejected by men. We fear being overwhelmed by sadness and grief and depression that will never end. And Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We fear that the people closest to us will turn against us. Jesus was abandoned by his closest disciples. He was left to face trial and execution alone. We worry, like David did, we worry that God won't hear our prayers. And Jesus took that fear for us on the cross when He cried out, God, why have You forsaken Me? We worry that our own sin will overcome us and consume us. And Jesus became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. We fear sickness, we fear disease, we fear the greatest enemy we have, death itself. And yet through Jesus, death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This hope, this confidence, this victory is for everyone who trusts in Jesus. And if you haven't experienced this for yourself, I invite you to turn away from your sin, Place your faith in Jesus and follow him. The fears of life, many of them will overcome us. The fear of death will overcome us. The only escape is in Jesus himself. And so I invite you, if you haven't placed your faith in Christ, to do that even today. For those of us who are trusting in Christ, our hope is real. It's sure. It cannot be taken away. We can have hope in the face of our greatest fears, even while we wait to see how God answers our prayers. because of our confidence by faith that the Lord will one day allow us to look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, take courage. And trust in him. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that you have not left us alone in this life because our world has been so broken by sin, because we ourselves have been corrupted by sin. Lord, if we were left on our own, life truly would be hopeless. We thank you that you came to us in your son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you that you made a way for us to be saved from our sin. We thank you that you have given us a great hope in the future. Well, we praise you today that by faith that hope brings us life even now as we walk through life. Father, we thank you that you specifically have given us the gift of your word and we praise you for the gift of this song that we've considered today. We ask that you would apply its truths to our heart by the power of your spirit for our good and for your glory. We pray in Jesus name.