Psalm 35 verses 1 through 10. These are God's words. A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O Yahweh, with those who strive with me. Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for my help. Also draw out the spear and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my life. Let those be turned back and brought to confusion who plot my hurt. Let them be like chaff before the wind. Let the angel of Yahweh chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery and let the angel of Yahweh pursue them. For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit which they have dug without cause for my life. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly and let his net that he has hidden catch himself into that very destruction. Let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in His salvation. All my bones shall say, Yahweh, who is like You? Delivering the poor from Him who is too strong for Him. Yes, the poor and the needy from Him who plunders Him. Amen. This reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. Well, in this Psalm, in verses 1 through 10, David pleads with God to take up his case and set things straight and that God would receive honor and praise for doing so. And then next week, the Lord helping us, we'll find how David presents the data that demonstrates a contrast between the wicked and himself. So in verses 11 through 16, he describes what the wicked are like with him who is kind to them and how he is the opposite with them who are wicked to him. And then in verses 17 through 28, David asserts that the Lord has seen this. The Lord has seen what is going on and that he will bring his people to rejoice as he both gives the wicked what they deserve and blesses the righteous according to his steadfast love and his mercy and his grace. So since the psalm is fairly large, we'll be taking it in those three parts. And tonight, we just have these 10 verses that we have just read, in which David pleads with God to take up his case and set things straight and receive honor and praise for doing so. Well, in the first three verses, we have, as it were, David asking the Lord to intervene. And perhaps this language doesn't help some of you. Tagging Yahweh in. Tagging Yahweh in. I know my children at least humor me, and they seem to like to hear stories from my childhood. But the rest of you will have to humor me along with them. One of the things that we did, actually in private school more than in public school, and I did attend both at different times, on recesses, we would have wrestling. And we would have, it was two on two, but only one would wrestle at a time. And if you got yourself into a bind, you'd reach out to tag your pal and he would jump in for you. Well, there's actually something similar in this word picture in verses one through three. David is in trouble. And he says, strive for my cause, O Yahweh, with those who strive with me. I know it looks like plead in the New King James because it is, but the verb in the original is the same verb. And the point is that David is in a struggle. He's in a fight. And there are those who are fighting him and they are too strong for him and he needs the Lord to be the one who fights on his side. And so he says, strive for my cause, O Yahweh, with those who strive with me. Fight against those who fight against me. And then in verse two and part of verse three, what you have is an exchange of equipment, as it were. You remember probably when Goliath was the champion of the Gittites of the Philistines. And he was coming out and challenging the Israelites. Now we know that there was an Israelite there who was head and shoulders taller than any of the other Israelites. That's how he got to be king. But he was hiding in his tent. And when finally there was one who was willing to act as Israel's champion, he tried to put his armor on him. There was that exchange. of equipment, only the best stuff, only the kingly armor. And you know that David didn't need the kingly armor because he didn't come with sword and spear and shield. He came in the name of Yahweh of hosts. But here, when he's pleading with God to be the one who fights the battle for him, he says, take hold of shield, big shield, and buckler, a littler shield. and stand up for my help also draw out the spear and stop those who pursue me that is they are right on top of me and right there in verse three it's almost like they are really hurrying to transfer the equipment because the the enemy is right there and he's and the picture is the Lord getting the stuff on right in time and stopping him now God is always already fighting for his people and he doesn't need any equipment. But he's describing something with urgency and substitution that corrects our unbelief and strengthens our faith. We often feel, and David is going to feel like this, the time we get to the last third of the Psalm and we saw him, We saw him talking in a similar way in other Psalms earlier. We often feel like the Lord is not acting in our behalf. That's why we must always go with what God says over what we feel because he's right and our feelings are wrong. And when he describes the request for the Lord to intervene in these words, it doesn't mean that the Lord has not been fighting and will fight and will cause all of this to be for his good. It just means that David doesn't see that. And he's crying out to the Lord to be and do what the Lord is and has said he will do. That's what we do in prayer, isn't it? We're not asking God to change who he is and how he's operating with us. We're asking him to be himself according to his word. Prayer is not an attempt to overcome God's reluctance. It is an embrace of his willingness and it is Something he's chosen to act by we ask him to do what he has planned to do and then he does the thing that he planned for us to ask because he had planned to do it by our asking. And he gives us the privilege of participating, but we are weak in faith and so you see in the end of verse three that the Lord isn't just fighting the enemy. He's encouraging his servant. And David knows that he needs that encouragement. And so he says, say to my soul, I am your salvation. Now the scriptures teach us to address our own souls. We see that a lot in the Psalter. And I think perhaps most famously so in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, why oh my soul art thou cast down? And yet, if it is good for us to speak to our souls by God's word, how much better when God himself speaks his word, brings that word home to our souls. And so David, knowing the weakness of his faith, knowing that he ought to have more confidence that the Lord is his salvation, and yet he lacks that confidence. He asks for God's help, not just to fight the enemy, but to fight his own unbelief. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. How often we know theologically the truth of who God is to us in a particular circumstance. But that truth is not coming home to our hearts like we wish it would. And we can cry out to God to bring it home to our hearts. That God the Holy Spirit would drive home that wonderful state that wonder. full statement, I am your salvation. And so he's enlisting the help of the Lord and asking for the Lord's intervention in verses one through three. And what he really wants the Lord to do is knock the enemy out in verses four through eight, when he says, let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my life. He's not just saying, let them be embarrassed. We think of the word shame primarily in terms of embarrassment. But the language of being put to shame means let them utterly fail in what they are attempting to do. When we say, he who calls upon the name of the Lord will not be put to shame, we mean the Lord will always deliver, always save those who call upon him through Jesus Christ. That is absolutely impossible. that someone should call upon God in truth and not be saved. And so when he says, let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my life, he's not just saying, let them be embarrassed or even let them be frustrated. He's saying, let them utterly fail. In fact, in verses four through eight, the main thing is let the destruction that they intended for me. Seeking after my life, verse four, They dig without cause for my life verse 7 let that which he has Planned and he has hidden Let him fall on into that destruction. So first part of verse 8 left destruction come upon him Unexpectedly and last part of verse 8 into that very destruction Let him fall they have gone after David's life and he is praying that they would receive exactly according to to their own plans and their own preparations. One of the main points he makes here, and that'll be the great theme of verses 11 through 16, is that David has given them no cause for their attack. They are attacking unjustly. And so he's asking that the Lord would return that attack upon their own heads and that he would do it justly. that he would do it justly and dreadfully. For they're not just attacking a private person when they attack David. David is the Lord's anointed. David is the Lord's king. They're attacking the one in whose name the Lord has invested himself on earth and In fact, when we get into the third part in verse 19, we'll find that this is a messianic psalm. Those who lift up their heel against him without a cause, the Lord Jesus takes that as referring to himself. And so they have attacked God, not just God's people. And we know that the Lord still does that with us today, doesn't he? Says, in as much as you have done or haven't done it, to the least of these my brethren, you have or haven't done it unto me. And when he confronts Saul, also called Paul, on the way to Damascus, he says, why are you persecuting me? And so the Lord takes it personally, and when the Lord comes after them personally, it will be dreadful. The chase scene, the end of verse 5 and end of verse 6, is quite frightening indeed. Let the angel of Yahweh chase them, end of verse 5. And let the angel of Yahweh pursue them, end of verse 6. And so here's one, the angel of Yahweh, the captain of the armies of the Lord of hosts, who is in almost every and perhaps every, I don't think I've found one yet, in which it couldn't be. And in the vast majority of them, it almost certainly is the Lord Jesus, that he is a man of war and he is chasing, hunting down the enemy. Now it's bad enough to have the angel of Yahweh pursuing you, the greatest warrior there ever was or ever could be. But when you're running from him, You need light and good footing. But he puts in the middle of those two chase lines, let their way be dark. Let them be unable to see where they put their foot and let the where they put their foot betray them. Let their way be dark and slippery. And so it is a frightful, dreadful thing when God's judgment isn't just. Just isn't just decisive and devastating, but it's also personal. That the Lord himself is the Avenger. Well, that which is the hell of hell. is also the heaven of heaven. 2 Thessalonians 1 tells us that in hell, those whom the Lord is taking vengeance upon them when he appears in burning fire with his holy angels, that they will receive destruction from the presence of the Lord and from his glory forever. Hell is not separation from God. hell is to be in God's immediate presence with your conscience quickened and none of his former restraining grace, and he even shows common restraining grace to those to whom he doesn't show saving grace, he endures patiently vessels that are that are prepared for wrath so that he may display the riches of his kindness on vessels that are prepared for mercy. And so there is a true sense in which the hell of hell is to be a sinner in the presence of the burning, angry holiness and justice and anger and power of God forever and ever. Now is God different in hell than he is in heaven? No, because God is always the same. The difference is that if you don't have any sin left because who took it all from you and there is no wrath left for you because who took it all upon himself and there's only favor and love And the power and glory of God is something that doesn't destroy you forever, but is your reward forever, is your joy and blessing forever. Because your Jesus is your worthiness. And if you received every good thing in creation put together, it still wouldn't be what Jesus is worthy of. And so only the glorious God can ultimately be your blessedness forever if you are righteous in Jesus Christ. And so you see that switch in this psalm where it is the Lord himself who is the dread and destruction of the wicked in verses four through eight. And then same Lord, opposite experience in verses nine and 10. My soul shall be joyful in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in his salvation. So the soul that the Lord, that he's asked the Lord to say to it in verse three, I am your salvation. That soul will come to know what the Lord has told him. You to whom the Lord has come in his word and brought you to faith in Jesus Christ. And he has said to you, I am your salvation. Your soul will know that to be true forever and ever. Your soul shall rejoice in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Yahweh, who is like you? This is one of the reasons why the name Micah is such a good name. That's what that name means. Who is like Yahweh? And so we will literally wonder at Him. Who is like you? We will cry out forever and ever, body and soul, to rejoice in Him. And notice what brings Him to this knowledge of, excuse me, this knowledge of the Lord and this rejoicing in Him. Who is like you, verse 10, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him. Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him. You see, it's not just that the wicked do something and then God turns that which was evil into something which was which was for good. God has intended for good. that which they intended for evil. And this is something that the Apostle Paul relates his own learning about to us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. You remember he had that thorn in the flesh, that messenger from the devil, and he prayed thrice. And that might be three times a day. That might be three extended seasons of fasting and prayer. It is probably not three you know, punctiliar moments that he asked for it. And he prayed thrice that it would be taken away. And what was God's answer? My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Do you see that in verses nine and 10? That David and those who are in David, those who are in Christ, are given our weakness, that we might find the Lord to be our strength. One of the reasons for poverty and weakness to exist is exactly for the Lord to deliver believers from the strong oppressor. Our weakness and our suffering is intentional because it is in that weakness and suffering that we learn the glory of his grace. And that's why we rejoice in weakness. Because when we are weak, then we are strong. Because then we know what was always true. that the Lord is our only strength and that anything that we seem to have is only derivative from him. So let our weakness and suffering be the occasion of rejoicing and boasting in the Lord now as we know we shall ultimately at last.