Okay, let's take our Bible and go to Psalm 3. It's been a couple of weeks since we've been in the book of Psalms. And thankful for Mike Rice, he taught, and Jerry Marshall, he taught, and Ray Merringer, he taught a few weeks ago as well. Returning now to the book of Psalms, remember we looked at Psalm 1, which was the wisdom of God from the Word of God, meditating on the Word. And then we looked at Psalm 2, which was the glory of the Son of God, the might and the kingship and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, follow with me as I read Psalm 3. I trust this Psalm will be used of God to help every one of us here in this place. Psalm 3, beginning with the title. I believe these are inspired, so I'm going to read these with the text here. A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son. Oh Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God. Selah. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and he answered me from his holy mountain, Selah. I lay down and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of 10,000s of people who have set themselves against me roundabout. Arise, O Lord. Save me, O my God, for you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek. You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people. Selah. John Payton was a missionary to the Hebrews on the island of Tanna in the South Pacific. It's well known for those who have read his biographies and know much about his life and ministry that his missionary work was a life of terror. It was a life of suffering. His life, day by day, was hanging by a thread because of the constant threats of the cannibals. Constantly, the savages threatened him with death. In fact, many times, even at night, they made cowardly attempts. I mean, many times at night, they tried to come upon him unawares to take his life. Again, his life was constant occasions of suffering and terror and fear and trouble that constantly bombarded his life. John Payton said, I believe that no one can hurt me without the permission of my master. So in that sense, I am safe and I am invincible until my work is done. Now, maybe as you and I hear about John Payton and the life of suffering and affliction and terror that he endured, maybe for you and me, it's not fear from cannibals that are coming after us. But maybe for you and I, it's fear of another kind. It could be fear of failure. Maybe for you and me, it could be the terror of the unknown future. Maybe it could be the suffering, it's a real suffering, that other people inflict upon you. Maybe it could be a form of insomnia. a fear, a worry, something that is keeping you up at night. Maybe you feel assaulted in your soul with the innumerable enemies that are waging war against your soul, not with flesh and blood, but with the spiritual principalities in the heavenlies. Whatever the case might be and whatever the fear might be, I think we can all say we're there together and we need help. and we need counsel. And praise be to the Lord. Psalm 3 is the psalm for you and me today. Now, Psalms 1 and 2, I believe, is the introduction to the whole Psalter, the whole book of Psalms. Remember, the Psalms is the inspired hymn book that God gave to the nation of Israel. The Psalms were meant to be sung. They were put to music. They were melodies that the people of Israel memorized. Psalm 1 was the wisdom found in the Word of God. Psalm 2 is the worship that we ought to give to the Son of God. We are to trust and meditate in the scripture, and we are to trust and meditate on the Son of God, the Lord Jesus as well. I think beginning in Psalm 3, it's kind of like the door has opened and we walk into the book of Psalms. Psalms 1 and 2 is the introduction, and now Psalms 3 to 41 begins what we call the Davidic collection of the Psalms, almost written entirely by David. By way of introduction, I need to give you three really important introductory points that I think will be helpful to guide us through the whole book of Psalms. In your outline, you see it here first, the titles. I believe the titles are inspired by God. They are part of the original text. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts that are available all have these headings in them. Technically, we call them the superscription. And if you look in Psalm 3, it says here, it's a Psalm of David. It's written by David. And then we have a little bit of a historical setting. When he fled from Absalom, his son. Now, I love these titles that they can often give setting, they can give background, they can give the context, and they can help us understand. Well, here, David is running from Absalom. Well, that leads us to 2 Samuel 15-19. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba, his life, his family, and his kingdom began to unravel. It just began to fall apart. David has family turmoil. His own son, Absalom, is turning against him. In fact, David is in exile. He had to run out of Jerusalem for his life because Absalom was forming a coup to take over the kingdom. And David's own son is running after him to kill him. So David is running. He's running. He's fearful. He's worried. He's distressed. He's anxious. No doubt in verses five and six, he had times when it would be hard to sleep, hard to lie down, hard to find rest, hard to have confidence in God. David is verbally assaulted, he's mocked, he's ridiculed, he's scorned. So, here's what we have, just from the heading right here in the context of 2 Samuel. David has family distress, which maybe you can take comfort in this. Even the best of parents may have the worst of children. David had his Absalom, Hezekiah had his Manasseh, and God and Isaiah 1 had Israel. rebellious child. Well, not only did David have his family distressed, but he had verbal assaults, physical ailments, and spiritual fears. This is the title, the superscription of the psalm. David is in danger. He's in trouble. Now we go to the end of the psalm. Now you think, but my psalm ends in verse 8 with Selah. Actually, your Psalm ends with the heading of Psalm 4. Look at the beginning of Psalm 4 in your heading. It says, for the choir director on stringed instruments. See that in your Bible? Now, there's a lot of reasons for this, and I can't get technical. That's actually the conclusion to Psalm 3. And if you want proof for it, Habakkuk 3, The end of Habakkuk 3, 18 and 19 gives the reason for it. But what you have at the end of the song is David wrote it for the choir director. It was meant to be sung on the stringed instrument. So whatever the melody was, they were to sing this. That's the post script. So you have the title, then you've got the postscript, but then there's one more element we have to talk about, and that is the Selah. Now, do you see that at the end of verse two, and the end of verse four, and the end of verse eight, three times we see the word Selah. 70 times in the book of Psalms, three times in Habakkuk 3, we have the word selah. It was a musical interlude. It was a Hebrew word that meant the vocalists are to stop while the musicians continue on. What was the purpose of it? It was to cause the vocalists to pause and think about what they just sang. So when you come across the word, Seyla, which is part of the text, we ought to stop and reflect on what we just read. Reflect, ponder, think, pause, take a moment and consider these things. So we'll do that tonight as we look at these three headings together. Oftentimes the Seyla can be a dividing point in the psalm. The outline, not always, but usually it is. So, in Psalm 3, we have David writing the psalm, and he reminds us that even the godly people suffer. There can be terror and hardship and struggles. What do you do? I mean, what do you do? And your outline, very simple, very straightforward, comes right out of the text. Number one, you need to tell God. Number two, you need to trust God. Number three, triumph in God. In verses one and two, David begins this song by telling God the problem. I think of it like this. David is unburdening his heart and he's rolling all of his burdens onto God. Maybe you can do that as well. You've got burdens that are weighing you down. Roll them onto God. Roll them onto God. 1 Peter 5, 8, cast all your anxieties on the Lord because he cares for you. So we tell God we're to be honest. Look at verses 1 and 2. Notice how he's just blunt. He's honest. This is the raw heartfelt prayer of King David. Verse 1, Oh Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him and God. You see the repeated word many, many, many are rising up. Many are saying of my soul, verse one begins, my adversaries are many is the idea. Many, David has many enemies, many troubles. Can you identify? It's not uncommon for the people of God to have many who are against him. You'll recall Moses, won't you? And when he was leading and he was the prophet called of God, leading the people of Israel, and yet they quickly turned against Moses when they were in the wilderness. Of course, here in our psalm, David is the king and the people led by Absalom quickly turned against the King David. Or Paul, when Paul is preaching in the book of Acts, people in cities sacrificed, almost, to him as a god, turning against him. Jesus, in the final week of his life, people were shouting, Hosanna, but then the crowd turned on him and chanted, Crucify him by the end of the week. What about people that rise up against you? It may not be all that long before the government rises up against you and me. But if it's the government or if it's enemies or if it's physical people that you and I may have come our way, whatever that may be, we know that Satan and his minions are against us. And we know that we have trials and troubles and hardships. We have fears without. We have fears within. We have fears that are ginormous, way too much for us to handle. Where do we go? But to tell God, but to tell God. Notice at the end of verse two, many are saying of my soul. Now there's a key word here. You've got to get it. Verse two, they're saying there's no salvation. NASB has, there's no deliverance, but the idea is there's no salvation. You're believing a myth. You're believing a lie. I hear it all the time. I heard it yesterday at Hope Clinic. You're believing a myth. You're believing a lie. This is foolish. They're mocking, they're howling, they're laughing, they're ridiculing you. This God stuff is a myth. There's no salvation for you in God. It reminds me of the time when the Assyrians were coming to Jerusalem at the time of King Hezekiah. And they sent the Rabshakeh, the chief commander, the military commander, and all the Assyrians are coming and they send a blasphemous letter written by the king. There is no hope. Don't let Hezekiah mislead you to trust in your God. There is no deliverance for you in God. Hezekiah, goes right into the temple, and he spreads out that letter before the Lord, and he prays. Tell God all about your troubles. Tell Him. Enemies are against you, but never forget Romans 8 promises, God is for you. You can have many enemies, physical or spiritual. that are against you and they're assaulting you, but God is always for you. Tell them. Tell them your troubles. What do you do with the troubles of life? Number one, we see at the end of verse two, Selah. Think about it. Tell God. God, I've got many problems. I've got many that are against me. I've got too much on my plate. I don't know what to do. You tell them. Tell them. Unburden your heart and roll your burdens onto the Lord. Number one, you tell God, look in your outline. Number two, now we need to trust God. Now, you can't end with verses one and two, because if you leave it there, you're going to be depressed. Look at all my troubles and all my troubles and all my afflictions. It's way too much for me to handle. You can't leave it there. You've got to make it to verse three. Look at the verse two words, but you, you've got to get here and you're praying. Trusting in the Lord never begins with I, it begins with you. Trusting in God is not about I, it's about, but as for you, oh Lord, As for you, verse 3, you're a shield around me. And, verse 3, you're my glory. And, verse 3, you're the one who lifts my head. Verse 4, I've cried with my voice. You've answered me. This is the 180 degree turn. Eyes off of the enemies, eyes off of the situation, and on to God. You've got to get here in your pressing trouble in life. But as for you, O Lord, and you reflect on his character and you remember who he is, but as for you, it's very emphatic in the Hebrew, as for you, you yourself, O Yahweh, are my shield. We need this to refocus. We need it to realign our heart. We need to revisit the truth. We've got to get here in our troubles. You're going to hear me say this dozens of times in the book of Psalms. We have to get to the but you in our praying. Tell God your troubles. Yeah, tell Him your trouble. Tell Him all that's going on, but don't stay there in the deep end of your troubles. You've got to come up for air with the beauty of God's character. It's like when Martin Luther was on his way to Worms, he had been summoned by the emperor and all the papal authorities to answer for, of course, his heretical teachings of believing that salvation is by faith alone, right? By grace alone and Christ alone. Well, he had been promised a safe passage there to Worms and as Luther was on his way, a messenger came to him with this message, don't enter the city of Worms. And Luther said, you go back and you tell your master that if there are as many devils in Worms as there are tiles upon all the rooftops, I will have no fear and I will still go into Worms. Where do you get that kind of courage? Where do we get that kind of courage in the face of opposition? Well, for Martin Luther, it was the same as David, the same for you and me. You have to go to God. You have to go to God. Look at verse three, but as for you, O Lord, notice the three descriptions of God that David chooses to meditate on. Number one, you are a shield around me, not just a shield. The Hebrew is actually very emphatic. It's a very rare preposition. You surround me completely. God is a shield who is all around me. If an arrow is ever to touch you, it's got to get through God. Never fear. Never fear. God is a shield surrounding you. And he's your glory. He's my shield and my glory. What do you mean glory? Maybe a simple way to think of it, God, you're my joy. You're my reason for life. You are, you are my existence. You are my hope. I have no reason and purpose for living, but you, you're my shield. You are my glory. And then third, I love this. You're the one who lifts my head. the one who lifts my head. When you're prostrate at the feet of the sovereign king, he tenderly lifts you up and says, don't be afraid. He lifts up your head when you're prostrate. He lifts you up with his arms of love. The sharper the arrows of affliction that come your way, the more resolute you ought to press hard into Christ. Or maybe put it like this, the harder your trial, the harder you ought to press into Christ. God, you are my shield. You are my glory. You are the one who lifts my head. And then I love the trusting in God. Look at verse four. I go here a lot in my prayer time just to encourage you with one way that God has encouraged me. Verse four, I've cried out to God and guess what? He hears and he answers. What a promise. You cry out to God and he hears And he answers from his holy mountain. When enemies are near, God is nearer. Isn't that good news? The door to the throne of grace. is always open. It's always open. The Father always, always calls you to come. He receives your prayer, and the Son of God mediates His praise for you. He prays for you, and the Spirit of God also intercedes, and He turns your prayers into accordance with God's will. You have the triune God at work when you pray. You tell God what's going on. You trust God. One commentator put it like this. Your enemy is in front of you. They may be as thick as leaves of the forest, and your earthly friends might be few, or they might be uncertain, or they might be far off. But there is one friend that will never fail the child of God. And to this faithful friend, David turns with confidence and with affection, and that lifts David above all of his fears, trusting in the Lord. You and I must do the same. You tell God what's going on, and then we've got to get to the, but as for you, you, oh Lord, remembering who he is in his character, in his person, in his work, So in your troubles, in your trials, in your hard times, number one, you tell God. Number two, you trust God. And notice there's a say-la at the end of verse four. See that say-la? Let's think about it. Do you trust in God? Not trusting in self, or money, or comfort, or politics, or economics, or my future plans, or whatever. No, no, no. Trusting in the Lord. That leads third. What do you do then? Oh, Christian like David, you can triumph. Triumph in God. You can triumph in God. I love Philippians 4, 7. We read it earlier. God gives a peace that will surpass all comprehension. Isn't that amazing? It's kind of like, how do you have peace? I don't know. I can't explain it. But God gives it. God gives a peace which surpasses all understanding, and he will guard your heart and your mind in Christ. So, verse 5, look in your Bible. What does David do? I lay down, I slept, I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. In times of fear, when it can be difficult to sleep, battling insomnia, as we might call it. What do you do? How does David sleep in a time like this? Or in Acts 12, how did Peter sleep between two soldiers when he was sure to die? Or how did Jesus, how did Jesus sleep while on a boat on a cushion in a terrifying storm? How do you do that? How do you get there when the hard times are so easily keeping you up at night? How do you sleep? What would Christ's counsel to insomniacs be? What would his counsel to insomniacs be? He would say this, remember that God is the pillow to the head of faith. You can always lay your head down on the soft pillow that Jesus reigns. He's in control. He knows what's going on. He loves me, and he will care for me. Christian, you can rest your head on the pillow of God's sovereignty. I mean, did David's son Absalom wanted to kill him? And he had enemies chasing after him. How do you sleep when your life is being hunted like that? You have to rest your head on the pillow that my God reigns as king. I love the way Dr. Will Varner, my mentor in college, put it. He said, we learn from Psalm 121 that God never sleeps. So if God never sleeps, why should you stay awake and worry? If you can't sleep, he said, don't count sheep. Don't teach your children to count sheep, but tell them and remind yourself to talk to the shepherd. Talk to the shepherd. Verse six. Now there's word plays that are going on here. Let me see if I can bring out some of them. Verse six, I will not be afraid of 10,000. Do you see that there in your Bible? That's a derivative of the word many in verse one. Many are rising up. Many are saying to me, well, a similar word is thousands upon thousands upon thousands. I will not be afraid of thousands of multitudes of people who come against me round about. How can you say that? Arise, O Lord, verse 7, save me, O my God. Simple, simple prayer. It's not long. It's not profound. It's desperate. Arise, Lord, save me, O my God. Why, verse 7? Two reasons. You have smitten my enemies on the cheek and you have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Now, you and I might think that's kind of weird language, kind of odd, to strike my enemies on the cheek. Whatever my enemies might say, whatever they might plot, whatever they are wanting to do to kill me, David says, he writes about it in the past, even though it's a future event when God will judge his enemies. He can write about the future with certainty that he puts it in the past tense, as if it already happened. God, I know that you're gonna shatter the teeth of the wicked. I know that you're gonna smite my enemies. I know that you have the victory, and it is so certain to happen, I can write about it as if it's already occurred. Jesus is gonna dash. all of his enemies to pieces, and he will conquer. Triumph in your Savior. Your spiritual enemies won't be victorious. Physical enemies won't be victorious. Political rebels against God will not be victorious. Whatever nation rises up against God will not be victorious. God and he alone will be victorious. And so, David then reassures himself with triumph. Look at verse 8. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Don't miss the wordplay. In verse 2, the enemies are saying there is no salvation for him and God. Verse 8, oh yes there is. Salvation is from the Lord. Salvation is from the Lord. What is David saying? There's reconciliation from God. with God. There's protection under the wings of God. There's union, a relationship that I have with my God. There is a preservation that I am guaranteed from God. There's glorification one day that is coming from God. And I can have comfort in this God. There is atonement from this God. Actually, verse 8 is more emphatic. It's not just salvation. The Hebrew is THE salvation is from the Lord. The deliverance that I need for my soul only comes from God. He's the rescue. He's the refuge. He's the glory. He is the forgiveness. He is the security. There's no other way to have salvation but through Jesus Christ. Can you say that here tonight? Verse eight, my salvation belongs to the Lord. My salvation comes from the Lord. My forgiveness, my reconciliation, my assurance of heaven, my justification before God legally, my adoption into the family of God, all of the blessings of the salvation are given to you in Christ. Do you have it? Can you enjoy that? If not, come to the Savior even this very night and find encouragement from Him. Your blessing, verse 8, be upon your people. Oh, He saves and He blesses His people. What a God! What a God. Verse 8 ends the very end of the psalm with a Selah. Ponder, think, meditate, consider. Now, David, in conclusion, David wrote of his own situation here in Psalm 3, but oh how this applies to the greater David. Jesus Christ. In the manifold, increasing, hostile enemies that Jesus had, they would often say things like, there's no salvation for him and God. Jesus prayed. God heard. God answered. Jesus did not fear when the enemies surrounded him with seething rage and blasphemous fury. Jesus knew the evil one and all enemies would be crushed and conquered at the cross. And he committed all things into the Father's hands. And then he triumphed by saying, it is finished on the cross. What David wrote here applies to the greater David, Jesus, at the cross. He endured strong. He finished victorious. Jesus won salvation. It is fully from the Lord. And here's what that means. You can rest your eyes upon this great forerunner, Jesus, here tonight. So I don't know the hardship the trouble, the trial, the affliction that has come your way. But if Psalm 3 is given by God as kind of the opening to the Davidic collection, the book of Psalms, what a psalm for us. When fears and hardship and uncertainty flood and come your way, and it's hard to sleep, and you don't know where to go, tell God. Trust God. and you triumph in God. We began with John Payton. John Payton, near the end of his life, said this, I had my nearest and my most intimate times in the presence of my Lord in the most fearful moments when the gun, the club, or the spear threatened my life. It's true. Enemies may abound, and they may surround you, but God is mightier, and he is your shield all around you. Never fear. Father, thank you for your word that you have given. Prepare us, O Lord, and hear us, O Lord. As we pray to you, responding and reflecting on what we have just read and heard from Psalm 3, O God, would you meet with us? Would you give us courage and fortify us in you, our great shield? Oh, thank you that salvation is in the Lord. Thank you that all of our deliverance is found in Christ. We glory in him and him alone. In Jesus' name, amen.