Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Psalm 3. Psalm 3, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down and slept. I awakened, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for Thou hast smitten all my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth to the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people. Et tu, Brute? We've heard the words before, words immobilized by Shakespeare's wonderful play Julius Caesar On March 15th, which we sometimes have heard as the Ides of March, March 15th, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was attacked by a group of senators. He fought them off valiantly for a while until he looked up and he saw Junius Brutus, his dear friend, who was also involved in the plot for his life. He looked at Brutus and said those words immobilized in history, Et tu, Brute? In other words, and you, Brutus? And you, too? You would betray me, too? Jesus, too, must have felt this stabbing pain when Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, one of the ones that actually sat with him at meet, fellowshiped with him for three years, traveled with him, One of his dear companions, one of the 12 that Jesus had chosen, and Judas betrayed his friend with a kiss. Jesus says in Luke 22, 48, Judas betrayeth thou the son of man with a kiss. Perhaps there would be no greater grief than to be betrayed by one of your own kinsmen, or even worse, to be betrayed by one of your own children. which is what we have before us here tonight. Absalom, the son of David, led a group in a coup against David, against the throne of David. He led this coup and won over the hearts of many of the people and David soon found himself surrounded by innumerable enemies and finally was forced to flee from his own throne. how it must have crushed his heart, how he must have grieved that his own son betrayed him. Well, it was while David faced these insurmountable forces that he called upon God, knowing that God would deliver him. He called upon God, which became the foundation of this psalm when he says in verse three, But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. Tonight, as we look at Psalm 3, we're introduced to a couple of elements that are new to us as we've gone through the Psalms. Of course, we're only on Psalm 3. And I mention this in discipleship training tonight. One is what is referred to as the superscription. And you can look at your Bible and you can see that before verse 1, we find this little phrase in the King James that says, A Psalm of David. When he fled from Absalom his son. Now this is an inspired bit of text, though not one of the verses in the psalm itself, though the superscription is a part of the original, so we would say it's inspired of God. The superscriptions, which, by the way, over three-fourths of the Psalms have superscriptions, 116 to be exact. What they do is they provide for us some information, often information musically. In fact, if you look at Psalm 4, to the chief musician on Neginoth, and we'll see that next week when we look at Psalm 4. So, it often gives us a bit of musical notation Often it gives us the setting of the psalm. You can see here tonight a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. So it helps to put into context what David is talking about here in Psalm 3. And then it usually gives us something about the author, which is very beneficial. Not all of the psalms are psalms of David. Moses has a psalm. Asaph has psalms, Solomon has a psalm. There are various authors in the psalms and so it's beneficial to us many times to see exactly who the psalm is written by. So this is the first psalm we have a superscription. The other element is this word Selah. You see it at the end of verse 2. You see it again at the end of verse 4. And then you see it again at the end of verse 8. And Selah is a pause. We don't know for sure what the pause meant. As I mentioned earlier in discipleship training, it could have been simply a musical pause. The songs were meant to be sung. It was a part of the Hebrew worship. The songs were very important in the temple worship. They would sing them, though today I'm not sure we would recognize the way they sang them. There were probably more chants. But they were there. They were accompanied by musical instruments. And so the sea laws may have been pauses in the the the musical element of the chanting or singing of the song. But it could have could have been a pause. And as I stated before, I believe that they were more of a pause to to cease for a few moments. to meditate upon the importance of that which has just been said. And usually you'll see Sila after a verse or a couple of verses that are very intense in meaning. And so, as we go through the Psalms, whether it was a musical pause or whether it's a pause for meditation, we should look at it as an opportunity to stop look at what's just been said, look at the importance of it, meditate upon what God would have us to know from this, before just rushing on to the next verse. So it's a pause, a time for reflection. Well, this psalm is eight verses. It's divided neatly into eight different sections, or I'm sorry, four different sections, or four parts, each containing two verses. I've divided it up into four sections. One, the perplexing problem, David's perplexing problem. Two, David's powerful protection. Three, David's perfect peace. And four, David's positive petition. So these are the four headings tonight as we begin to unfold Psalm 3. First of all, David's perplexing problem, verses 1 and 2. He's basically recounting the number of his adversaries, and it's a huge number. He's fleeing his palace with a few faithful followers, and it's in the middle of the night, and he is surrounded by a huge number. Absalom has turned Israel against him. So he says in verse 1, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. You need to catch a glimpse of the sheer magnitude of what David is facing. And then again in verse 2, many there be which say of my soul. This is a huge number that has come against David. David sees this as an insurmountable force. A huge multitude has come against David. And they're being led by David's own dear son, who has betrayed his own father. Again, you can only imagine how it must have crushed David's heart to have his own son turn against him. We read in 2 Samuel 15, verse 12, And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. David is facing this huge multitude. 2 Samuel 15 says it's strong. The conspiracy was strong and the people continually increased against David following Absalom. Only a few followers continued with David. The growing opposition against David finally reached the point where it would seem to David that I am undone. It is over. I am finished. It is too big for me. And so, David sees himself as hopelessly outnumbered, insurmountable forces, a perplexing problem. It would have been easy for David to fall into utter despair. His enemies declared that he had been forsaken of God, and perhaps for a brief period, that he might have thought, yes, you're right. Can you imagine, verse 2, many there be which say of my soul, There's no help for him in God, to which we find the first Selah. Consider for a moment David's enemies wagging their heads, mocking him, if you will. There's no hope for David. He's abandoned of God. He's a evil man, abandoned by God. Second Samuel 16, Shimei of the house of Saul cursed David. Remember his words, verses 7 and 8 of Second Samuel 16? And thus said Shimeon, when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial! The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. The Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thine mischief, because thou art a bloody man." What words of encouragement that must have been. David, sincerely, everyone was upon him saying, David, you're cursed of God, your own blood, that you're a bloody man and all the blood that you've spilled in the house of Saul coming back on your own head. Absalom has rightly taken the kingdom from you. You are guilty before God and God is not there to help you. Almost sounds like the words of Job's wife, curse God and die only David was a man of God like Job was. Job would not curse God and die. And neither would David. There are times that we feel overwhelmed. Times that we feel like the odds against us are insurmountable. The troubles continue to rise up against us. We've all been there. If you've been given any number of years at all. And I look at most of the adults in here, and you've been granted a few years, perhaps some of us more than others. We've all had the troubles. We've all had the trials. We've all had the gut-wrenching situations of life that do sometimes seem insurmountable. It may even appear before all that we are cursed of God, that God has forsaken us. That He has given us over. That we are all alone. That no one can come to our defense. Satan is also there, sowing in the seeds of despair. You are so rotten. You are so vile. You deserve everything that's happening to you. Give it up! No one is there to help you. Well, is it true? Has God forsaken us? Well, not according to the scriptures. No matter how fiery the trial, no matter how difficult the situation, God has not forsaken us. David would very quickly come to his senses and understand clearly. No, God has not forsaken me. God has not forsaken his people. We saw in Romans 8, verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. Verse 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. He has not cast us off, nor will he ever cast us off. We will never be alone. We will never be given over, if you will. Though people may say, you are cursed of God, you deserve everything you are receiving. We have the comfort, God says in Hebrews 13, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. God continues to abide with his people. Second of all, though, we find David's powerful protection. Verses three and four, which begins, but thou, you see the contrast. Verse two says, many there be that say, which say of my soul, there's no help for him in God, but thou, O Lord. Art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. David remembers the source of his confidence. Thou art a shield for me. David would appreciate having an army. Obviously, Absalom has a mighty army. All of Israel has followed after Absalom. David has a small force. Surely he would feel comforted by a mighty army at his defense. But he understands clearly, in the end, it is not by the might of outside forces, not by the instruments of this life that we can muster to our defense. The Lord is a shield for me. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. We have an impenetrable defense. in Christ. Psalm 18, which is one of my favorite psalms, because it is such a psalm of encouragement, because we serve a mighty God, because our God continually proves Himself mighty in our life. So there are times that we feel like it's all over and we might as well give up. Then Psalm 18, in which we find in Psalm 18, as for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a butler to all those that trust in him. Arrows may assault us. The enemies may surround us. But in the end, we have the mighty shield of God. who also provides for us the shield of faith, which Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 16. And above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith we are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The darts are hurled at us continually. Fiery darts. Paul had in mind the warfare that was custom with the Roman military, the most powerful military upon the face of the earth at the time. We've seen it in movies. They would take their arrows and dip them in pitch, and they would often have their enemies surrounded by these pits of pitch, often unknown to the enemies. They would take these arrows and shoot them in the air, these huge flaming arrows. If the pitch catching on fire didn't kill you, the flaming arrows striking you in your breast would slay you. It's the nature of the assault of Satan, continually shooting these fiery arrows at us. of which Paul says, but we have the shield of faith. We have a mighty two-edged sword, the word of God. Between the word of God and the shield of faith, we cannot be assaulted. Not to mention all the rest of the armor that we have on, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the loins gird about with truth. We are absolutely invincible. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, David's powerful protection could not be defeated. Not only that, he says, speaking of God in verse three again, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me. And then he says, my glory and the lifter up of my head. In other words, David's life seemed to be crumbling all around him. But he trusted God to restore him, and he remembered this. He says, God, you're my glory. You're the lifter up of my head. In essence, he's saying, God, everything I am now and everything I will be, you're the glory and the lifter up of my head. Everything I am has come from you, God. Where did the kingship of David come from? Where did he receive his kingdom from? Who made him a king? Wasn't the truth that David was the least of his brethren? I mean, they were mightier than David, larger than David, older than David, mightier warriors than David. But God chose David. That's the very nature of your life. Who made you what you are? Who put you in the position that you're in? Doesn't the scripture tell us, humble yourselves before God? And He will exalt you in due time. Due time meaning His time. You may not even see it in this life. But the important thing is this. We continually humble ourselves before God. Everything we are is what God has made us. You fear losing your job. Where did you get the job to begin with? But my boss is laying off people. Pink slips are being handed out. So where did you get your job? But I may not be able to feed my family. Where did you feed your family from before? Where does your daily bread come from? But my husband's in the hospital. He's being diagnosed with cancer. Who has sustained the life of your husband to this point? And in whom do we live and move and have our being? Does it not come forth from the hand of the mighty God? David understood. Oh, God, you are my glory. You are my boast. You are the the the the giver of my life. You're the lifter up of my head. You will sustain me. Oh, God. David trusted his life. into the hands of the living God. He says, verse four, I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. This is worth meditating upon again. God, I cried unto you and you heard me and you sustained me and you kept me. Who is your shield? It's worth contemplating, considering. Oh Lord, you are a shield for me. Who is your shield? Who is the source of your protection? Upon whom do you trust? And what is your thought about your life? Do you consider God your glory and the lifter up of your head? Who's given you everything you have, your family and everything you have? very nature of the way we come into this world, and it is very illustrative to us. How did you come into this world? We're all born naked, kicking and screaming, without a thing, and then God lifts us up. Gives us all that we have. And then the amazing thing is, and then how do you leave this world? Same way you came in. Everything you have will be given to another. You know, I live in a house right now. Nice little free bedroom home. I'll go home tonight and enter into my bedroom. It's one thing about a man's home, it is his castle. I will enter into my bedroom, lay down in my bed, But guess what? Figuring that the home will continue to be there, and it probably will. Homes tend to last many, many years. One of these days, someone else is going to be sleeping in my bedroom, sitting down in my den, parking their car in my carport. Someday, someone's going to be driving my car or my truck Someone will be, everything you have, you're going to leave it to someone else. Such is the nature of life. You brought nothing in, you will surely carry nothing out. Isn't it amazing how we cling to the things that we have and worry and fret and filled with fear because we think we're going to lose the very things that are not ours to begin with. They don't belong to us. They've been temporarily given to us by God. And we will leave this world and He'll give them to someone else. Everything you have. It's amazing how we've become so fixed upon the few things that we have in this life. David says, God, You're my shield, my glory, the lifter up of my head. And I cried unto You with my voice. And you heard me, which then leads to the third element, David's perfect peace in verses five and six. He says in verse five, I laid me down and slept. Wow. David's in trouble. Serious forces have surrounded him. You're not going to sleep when you're in such a trial, such difficulty, you won't sleep, David says. I laid my head down and I slept. In other words, even in David's desperate situation, he was at peace. Wow. Even in this situation, his throne has been taken away from him. He has fled from the city of David. He has fled from his own throne. Absalom has deceived the entire nation to turn their backs on David. Enemies are out to kill him. If they find him, they're going to kill him. David lays his head down in peace and goes to sleep, sweet slumber, because he sought the faith of God with confidence. Verse four again, I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me. And so I laid me down and slept. Philippians four, verses six and seven that are such a comfort unto us. Be careful for nothing, or be anxious about nothing. But in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto the Lord. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds, which is interesting, our hearts and minds, it'll check our emotions, it'll deal with our reason, It will fix us to where we rest in perfect peace. So the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Upon what do we fear? Upon what do we do we tremble? David's situation is much worse than what we usually face. But I find it fascinating here. I laid me down and slept. He went to sleep in peace. I find, personally, that when going through a terrible difficulty, the night time is the worst. There's something about our mind that doesn't think clearly at night. Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and just don't think clearly? Especially if you're going through an issue or a problem and your mind begins to kind of spin. And it's not like it is in the daytime. In the daytime you can kind of reason through it and think it out. At night it's like your mind is in a bust saw. It's difficult to find peace during those times. Yet in Christ We can trust his wisdom, his power, his love, his promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. And we find, just like David, perfect peace. I laid me down and slept. David stopped thinking about his enemies, stopped thinking about his condition, and he found perfect peace. This place of peace is the place of faith. where we simply trust the living God to come to the place to where we say, oh, God, whatever your trial is, whatever the issue is, whatever the battle is, you come to the place to where you say, God, this is yours. It's beyond me. It is beyond my ability to figure it out, to come to a proper solution. God, it's yours. And I will trust you to lead me to respond to this in a proper way. This is the place of peace. And we're continually brought back to the previous times of our life in which God demonstrated himself to be mighty. This strengthens our faith. That's that's one of the reasons why he continually brings us through these trials, that the trial of your faith, Peter says, strengthens us. It's good for us. It edifies us. It builds our faith. It it it strengthens our faith. So every time you go through this difficulty, there are many that you go through, you're brought back to previous times when God proved himself mighty in your life. And you're reminded once again, God, how did I fret then? How was I brought to turmoil then? And you showed me just how foolish it was because you came to my defense. God, forgive me for doubting you now. I will wait upon you and trust you now to come to my defense. And I think this is precisely what David did. David remembered the times that God miraculously delivered him. He remembered and he found peace. This place of peace must be the heart of the people of God. And it must be when we look to God more than we look to our own resources. Which is the very essence of faith when we go through these things. Looking to God more than we look to ourselves. Looking to God more than looking at what we see. Trusting God instead of trusting our own wisdom. But we use our wisdom and God requires us to engage our minds Our trust is not in our mind or in our wisdom. Our trust is in God. Do you remember when Moses sent spies into Canaan? There were two groups of spies. One was a larger group. The other one was just two men, Joshua and Caleb. But Moses sends these two groups in as spies. They're in there together. And they represent two different hearts. Now, the faithless spies brought back an evil report, and it was based strictly upon what they saw. What they saw was too overwhelming for them to wrap their minds around. They said, we're undone. Numbers 13, verses 31 through 33. We'd be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. How do they know they're stronger? Well, we saw them. They're big people. And they brought an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we had gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Interesting. They were grasshoppers in their side. And they assumed then that their grasshoppers in the side of the enemies. Not understanding that they actually had the mighty God at their at their defense. I mean, can you imagine if you're standing against an insurmountable force? But then all of a sudden you have the most powerful being in the universe coming to your defense. What does that make this powerful force? Grasshoppers. It all depends on how you look at it. These faithless men said they're giants. They devour the people. We are grasshoppers. We're undone. We can't go in. But then here come Joshua and Caleb. Now, remember, Caleb's not even a young man. Later on, as they're seizing the land, Caleb's 85 years old. You say, well, they lived longer back then. No, by this time, they're not living much longer than we are. Somewhat. But Caleb's 85 years old, which means he had faggy muscles, gray hair, wrinkled skin. He says, Basically, Joshua, send me forth. Give me the hard country. I don't care about giants. Let me go. That's the man of God. God goes with me. I will go. Well, Joshua and Caleb, this is right after. I mean, I just got through reading for you Hebrews 13, 31 through 33, the evil report. Here's the report of Joshua and Caleb. Let us go up at once. and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. Why were they able to overcome it? I mean, why? Small force. God did not choose Israel because they were the greatest. They were outnumbered. Children of the land or the inhabitants of land of giants, sons of Anak. Joshua and Caleb says, let's go. We've got it. The difference is they saw the same thing. They did. They both saw the giants of the land. They both did. The difference was the focus of their faith. Joshua and Caleb kept their eyes fixed upon God. The other spies looked at the situation and said, we are undone. We cannot do it. David looks at this insurmountable force here and he says, I serve a great God. He is the one, verse 3, Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the liftover of my head, with God as our shield. Why do we fear the force that's before us? And so David went to sleep in peace. This psalm has often been called the morning psalm though. Though he laid his head down and slept, verse 5, we also find though, and I awaked, For the Lord sustained me." He went to sleep in peace, but he also got up the next morning. Why? Because God sustained him. He went to bed in confidence in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the thousands that wanted to take his life, but yet he awakened in peace because of God. The amazing thing is, Verse 6, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. I'm not afraid of any number that will come after me. I will lay my head down in peace because God is my shield. In the end, for you, there is no force upon this earth powerful enough to crush you, powerful enough to take you from the hand of God. No force upon this earth, no matter how powerful. First John 4, 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Well, I like Isaiah 54, 17. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousnesses of me, saith the Lord. It's our inheritance. God has promised it to. It's the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Is that us? Yeah, that's us. It is the heritage. It is the inheritance. What is? No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn." Now we surely need to look at this with an eternal perspective. This life is a vapor. It passes quickly. The little things we worry about now, I look back at some of the things I worried about ten years ago, and you know what, I can't even remember most of them. It seemed important then. It means nothing now. I remember when I was 17 years old, maybe 16. We had a friend of the family that had a Jeep. It was an old Willys Jeep that he had bought somewhere. It didn't run. And I said, you know, leave it in our garage and I'll see if I can get it running. And I did. My friend and I decided to take it for a spin. And we were over behind Terra High School. cruising through the weeds that were five, six foot tall, mowing them down in this man's Jeep. Since the weeds were tall, we didn't see this ditch in front of us about five foot deep. Literally, it almost threw us out. It was a Jeep. We had the windshield down, and there's nothing to hold you in. Then all of a sudden, boom, we went down in the ditch. It was like the Jeep was standing up on its nose. And I was so afraid. To this day, I can remember laying awake all night long, worried about telling this man and this Jeep, got your Jeep running and then I destroyed it. Drove it in the ditch. It's still there. We tried everything, my friend and I. I mean, we we got jacks and tried to stick it under the kind of hoisted up. Didn't work. We we tied a rope around a tree with a come along, you know, to come along. Is this this big handle jack trying to pull it out? Nothing would work. Finally, the next day, I had to face the music. Bubba, his name was Bubba. Bubba, I destroyed your Jeep. It's in a ditch over behind the high school. It's not in the garage anymore. I did get it running. He's, uh, no problem. He called a friend of his. They got this big four-wheel drive pickup truck, hooked it on with a chain, and zap, it was out in two seconds. All the worry, all the fretting, all night long trembling at having to tell this man that I destroyed his Jeep. Jeep was fine. That's like that in everything we do in life. Worried, fretting, you realize in eternity we're going to look back at the things that we fretted about now. On one hand we'll probably weep that we fretted so much and on the other hand we'll probably chuckle and laugh, what fools, what silly fools I was. I mean, I can remember going to LSU 10 years after I graduated from high school. God had called me to the ministry, starting my education, struggling. Pat remembers struggling through the courses at LSU, sweating, being up till midnight, one o'clock in the morning, two o'clock in the morning or later, studying for exam. I can't even remember the exams now. You know, I can't even remember. I can't even remember the classes I took at this point. But boy, did it seem important to me at the time. And I'm not diminishing the importance of life. But I am saying in the end. Nothing shall separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing shall pluck you from the Father's hand. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Remember what the tongues are saying. There will be many which say of my soul there is no help for him in God. People condemn you all the time. And ultimately, you will sit in judgment of them as you sit with Christ in glory. Nothing shall ultimately take you from Christ, doesn't matter how outnumbered you are. We serve a mighty God. And finally, David's positive petition in verses seven and eight. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for thou has smitten all my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. David closes this psalm with a petition, a prayer. And it's a prayer that almost assumes that God has been woefully on the sideline. Not really involved in what's taking place with David. And so David is petitioning God, praying to God, God arise, save me, for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek. Again, David begins to enter into a time of remembrance. Remembrance is very helpful for you. It's the reason it's good to, you know, Donald Whitney says, keep a journal, keep a prayer journal. that you can fill in all these wonderful times when God has done these supernatural things in your life, so that you can remember, because we're prone to forget. Remember, David remembered exactly what God did in the past. He's saying now, Arise, O Lord, save me, for thou hast, in the past tense, thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone that's broken the teeth of the ungodly. David remembered. He remembered the time with Goliath. Giant. His spear was, as King James says, his spear was like a weaver's beam. His sword was even too big to pick up. His shield was beyond compare. And David kills this man. 1 Samuel 17. This day, David says, this little puny David, This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I will give thy carcass of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, to the wild beast of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel." Boy, what boldness. David remembered. These were not just empty words that David said. He knew there's a God in Israel. This day I'm going to remove your head from your shoulders. And he did. David remembered that. David was absolutely outnumbered with Goliath. Always one to one. But he was absolutely outgunned, if you will. But he killed him. David remembered. He also remembered the mighty victories God had given him. Psalm 3, 7 again, For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. David fought the battles, but the victory was God's every time. Oh, shimmy, I can rise up and say, Thou art a bloody man, David. Thou art a bloody man. Oh, David might have spilled the blood. But the battle was God's every time, and God gave him the victory every time. Second Chronicles 2015, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. David remembered. Now, this verse here in verse seven, may seem a bit harsh in our 21st century ears that have been so conditioned by political correctness. David says, Oh my God, for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone, thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Well, that sounds harsh, doesn't it? David's saying, God, you have crushed them. You shattered their teeth, God. Hit them right between the chops, if you will. Seems harsh to us. But what David is saying here is that he's stirred by a zealous passion for God's holiness and glory. God, these are vile, wicked men, all these men, all these men that are pursuing David, though it's most of Israel. vile and godless. Why? Because God set David on the throne. This is David's throne. These people have taken this man from his rightful throne. They are under the judgment of God. David ultimately knew that. All of the enemies, when he's fighting Saul, when he fought Goliath, now even as he's fighting his own son Absalom. Absalom, oh Absalom, my son. Even then, God would bring him to the full, total victory. With absolute confidence, David declares, salvation belongeth to the Lord, verse 8. There's no ultimate deliverance apart from God. None. Whether it's deliverance from the situations that you're in, the battles, because salvation here carries with it more than just a soteriological position. It's more than that, though it would include that, and we can surely see this in it. Salvation belongs to the Lord. But all of God's deliverances belong to him. Matthew 10, 28. Jesus says, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We shouldn't fear the forces of this earth. Because the most mighty force upon this earth, the worst they can do is take your body, that's all they can do. They can burn you at the stake. They can strip the skin from your very bones. That's all they can do. They cannot touch your soul. But lost person, the greatest fearful being in this world that you should tremble before is the living God. And Jesus himself said, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. He says, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Fear Him. We serve a mighty God. For the Christian, our sure defense, He is always with us. He will never forsake us. He will always provide for us. He will always defend us. For the unbeliever, you are left absolutely defenseless. You must serve the living God. And David says here, salvation belongs to the Lord. And then in closing, he says, Thy blessing is upon thy people, which then brings us to yet another pause. Consider salvation belongs to God. It's in God's hands. He is the great provider and he does provide. I know what blessing, what peace, what comfort, what assurance is upon thy people worth pondering. Well, David was in this situation here. And David, we're looking at it, we know the end of the story. You know, you remember the old Paul Harvey. And now, you know, the rest of the story. He would tell this little this little story, usually having a an unusual twist at the end to which he would then say, and now, you know, the rest of the story. David was in the middle of his life here. He didn't know the end. He didn't know what would happen in the end. All he knew that God was his shield, verse 3, that God would continue to sustain him so that I can lay down and sleep, that I will not be afraid of thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. He knew that salvation was of the Lord and I can rest in him and we know The rest of the story. God did sustain David. He did destroy David's enemies. In the forest of Ephraim, 20,000 men were killed, including Absalom, his own son, who was hung in the fork of a tree by his own long hair. The rest of the story. You don't know the rest of your story yet. I don't know mine. You don't know yours. I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now. I'll be pretty old 50 years from now. But I don't know the end. You don't know the end. God does. Already been decreed. He knows. Our greatest desire. Oh God, help me to trust you every day of my life. And oh God, help me to finish well. That's my prayer. And no matter what your occupation is, what your station in life is, what God has set you doing, God help me to finish well. If God gives you 50 more years and you're on your deathbed, and you're breathing your last, God help me to finish well. If you're in a terrible accident and the last breathing moments of your life as you're gasping for breath and people are leaning over you, God, help me to finish well. If you're smitten with a disease and you're in the hospital suffering month after month after month, nurses are coming in and doctors coming, you might finish well. Every day of your life that you might finish well. David didn't know the end, but he knew this. Salvation belongs to the Lord. He is my defense. He's my shield. He will defend me. He is the one that As he says here, the lifter up of my head, he is the one that will sustain me. I can go to bed in peace. I can rest in my God. He will continue to provide for me as he has every day of my life. And when it's time to end, I will continue to praise him and honor him with all that I am. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people, O is the people of God. May we continue to trust him in all things. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, O God, thank you that you are our shield. As David said in Psalm 18, our buckler, our high tower, our sure defense. What will we fear? Who can come against us? What possible situation can bring us to tremble? For you, O God, you are our salvation. Our defense. Our protector. Our provider. Father, you will continue to protect your people and sustain and keep us to the end until we stand before you, Father. And we hear the words of Christ, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Father, help us to finish well, honoring you, trusting you, resting in you, and pressing on, pressing toward the mark of the high calling in Jesus Christ. Help us, O God, by your might. And Father, now as we prepare to partake of the rich food that you provided, a continual reminder, Father, that you lift our head up You provide for us and give us our daily bread. So we praise you tonight for the food that you've given us once again. We do not take it for granted. And we know full well, Father, that on this earth there are people that have gone to bed hungry today. So, Father, we thank you for your rich provision. We praise you for it. And we thank you, Father, for the body of Christ, this church. And I pray, Father, that tonight our fellowship would be honoring to you. Thank you for the food in Jesus name. Amen. You're dismissed.