We turn for our meditation this evening to the psalm that we've been singing, Psalm 18. This psalm is a great psalm of thanksgiving and praise. Now, there are those who would suggest that this psalm is totally messianic. in the sense that there are those who would suggest that this psalm has almost no relevance to any other period of history, but simply referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I do not think that is likely. It was almost certainly written by David, towards the end of his life, and he's writing this psalm as he's looking back on his life, and he's looking back to the good hand of his God upon him throughout the whole of his life. Now, of course, this psalm, as the other 149 psalms, Of course it refers to Christ. I do not believe that there is a single one of the Psalms that does not refer to Christ. But its primary application is to David and by extension to us, the people of God. Because although David's circumstances were different from ours, he lived in a different period, He had different responsibilities, but nevertheless, David was a human being like us, with all his faults and failings, with his strengths and weaknesses, with his triumphs and his failures. And so David, in many respects, was just like us. And so the experiences that David had and the lessons that he learned about God, about his providence, about his goodness, and so on, are very applicable to us as well. Now, I want to break this psalm down into five sections. Now, we can know more than give a brief overview of the psalm in one sermon. If we were to do justice to this psalm, we could spend several months looking at the psalm. But we can at least give a brief overview of the teaching of this psalm. And so I'm going to attempt to do that, God helping me, with breaking it down into five particular sections. And first of all, what we see in this psalm is confidence in God. Confidence in God. Look at how David begins the psalm. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress. and my Deliverer, my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust, my Buckler, and the Horn of my Salvation, and my High Tower. The psalmist gives thanks to God for his mercy, for his tender pity, for the deep affection that it seems that David had both for God and that God had for him. He's praising God for his kindness to him in all sorts of different ways. And he admits and confesses that his confidence, his assurance, his Trust is all in him. Look at those opening words. My rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my strength, my God in whom I will trust. And the words that are used here, rock, fortress, deliverer, give the idea of solidity, of strength, of unchangeableness. When you think of these words, when you think of words like rock, fortress, and so on, they give the idea of something that is not easily moved, something that is steadfast, something that will remain as it is forever, no matter what happens. You think of the great rocks and the wind and the waves beat down upon them. And you see all sorts of things happening to the rocks and they remain. And when the storm is over, the rock is there. Other things may be swept away, but the rock is there. Fortress. I was born not far away from the great fortress on the Rock of Edinburgh. And there you have a rock that has stood the test of thousands of years. And you have a fortress, a castle on top of the rock, a castle that is impregnable. There is only one way up. And on every other side there are steep cliffs which cannot be climbed. And so you have this idea of permanence, of solidity and of absolute unchangeableness. And what David says is, this is what my God is like. This is what my God is like. I do not believe in a God who changes his mind. I don't believe in a God who can be swayed by this one or that one. I don't believe in a God who can be conquered. I believe in this unconquerable, unchangeable, solid, immovable God. This is my God, says David. He speaks of his God as a deliverer, one who causes us to escape. The words buckler, high tower, and so on that we also have there. He says, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower again indicate this place that is wholly impregnable and inaccessible by human means. You see the picture that David is giving of the God that he trusts in. What a difference. What a difference in the way that the world portrays God. God is at best, for most people, some kindly figure in the sky. who may or may not do something. Or they see God as being incapable of being able to, in being able to deal with the ordinary events of life. You hear of hurricanes and these weather events that take place and they say, if there is a God, why didn't he prevent it? Why didn't he stop it happening? In other words, this God, if you believe in him at all, he's not very powerful. He's not very strong. When we talk about things that are in the Bible, and we say, this is what God says, people say, well, ah, but times have changed. And the implication is that God has changed. That the God of the 21st century is somehow not the God of the 1st century. That he's not the God of the Old Testament. They talk about the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament as though he was somehow different. As though he was a more benign God now. Not a God of judgment. Not a God who is a rock. not a God who is a high tower, not a God who is unmovable, unshakable. That was David's God. John Calvin says this, let us learn to apply to our own use those titles which we have ascribed to God and to apply them as an antidote against all the perplexities and distresses which may assail us. A strong God, a powerful God, an unshakable God, an unmovable God, a God who is a rock, a God who is a defense against all our enemies. This was David's God. This is the one he praised, and such a God is worthy of all praise. No wonder that David had great confidence in God. The second aspect that we have in this psalm is crying for God in verses 4 to 6 and verses 16 to 19. Now we know from the history of David, we know that David had faced great peril in his life. His enemies were mighty, there were many, and they were cunning. David had to struggle throughout the whole of his life. He faced some fierce enemies. And David describes that sort of thing In these verses, 4-6 and 16-19, he says, I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord. You see, he talks about cords and ropes and snares. He felt as though he was being hemmed in by the oppression of the enemy. You can imagine being tied. You can imagine being bound with ropes. He says, the sorrows of death compassed me. The floods of ungodly men made me afraid. the sorrows of death compassed me around, the snares of death prevented me, and so on. And he was surrounded by his enemies. There was no way that he could escape. His response is very instructive. David's response was to cry to God. David's response was to cry out to God. And the word that's used here means to cry out vehemently and strongly. What David was doing here was not uttering a little prayer. What David was doing here was not somehow reciting some particular prayer. No, he was crying out to God. He was, as it were, screaming out to God vehemently, strongly. because he had confidence in God, because he knew God was his deliverer, he knew that God was the only one who could save him. The situation that David faced was terrible. The enemies that he was facing, he was unable to conquer himself. He was in desperate situations very often. And so what does he do? He calls out to God. He cries out to God. And the only thing that a child of God can do in such circumstances is to pray. What's our response? What's our response when we face financial calamity? What's our response when we are diagnosed with a serious illness? What's our response when things go wrong, when we lose our jobs? What's our response when people make up false accusations against us? What's our response? Who do we go to first? Do we go first of all to some advisor? Do we go first of all to a lawyer? Do we go first of all to some person, some wise person who may be able to help us? I'm not saying that we shouldn't do those things. But David's first response was to cry out to God. To cry out to God because God was his confidence. He had no confidence in men. His confidence was only in God himself. And the question that we have to face is this. Do we have this confidence in God? Do we believe that this God, the God that we worship, is our rock, our defense, our tower? Do we believe that this God is our deliverer, the one who can answer all the problems that we face? Do we really believe in this God? Because you see, if we do, our first response will be to go to God, to go to Him, and to cry out to him. And we're told in James that the fervent and effectual prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. God hears, God listens, and we have the answer in verse 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. And then you get the response from verse 7 onwards. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wrath. In other words, what you've got here is that God was angry on the behalf of his servant. that God was angry because of what was happening to his beloved son. Of course, to the Lord Jesus Christ, but also to David. And you have this picture of this almighty God stirring up the elements to come to the aid of his beloved people. Can you imagine? Can you imagine this great God being so concerned because you are in trouble that he would move the very heavens and the earth, that he would shake the heavens and the earth in order to come to your rescue, to come to your aid and to deliver you. He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a cherub and did fly and so on. The Lord thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave his voice. Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them. Verse 16. He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity. But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place and delivered me. But look at the next phrase. Because he delighted in me. Because he delighted in me. I find that absolutely astonishing. I find that one of the most remarkable statements in the scriptures. To think that the holy, sovereign God of heaven, the God who holds the nations of the earth in the palm of his hand, before whom all the nations of the earth are as a drop in a bucket or as a fine dust of the balance, This God before whom the very angels of God veil their faces, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts, delights in me. He delights in me. With all my sin, with all my wickedness, with all my failures, With all my inabilities and weaknesses, he delights in me. I find that astonishing. I would rather think that as God looks upon me, he would shake his head and say, oh dear, Oh dear, look how it's failed. And yet, this God delights in me. And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, He delights in you. And He will rescue you, and deliver you, and protect you, and watch over you, and care for you, because He delights in you because you are His purchased possession, purchased with the blood of His own dear Son. He delights in you because you are a brother or a sister of His own beloved Son. He delights in you because He has purchased you with the most precious thing that He had, He delights in you, and so He will rescue you, so He will care for you. And when all strength is gone, and when there is no help in man at all, then God delivers His people. That's why I read from 1 Samuel, David, a mere boy, We don't know how old he was. Maybe 14, 15 years of age. A boy. And he goes out and faces this giant. Not just a giant, but a giant who had been a warrior for all his life. A man who had been in the heat of battle. A man who had killed enemies. a man who is used to the taste of blood. And David goes out and he says, you come to me with your sword and your spear and your armor and your great reputation as a warrior. I come to you in the name of the God of Israel. I come to you in God's name. And it is in God's name, and by God's strength, and by God's wisdom, that I will defeat you. And you see, that's what David is saying here. He's looking back on his life, and he sees how God preserved him. And he came to that wonderful conclusion that God did it because he delighted in him, his servant. That's the second thing. First of all was confidence in God. Secondly, crying for God. And then in verses 7 to 15 we have contemplation of God. Contemplation of God. In the midst of all his troubles and afflictions, David is able to recognize the greatness and the majesty and the might of God. We see that in verses 7 to 15. Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the hills moved, and so on. He knew that this God in whom his trust was placed was an almighty God. This was no weakling. This was no figment of his imagination. This was not some God that had been carved by man out of a tree, one half burned on the fire and the other half set up as an idol. No, it wasn't that kind of God. This was the God who shook the heavens. This was the God who moved the earth. This was the God who sent thunder and lightning. This was the God who is in control not only of the affairs of men and of nations, but of the very heavens themselves. God's power, David knew, could easily convulse the whole frame of nature. The most amazing and powerful effects were produced by the divine anger. And the threatening anger of God fills his friends with awe and his enemies with terror. You see, when we see the power of God made manifest, we worship, we praise, we adore, and we say, what a wonderful God, and we bow before him. His enemies fall in fear and terror before him. You know, it's an amazing sensation to be in the middle of an earthquake Most of us never experience it. In 1970, Sabbath afternoon, about 2.30, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I was standing on a hillside, on top of a hill, in a city called Cajamarca, in the land of Peru. I was preaching to a small group of believers and suddenly the earth began to shake. The whole building shook and the ground beneath our feet began to move. We rushed outside and we saw the walls moving backwards and forwards. It was a very powerful earthquake, an earthquake that killed 80,000 people in the land of Peru. And when you see the Earth moving, the most stable thing that you can possibly think of, the Earth is unmovable. But when God shakes the earth, the earth moves. And that's what David says here. He says that when he comes down, he can shake even the earth. This is the power of our God. And David contemplates God. And in his contemplation, He sees the wonder and the majesty and the delivering power of his God. And so what does he do? He praises him. He praises him because he is such a powerful, almighty God. We must move on very quickly. The fourth point we have here is his commitment to God. His commitment to God. in verses 20 to 27. Now David's expression in verse 20 should not be construed as arrogance or pride. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me." David's justification of himself must be seen in the light of the attacks and calumnies of his enemies. and not in the sense of saving justification or absolute perfection. One commentator puts it like this, David's enemies accuse him of rebellion and treason, plunder and robbery, sedition, cruelty and other wickedness. Of these charges, he declares himself innocent. And that is particularly true with regard to his treatment of Saul. So when David says these things, he's not holding himself up as being absolutely perfect. He's not saying that he never sinned because he knew very well that he sinned. But what he is doing is answering, if you like, the criticism of his enemies. As far as he was concerned, His rule of behavior was the law of God, verse 21, for I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. He did not knowingly disobey God's commands, for all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. He resisted the attacks of the evil one, I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. And he realized and recognized that this was by the power and the grace of God alone. Look at what he says from verse 25 onward. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright, with a pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with a froward thou wilt show thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down hylux. For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop, and by my God I have leaped over a wall. He says, whatever I've been able to do, whatever I have been able to accomplish, I have done through the grace and the power and the mercy of God. So Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so what we have here is David's commitment to God. God was committed to him. God said, I have done this because I loved him. I've done this because he belongs to me. And David now says that he was committed to God, to his word, to his truth. He was committed to live in a way that pleased God. Lastly, and we haven't time to look at this in detail, Consolation from God, verses 28 to 15. The closing section of the psalm shows a consolation and assurance that came to David as he rehearsed all that God would be pleased to do on his behalf. Look at some of the things he says. It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. And so here David is taking consolation from God. He says, it's God who does these things. It's God who enables me to defeat my enemies. It's God who holds me up from falling. It is God who guides me. It is God who directs me. It is God who does all things for me. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of the heathen. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. The Lord liveth. and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. And then in verse 49, therefore, because of all this, because of the confidence that he had in God, because God had answered his crying, because of his contemplation of God, because of his commitment to God, and because of the consolation that he received from God. He could say, therefore, will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forever. Therefore, Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. And you see, that is applicable to us. Do you have that confidence in God, that he is your rock, your unmovable tower, your refuge, your strength, Do you know that this God is your Deliverer, the One who will enable you to defeat all your enemies? Do you have such confidence in Him that when circumstances go wrong, that your first recourse is to cry to Him, to cry out to Him agonizingly, fervently, crying to Him, Do you have that contemplation of God that David had? To see his wonders, to see his glory, to see his majesty, to see his power, to see his love, to see everything about him. And we're in a much better position than David was. He didn't have the scriptures, we do. We can see God revealed in his word. We can see his attributes, his glory, his majesty, his power, his love. We can see it all. And in your contemplation of God, do you realise that everything he does, he does because you are precious to him. You are precious to him, precious and honoured in his sight. Are you prepared, like David, to commit yourself to God? That your rule of behavior will be the law of God? That you will not knowingly disobey God's commands? That you will resist all the attacks of the evil one? And do you recognize that it is only by the grace and power of God that you will be able to accomplish anything? And do you receive that consolation from God, knowing that it is in Him and in Him alone that you must live and breathe and have your being? Knowing that God will be with you, step by step, day by day, in whatever circumstance you face, that He will be there. He is your God, your King, your Saviour. Let's join together in prayer. Our gracious and eternal God, we praise you. We are amazed that you could find delight in such as we are. And yet we thank you, Lord God, it is not because of what we are in ourselves, what we are by nature, but because of what we have become through the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we have been purchased by His blood, and because by His Spirit we are being constantly changed into His likeness, that one day we shall stand before you and we shall see our God as he really is. We shall see Jesus and we shall be like him. O Lord our God, help us to be like David. Help us to have this confidence in God. And as we contemplate him, as we commit ourselves to him, as we receive our consolation from him, O Lord God, may our lives be lives that are full of praise and adoration and worship for such a wonderful and glorious God. Hear us, Lord, we pray. Pardon sin, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.