Grace and Peace Church, if you would please open your Bibles to Psalm 144 for our expository scripture reading this morning. We are fast approaching the end of our journey through the 150 Psalms, and I was reflecting a little bit on that yesterday. It's kind of hard to believe we started this Almost four years ago, this September will be four years in the book of Psalms. So I believe the Lord has blessed the journey thus far and we'll continue to trust that he'll do so for these remaining Psalms. Psalm 144. And what we find in this Psalm is David both praising the Lord for his immensity, for his greatness and power and appealing to the Lord for deliverance. and for victory against the enemies that are oppressing him. And I think we can divide this Psalm into three different headings as we look at it this morning. Firstly, in verses one through four, we see a great contrast. Secondly, in verses five through 11, we see a glorious deliverance. And finally, in verses 12 through 15, we see a gracious blessing. So let us look first at verses one through four where David holds up for us a great contrast. And the contrast in these verses is between the power and immensity of God and the weakness and mortality of fallen mankind. Listen to how David describes the Lord our God in verses one and two. He is our rock. He readies us for the battles that we must wage. He is our steadfast love. He is our fortress. He is our stronghold. He is our deliverer. He is our shield. He is the one in whom we take refuge. He's the one who subdues our enemies, the one who protects us from the unbelieving world, the one who protects us from ourselves, from our own sinful flesh, and the one who protects us from the relentless attacks of Satan. Everything that we need as the people of God to persevere in this life, Christ, through him, God gives to us freely. Everything that we need. And why does God give us these gifts through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it because we have somehow earned his divine protection or somehow we've made ourselves worthy of his steadfast love and of his favor? Is that why God gives us these things through Christ? And the answer, of course, is no. Because look at how David describes us in verses three and four. He asked the rhetorical question, what is man that you regard him or think of him? Mankind is nothing compared to the greatness of God. In fact, we are less than nothing. And David continues, man is like a breath. His days are like a passing shadow. God is eternal. God never had a beginning. He never has an end. We were all created. We are unlike God in this way. And our temporary lives in this world, they are friends, but a blip on the radar of eternity. And the day will soon come when we die and we return to dust. And in just a generation or even less than a generation, we will be completely forgotten. No one will remember our names. There are very few exceptions to this rule. But despite this reality, despite this great contrast that exists between the eternal and all-powerful God of the universe and sinful, rebellious, mortal man, listen to this, God regards those who are his. This Unbridgeable chasm is not a stumbling block to God for regarding us or thinking of those who are his and caring for those who are his. The creator and the sustainer of the world remembers and cares for even the least of his children. Consider for a moment how Christ leads those who are his. The good shepherd knows his sheep. He calls us, how? By name. And he leads us out. He goes before us on the journey to heaven. Christ finds green pastures, as it were, for us to lie down in and rest along the way. And when we're thirsty, he leads us to the waters of refreshment. He restores our souls along life's journey to heaven. This is what Christ does for all those who are trusting in him. So let us give thanks and praise to God that despite our weakness in our mortality and our sinfulness, he regards us. He remembers us and he cares for us. Well, looking now to verses five through 11, we see that because man is nothing, because David even himself knows that he is nothing, he pleads with the Lord for a glorious deliverance from his enemies. David says this, bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down. Again, the distance between the creator and the creature is so great that God has to stoop down to engage with the world of men. And notice the majestic language that David uses. He's just extolled the great and mighty character of God and showed us how it is completely opposite mankind. And now he makes his plea for God's deliverance with word pictures that are drawn from the wonder and majesty of creation, smoking mountains and flashing lightning. Remember that centuries before David wrote this, God had once stooped down and redeemed his people from their enemies, particularly from slavery in Egypt. And God then entered into covenant with them at Mount Sinai. And of that covenant transaction, we read these words in Exodus chapter 20. Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off. And David uses, excuse me, the same language here when calling upon God to once again stoop down and deliver his people. David pleads with the Lord, touch the mountains so that they smoke, flash forth the lightning and scatter our enemies. And we see in verses nine and 10 how confident David is in God's deliverance. He is looking forward to what God is going to do in his acting on David's behalf, and he declares, I'm gonna sing a new song of praise to you, God. I'm anticipating already that you're going to answer my prayer, that you will be my shield and my refuge and my protector, and I am anticipating sitting down and singing this song of praise to you. David isn't double-minded. He's not asking in unbelief for God to do something. He's asking in confidence that God will do something. So brothers and sisters, we should do likewise. For all of you here this morning who are in Christ, you're trusting in him. You have turned from your sins and you have turned to Christ by faith alone. If this is you, Almighty God has promised to preserve you through every trial, every temptation, every persecution, every difficulty that you will face in this life and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom. You can trust him, you can have confidence in him. And so go with him, go to him, rather, in prayer, in confidence, regardless of whether your enemies be physical or spiritual, know that God is mightier than any enemy that you have in this life. and he can defend you and he will defend his own. Have confidence in the Lord. Looking now to verses 12 through 15, we see David anticipate the gracious blessing that will result from God's glorious deliverance. And I'm not sure what translation you have in the ESV, it leads with may, I think in the NKJV, may is, it's in that, it's in each of these statements. But the word that shows up in our English translations here as may is actually not in the original Hebrew. And what that means when we look at these verses, may our sons in verse 12, may our granaries, may our sheep in verse 13, may our cattle, May there be no cry of distress in verse 14. These may statements are not in the original text. And what that means is we're not obligated to look at these as requests, like David is asking the Lord to give him these things. Some translations account for this and they list these not as requests, but as expectations that David has in terms of what God will do, what the blessings will be resulting from God's deliverance. And I believe that this is more consistent with the theme and the context of this Psalm. So David is saying that when God provides his gracious deliverance, which he is confident he will, blessing will of necessity follow. The sons and daughters of Israel will thrive. They will have an abundance of food. They will have peace within their streets. And I think that this is also the right interpretation when we consider the Christological context of this Psalm. The Lord Jesus Christ has provided a gracious deliverance for his people. And that deliverance secures for us certain blessings and privileges as the children of God. And as it's been said many times in our own pulpit here, we don't have potential blessings in the new covenant. In the new covenant, we only have sure and certain blessings. One 19th century commentator said this regarding the love that God shows to sinners in Christ. He said, quote, here is the greatest wonder of all, that the most high and glorious Lord of heaven and earth should condescend even to notice our existence, that he should take any account of us whatsoever. Above all, that he should have thoughts of mercy and compassion towards us, that he should give his son to die for our sins. that he should, for his sake, pardon, bless, and save us, deliver us from the deepest misery, and raise us to that highest state of blessedness and glory. Oh, what wonders of wonders are here. Friends, how true is verse 15. Blessed and happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Well, as we conclude, I want to quickly point out that although David is the author of this psalm, his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, permeates this entire prayer. David was the king of Israel. Jesus is the king of kings. David was a son of man. Jesus is the son of man and the son of God. David relied on God's glorious deliverance in times of trouble. Jesus relied on the glorious deliverance of God in his victorious resurrection from the dead. In David's, God earned victory over his enemies. The people of Israel enjoyed a gracious blessing. In Christ's victory over sin and death, the true Israel, the Church of God, enjoys innumerable spiritual blessings for time and eternity. James Hamilton put it this way, what God did in Israel's past at the Exodus and in the Sinai Covenant foreshadowed what God was doing in David's life, and it foreshadowed what God would do in the life of great David's greater son. Christ will come, Christ will conquer, Christ will reign. So brothers and sisters, because of Christ's substitutionary life, his sacrificial death, his victorious resurrection, because of his ascension to the right hand of the Father where he rules and reigns and ever lives to make intercession for his people, you and me have every reason to shout with joy alongside David this morning, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. If you're able, please stand for the reading of God's holy word. Psalm 144. Hear the word of God. Of David. Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow. Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains so that they smoke. Flash forth the lightning and scatter them. Send out your arrows and rout them. Stretch out your hand from on high. Rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. I will sing a new song to you, O God. Upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. May our sons and their youth be like plants, full grown, and our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the structure of a palace. May our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce. May our sheep bring forth thousands and 10,000s in our fields. May our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing. May there be no cry of distress in our streets. Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Amen. May God bless the reading of his holy word. You may be seated.