All right, I invite you to Psalm 3 this morning. And as you're turning there, let me ask you a question. Have you in your life, if you're here this morning and you profess to be born again, you profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ, have your personal experiences ever seemed to contradict the clear promises of God? Sometimes, seems that way. Now we might not want to admit that publicly, but we will admit it probably to our close acquaintances, our close friends. David is in the midst of one of those situations. His personal experience seems to contradict the clear promises of God. Now, one of the great truths of Psalm 3 is that it follows Psalm 1 and 2. I know that's earth-shaking for some people, but again, remember Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are the introduction to the rest of the book. They kind of sit there all by themselves, and they say to us, there are two ways to live. There's the way of the righteous, but there's also the way of the ungodly. There's two kinds of people in this world. There are the righteous and the unrighteous. Psalm 1 also gives to us a parallel in verse 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord, the law of Yahweh, and in his law he meditates day and night. And that theme, day and night, is repeated in Psalm 3 and in Psalm 4. Psalm 3 is a psalm that refers to the morning portion of our day. Remember we read that? When he said, I lay down and slept and I awoke. Right? So he's talking about he got a good night's sleep in the midst of a difficult situation. Because not everybody who lays down goes to sleep, right? Sometimes you just lay down. And as Proverbs talks about, you roll over in your bed, right? And then you roll over, and then you roll over. So you don't always go to sleep when you lay down. The psalmist lay down and slept, and then it says, I lay down and slept, and I awoke. Not everybody who lays down and goes to sleep wakes up. There are people who die in their sleep, right? And the old expression, you wake up dead. But it's related here. You lay down and sleep and you awake because Yahweh, or God, is the one who sustains me. So Psalm 3 is a morning psalm. And let me encourage you to read it in the midst of a morning when life is not always going according, seemingly going according to the clear promises of God. Psalm 4, on the other hand, is an evening psalm. And he says in Psalm 4 and verse 8, I will both lie down in peace and sleep. Why? For you alone, Yahweh, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4 is for the nighttime. And you're going to sleep, but all of those things that you've been battling with and wrestling with kind of hover over your mind like mosquitoes or bats chasing mosquitoes at night, okay? And they're just swooping, and it's really hard to get to sleep. Read Psalm 4. Psalm 3 reminds us, let me take us back, it reminds us of 2 Samuel chapter 7, and we need to keep 2 Samuel 7 in mind as we work through the Psalms that we'll be going through the next several weeks. Psalm 7 beginning, excuse me, 2 Samuel 7 beginning in verse 12. 2 Samuel 7 and verse 12. And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." And according to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. That weighs heavy on David's mind. God has revealed to him a permanent, lasting dynasty. And now, in Psalm 3, David is on the run from one of his sons, of all people. But we need to remember the theme of the first book of Psalms. Remember, Psalms is divided into five books, five larger books, and we need to keep that in mind. In the first section, from Psalm 1 through Psalm 41, the theme is this, God is faithful to his word, that he is, despite all evidence to the contrary, on the side of the righteous, and that he does fulfill his promise to support his king. So Psalm 1 through 41 emphasizes when your personal experiences and circumstances seem to contradict the clear promises of God. Does that ever happen in the lives of believers? Happens regularly, contrary to what some people would say, some false promises that some teachers would say. As a believer, life can be very difficult, can be very challenging. Can I take you back, if you're still there, maybe in 2 Samuel, but let me take you to 2 Samuel chapter 15. And after this, It happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him." What that means is Absalom is declaring publicly, I am the next king. And even though dad is not dead, I have 50 men who are gonna run in front of my chariot and who will say, in essence, make way for the king. So this is akin to starting your political TV advertisements, okay, three years ahead of the election. You are making a public statement. And Absalom makes that statement. Had he been alive in our day, this would have showed up on his blog, he would have had a video, he would have a podcast, and he would have printed literature, and everybody would know that Absalom was guaranteed to be the next king. At least, according to Absalom. The rebellion of the nations in Psalm 2 verses 1 through 3 has been replaced by the rebellion of a family member. It's one thing if China doesn't do what we want them to do, right? It's one thing if Mexico doesn't do what we would like them to do, but what if it's your own child? What if it's somebody in your own family who rebels? That's what David is facing. So, first of all, let's work through verses 1 and 2, and you should have an outline on the back of your bulletin. First of all, David prays concerning his threatening situation, and there are three things to keep in mind when David prays. and they should be there in your outline. First of all, his enemies are many. Secondly, they are mean. And thirdly, they are mouthy. People haven't changed any, have they? It's the same thing. People are the same today. And just because you have enemies, does that make you in the wrong? Just because people are protesting you, does that make you wrong necessarily? No. David faced a similar situation. David says, first of all, they are many. He says, O Yahweh, how they have increased who trouble me, or how numerous are my adversaries. And the word for adversary is the idea of people who are trying to restrict you, or we would say, perhaps, to put the squeeze on David, want to make life difficult for him. You see that in 2 Samuel 17 and verse 11. But he says, they are many. They just keep popping up more and more. More poles indicate, right? The last survey says, and people, it's just, they are many. And David says, not only are there many, secondly, they are mean. He says, they are rebelling against my rightful authority. David is the king. And to rise up against the king is rebellion. They have no sanction from God. They have no authority from God to remove David as king. But 2 Samuel 15 and verse 13 says that the crowd is now siding with Absalom and not David. Who put David on the throne? God. Who will take David from his throne? God. But Absalom has convinced the people that David needs to be removed. They are rising up against me. And thirdly, they are mouthy. Many are they who say of me, there is no help, there is no deliverance for him in God. So as David's adversaries close in for the kill, David desires some space to breathe and maneuver. And you remember from 2 Samuel, what does David do? He ends up fleeing. He ends up leaving Jerusalem. He leaves the capital city and gets away. He runs for his life. David's enemies are not so much questioning God's ability to rescue David, what they are questioning and what they are denying is God's willingness to help David. That's extremely important. There is no deliverance for him in God. God will not help David. Let's look at, again, maybe you just need to put your finger in 2 Samuel, but in 2 Samuel 15 and verse 26, 2 Samuel 15 and verse 26, David begins to believe the press. He begins to believe what's being said. Look at verse 26, but if he says thus, I have no delight in you, and he's referring there to God, here I am, let him do to me as it seems good to him. He's resigned to do what God wants, but now he's beginning to wonder, does God no longer delight in me as the king? And so the accusations from this multitude of people who are rising against David's God-ordained authority, they are taunting his vulnerability, and he begins to question And so what he does in verses one through two is he pours out his anguish at the feet of a God who is not supposed to care. Absalom is telling people, God doesn't support my father. David is tempted to believe that, but where does David go? He goes to the God whom Absalom says doesn't care. And so then we have, at the end of verse two, this word selah, which I don't want to belabor this, but we don't read it as we do our scripture readings. It's a word that seems simply to the Greek Old Testament, the Jewish people who translated the scriptures into Greek, translated it as pause. and there's a variety of different guesses as to what it means. It's most likely a musical term, and we interpret it as pause, so we don't say anything. We don't say Selah, we just leave it. But you're gonna see it again about 70 times in the Book of Psalms, and just remember, it's take a break, is probably the easiest way to think of it, just to stop and meditate on what you've just read. Which leads us then to verses three and four. David has confidence in God's protection. Even though he's been wrestling, he comes back and now he states this positively in his prayer. Look at verse three. First of all, he talks to God as his sustainer. He says, but you, O Yahweh, are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. I cried to Yahweh with my voice and he heard me from his holy hill." So he talks to God as his sustainer. He says, first of all, you are a shield And the Hebrew word that's used here in the sentence structure is the idea that God protects me. His shield surrounds me. A shield doesn't do that normally, right? A shield is only one-sided. Now, some shields were about as big as this pulpit, as far as this wide, and so you could hide behind them. But it didn't go all the way around. Okay, so he's giving us an illustration, but he's changing it to make it, even God is more than just a shield. He is a complete protection for me. So even while David's numerous enemies surround him, David says, ha ha. My God surrounds me even closer. That's the word picture. Secondly, he says, God is my glory. A king has glory. There's nothing wrong with that. And while David's enemies attempt to dishonor him or to, this is not a word in English, but let's use it to get the parallel, to unglory him, David says, God is my glory. David may have lost his earthly glory. People look at David and look at him now with contempt. God will not help him. There's no deliverance for him from God. Look at Absalom. He's young. He's strong. He has all these people who support him. He must be God's chosen one. Oh, and there's David. And look at David, he's running away with his tail between his legs. Obviously God is not blessing him. David says, Oh, Yahweh, you are a shield round about me. You are my glory. And not only that, he says, that this rebellion will come to an end. Look what he says. You are the one who lifts up my head. You are the one who restores me. Even though I am now bowed in dishonor, I will be elevated and restored. as painful as the rebellion may be. So first of all, David says, I have confidence in God as my sustainer. Secondly, in verse four, he's not ashamed to tell other people about his audible prayer to an accessible God. Look at verse four. I cried to Yahweh with my voice. And there are times when we can't even do that much, right? There are times when we can't even put, we cannot audible-ize what's going on in our hearts. And so we pray silently to God. David says, I cried to Yahweh with my voice. And what did God do? In spite of all the accusations, in spite of the condemnation, in spite of the media that said there was no help for him in God, how did God respond to David? Look at the end of verse four. And he responded to me, he answered me, he heard me from his holy hill. Which is where? It's Mount Zion. It's that city, excuse me, that mountain on the, what they call a mountain. It's not extremely high, but it's higher than the three valleys that are in Jerusalem. It's the one on the east side, just before we get to the Mount of Olives. There's that little ridge of hill there. It's called Mount Zion. David's palace is up almost to the peak, and then just north of David's palace was the tabernacle. That's Mount Zion. And David says, God responded to me from Mount Zion. And so while Absalom has seized the city, Absalom has control militarily of Jerusalem and Mount Zion. And even though David is not able to be in Jerusalem, David says, David's enemies do not control the situation. The hill does not belong to David. Mount Zion does not belong to Absalom. It's God's hill. So David's confidence is in God, and in face of all the threats and the ruckus and the theological opinions of his enemies, David turns his eyes to a protecting, honoring, restoring, and accessible God. As someone has said, the God-centeredness of David's gaze keeps him steady while his enemies try to decide what precise level of scum David is. David keeps his focus. Even though he was wrestling there in 2 Samuel 15, he has regained his focus. And he says, God hears me from his holy hell. And then there's a pause, which leads us to verses 5 through 7. And in spite of all that is going on, And if you've read in 2 Samuel, where David takes his household, he leaves some of his concubines back, but he takes all of his wives and the majority of his younger children, and they head east, right? They go up top of the Mount of Olives, they head down, they're going out, they're getting away, finding some place of safety. He's on the run. Keep that in mind as you read verses five through seven. First of all, David tells others, first of all, that faith sleeps. Not that faith ever goes to sleep in that sense, but when you trust God, you can sleep, right? Faith sleeps. What does he say? He says three things happen. And the emphasis, first of all, in verse 5 is, I. I laid down. In the midst of all that is happening, can you see the king? with his whole entourage of people, and all these government officials, and his wives, and his kids, and all these maidservants, and menservants, and they're all trying, and what does David do? He lays down. Sometimes you just need to do that, right? And sometimes we say to the littles, you know, you just need to lay down. Sometimes that's the best thing you can do, just lay down. But he goes beyond just laying down. Secondly, he says, I slept. Now, we're not always able to do that, are we? Sometimes we lay down and we stare at the ceiling or we roll on our side, we stare at the wall. In the dark, maybe we'll see something, we'll look at the shadows or we'll see the branches moving on the wall because of the street light or whatever and we look at those things because we're not able to go to sleep. David says, I laid down and I slept. And thirdly, He was protected while he slept. So Absalom and all of his cronies, or his groupies, however you want to refer to him, Absalom and all of his groupies could not harm King David. David laid down, he slept, and he awoke. Do kings ever get killed in their sleep? Yeah. Do rebellions ever take place and in the middle of the night someone sleeps in and causes harm to the ruler? Absolutely. David, I lay down, I slept, and I awoke. Why? For Yahweh, and that's emphatic in the Hebrew where it's placed in the words in the sentence, for Yahweh supports me even while I sleep. Aren't you thankful that God is not a man that he grows tired? It's one thing God has never done, by the way. God has never slept. Ever thought about that? I don't know how old you are, but you start figuring out how many hours you have slept in your lifetime. It's one thing God has never done. He has never slept. Now Jesus, when he came to earth and became man, began to sleep. And for the first time in his existence, his eternal existence, His body, in his body he went to sleep. That's an interesting thing. David goes to sleep, he awakes because Yahweh sustains me, Yahweh supports me. Or we can say it another way, Yahweh can look after his own kingdom. Whose kingdom is it? It's the kingdom of God that is represented at this current time, Psalm 3, in the nation of Israel with David as the earthly representative, right? Can David take care of the whole kingdom anyway? No. Can David and his army protect the kingdom anyway in the grand scheme of things? The answer is no. But Yahweh will look after his own kingdom. So David goes to sleep. As someone once said to his child, we're going to go to sleep and let God deal with it because he's going to be up all night anyway. And that's a good way for us to remember that. All of our worrying and all of our fretting and all of our unsettledness is not going to solve the problem. Let's let God deal with it in God's way, in God's time. And so David says, first of all, faith sleeps. Secondly, he says that faith is fearless. Look what he says in verse six. I am not afraid of the multitude, or the 10,000s of people who have set themselves, who have positioned themselves against me all around. Now, understand what David is saying. He does not say, I am not afraid because all of my enemies have left. Right? That's not what he says. Now it's easy for us to say, well, glad that's over. I'm not afraid anymore. David's situation is still the same. There are thousands of people, multitudes of people who have still positioned themselves against David all around. He is still surrounded. David's adverse situation has not changed. But now that he has awakened in the morning after a good night's sleep, and sometimes we need that, right? Sometimes we say to people, it'll be better in the morning. It will look better in the morning. David awakes and says, I am not afraid now. The enemy is still there. Absalom is still a rebel. Absalom still controls the internet. It was because he started the internet. But Absalom still controls the media. The advertisements are still anti-David. And David goes to bed, he sleeps, he awakes, and he says, circumstances have not changed, but my view has changed. I will not be afraid. Which leads us then to verse 7. Lastly, David says, faith prays. And his prayer is stated in verse 7 when he says, arise, O Yahweh, deliver me or save me. Oh my God. That's the phrase, by the way, that word deliver is the same Hebrew word that was used earlier in verse 2. It's translated in the New King James there, there is no help. There is no deliverance. David now prays that prayer to God, deliver me. Well, that'll never happen. God doesn't like David anymore, says Absalom. Where does David go? He goes to God. And he asks Him for the very thing that Absalom says is not possible. Arise, O Yahweh. Now, that word arise is the very word that is used in verse 1. Many are those who rise up. against me have have the enemy has the enemy risen up against David yes David says oh Yahweh you rise you come up you rise up for me Just like the self-righteous adversaries have risen up against David, now David says, God, you arise, and when God arises, others will have to fall. That's why he says, deliver me, O my God. After God rises up, he will deliver David, contrary to the self-righteous judgment of David's adversaries. And he says in verse seven, God has done two things. First of all, and I mentioned this on our slide earlier, on our PowerPoint. He says, first of all, I want God to bring public disgrace to my enemies. You see that? For you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. That expression, right, is God has slapped David's enemies on the face, which was in their culture, if you can't defend yourself against a slap, you can't defend yourself at all, and therefore you should be disgraced. That's the picture in their culture. So God has struck how many of David's enemies on the face? A couple? A few? Most? All of them. How many are there? Well, he uses the expression, the New King James says, 10,000s of people, a multitude, a whole bunch. and God has dishonored, publicly disgraced all of them, even though they are too many to count. This word, this phrase is used earlier in, well, elsewhere, I should say, in 1 Kings chapter 22 and verse 24, to be slapped on the face in their culture. was a disgraceful, dishonoring thing. So David says, first of all, you have brought public disgrace. Nowadays, when you talk to people, people who even know about Absalom, Absalom's reputation is, it's one of disgrace. Why? Because God brought that about. Secondly, God has disarmed David's enemies. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly or of the wicked. They are disarmed like a toothless lion, which allows the intended prey to go free. But sadly, there are some professing Christians who get upset about verses like this, that indicate that David's enemies need to go to the dentist. I like that expression. David's enemies have been de-toothed. God has taken their teeth out and they are toothless lions. David wants toothless enemies. there are some people who want to tame God. And David says, no, I want a God who will, first of all, publicly disgrace my enemies, and secondly, who will disarm them in defeat. People don't understand that if David, in his situation, is to have deliverance, what does that mean? What has to happen if David is gonna have deliverance? It means that his enemies will have to be destroyed, right? His enemies have to be disarmed. His enemies have to be disgraced. You can't have it both ways. You can't have a tame God who says, all right, both of you just sit in your chairs until you can behave yourselves. That's not what God does here. God is on the side of David, God has put David on his throne, and now he says, David says, God, you have disgraced Absalom, and you have defeated him, you have disarmed him. Which leads us lastly, and very quickly, to verse eight. Salvation, here's the third use of that word, deliverance. Deliverance belongs to Yahweh. Now, they said it wasn't going to happen, but David knew when he prayed, deliver me, oh my God, that, verse 8, deliverance would come. David trusted in God in the midst of great difficulty. So there is, first of all, praise for God's deliverance, and secondly, there is praise for God's blessing. Your blessing is upon your people. And even though the enemy has said, God doesn't care about David, God just cares about Absalom now, Your blessing is upon your people. And that blessing includes God's deliverance for David. It includes God's protection of David. It includes God's vindication of David. It includes God's restoration of David. And it includes a sustained life for David. Here is the blessing of verse one of Psalm one, blessed is the man, right? And David says that blessing has come. And it's also in Psalm two and verse 12, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. I want you to notice throughout this psalm, even though this takes place after David's sin with Bathsheba and David's murder of Uriah, what is missing from Psalm 3 is the confession. Why? Because David has already confessed his sin. He doesn't need to confess it again and again and again and again. The confession has taken place and God's forgiveness has already been granted. What David is dealing with in Psalm 3 are the consequences from sinful choices. God's forgiveness does not automatically erase the scars of our sin. And what David is dealing with in Psalm 3 is a scar left over from 2 Samuel chapter 11 and David's sin with Bathsheba. David doesn't need to confess any more sin here. He needs to trust in God in the midst of this difficult situation. Secondly, somebody has said Because there are those in our culture who say, well, if you can't sleep, then count the sheep, right? There used to be advertisements for mattresses many, many years ago. Counting sheep while you sleep. And some wag has said, if you can't sleep, don't count sheep, talk to the shepherd. That's exactly what David does. He goes to God in the face of his difficulty. And so, as you go through life, and when your present circumstances do not seem to align themselves with the clear promises of God, you need to read Psalm 3, first of all, but secondly, you need to remind yourself of God and his promises. Paul said many, many years later in Romans chapter 8 and verse 31, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He says that to Roman believers. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Then Paul adds in verses 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remind yourself and God, which is what David does, of his promises. When your circumstances seem to contradict the clear promises of God, remind yourself of God's promises and remind God of his promises. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning. And Father, every one of us brings with us some sort of spiritual baggage to this meeting this morning. There are things that weigh on us, and there may even be enemies that surround us. There are people who say things that hurt us. There are people who accuse us. There are people who condemn us. And like David, the temptation is to wonder if you no longer take pleasure in us. But Father, we can lie down and sleep and awake because you are the one who sustains us. Thank you, Father, for protecting us, for honoring us, and for restoring us, as you did for David. Thank you for your tender compassion toward us. And Father, I would pray this morning for those who are facing painful circumstances, perhaps even in families, that you would dispense your mercy and your goodness and your kindness and your compassion to them. Remind them of your promises and of your care. May we as a congregation be quick to show compassion to those who are in the midst of difficult circumstances. Thank you for Psalm 3. Thank you that David, as painful as it was, went through this time, but then wrote down these words for us by your Spirit that we could be encouraged in our times of difficulty. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. I ask you to stand for our benediction this morning, and our benediction is taken from Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21. And again, I think it's so appropriate, these benedictions and how God aligns them, timing with our teaching. Now, to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. You are dismissed.