Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Psalm three. Listen, for this
is the word of the Lord, a
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Psalm of David when he fled from
Absalom, his son. Oh Lord,
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how many are my foes? Many
are rising against me, many are saying
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of my soul, there is no
salvation for him in God. But you,
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oh Lord, are a shield about
me, my glory and the lifter
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of my head. I cried aloud
to the Lord and he answered me from
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his Holy Hill. I lay down
and slept. I woke again, for
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the Lord sustained me. I will
not be afraid of many thousands of people
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who have set themselves against me all
around arise. Oh Lord, save me,
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Oh my God, for you strike
all my enemies on the cheek.
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You break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your
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blessing be on your people. Amen, may be seated. I don't really
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know how to say this. I'm
a little embarrassed. I get to preach
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in lots of different churches throughout Arizona, and for that I'm very grateful.
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I know what it's like to be
alone without pulpit supply, and to be
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able to fill this important job is
is a great blessing to me and I
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guess in my confusion, in my
own forgetfulness, I had no idea that
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when I picked psalm three, it
was the last sermon that I preached in
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this church. It was four months
ago. If you don't remember, that's
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okay. It's going to be very, so much better for you if you
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don't remember. Had I known that
I had preached that Psalm already, I
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would not have picked this. And
yet I'm so glad for my my forgetfulness.
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This week is the heavy week to
be faced with such shocking news as
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we got this week, that a
member of the OPC was responsible for such
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hatred and such violence. It's in
that light that that I bring the same
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words to you that I brought four
months ago, and yet I pray that
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they are still fresh and new.
And God's Word is ever a comfort to
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us. We are living in a
time when words are, in fact,
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very powerful. We have great abilities
to reach the world with the words that
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we type and say. With the
Internet and the connections that we share with
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one another, words can be spread
with so much efficiency. It's like we're
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living in the new age of the
printing press. I get to teach history,
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I teach I taught on the printing
press this last week and the way
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it changed the world was was shocking
and to tell my students that were kind
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of going through the same thing right
now that you're living through experiences that humans
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have never had to live through before, in the way that words can spread
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so quickly and have such an effect. And yet what's happened with this type
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of technology? Have our words gotten
suddenly better? Have our words suddenly gotten
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more encouraging or more uplifting? No, they've gotten worse. Through the veil
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of anonymity, words can be said
without thoughts to the consequences of these things.
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Derogatory insults and put downs can be
posted without fear and, as we
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see from Psalms, psalm three,
the more things change, the more they
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stay the same. Long before cell
phones, long before the printing press,
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King David was mocked. He himself
was undergoing great derision, he was being
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humiliated and through the words of King
David, we see that he's experiencing something
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that that few of us have hopefully, ever had to really face or had
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to deal with. He's dealing with
enemies, not just rivals, not just
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opponents, but but people who are
pursuing his life. The insults he endures
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come not from unknown personalities but from
flesh end bone enemies. And it even
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though his life is in jeopardy,
it's not the sight of his numerous enemies
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that brings him the most distress.
I mean, David has been in battles
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before. He's been in battles and
he's won many victories. This is the
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same David, after all, who
struck down Goliath. But what really concerns
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King David is not the enemies that
he's facing, it is their words.
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Of all the things that his enemies
were surely shouting at him and could have
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said, which one does David himself
highlight? Which one stands out as being
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especially heinous? Did you notice what
insult creates the greatest sting for David?
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He says, oh Lord, how
many are my foes? Many are rising
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up against me, many are saying
of my soul. There's no salvation for
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him in God. It's not the
soldiers, then, that are troubling him,
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it's their taunt. There is no
salvation for him in God. And
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so, of all the things for
David to be troubled by, why is
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he troubled by this accusation. I
mean. This is the David who,
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like I said, he's slay Goliath
by the power of the Lord. At
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this point in his life, David
has already been annointed to be by God,
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to be the king. He's seen
the Lord work in his life in
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removing salt so that David could be
crowned. And what's more, at this
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point he's already received God's promise that
God would build him a house. He's
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been told that he will be the
father to an everlasting kingdom. And so
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David has been blessed by God,
blessed with a kingdom and blessed with the
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promise of an eternal kingdom. Why
would he, beat of all people,
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be troubled by the accusation there's no
salvation for him in God? Shouldn't he,
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of all people, know that these
words are just not true? And
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yet with this psalm, we're not
only told who wrote it, King David,
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were also told when he wrote it. Verse One begins a Psalm of
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David when he fled from Absalom.
His son David, wrote this psalm then,
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during a dark period in his life. The David we find here in
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Psalm three is the David after his
incident with Bathsheba. This is the David
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who stands guilty of adultery, guilty
of the murder of Uriah. In fact,
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the reason David's son is seeking David's
throne is because of his own sins
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and his failure to execute justice.
When Absalom Sister Tamar was violated by Amnun,
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David did nothing. So Absalom marched
against his father in Jerusalem, forcing
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David to flee the city. David
was driven from his throne, subjected to
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great humiliation, and not by a
foreign pagan ruler, but by his own
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son. Absalom's rebellion must have crushed
David, and it was while David was
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fleeing the armies of Absalom, broken
by the spiteful betrayal of his own child,
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that he sat down and wrote the
words of Psalm Three. This is
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important. It wasn't while he sat
on a throne with servants at his Beck
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and call. It wasn't while lying
in a comfortable bed with a soft pillow,
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knowing that all was well with his
family and among his people. This
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psalm comes to us in the midst
of David's most desperate and devastating hour.
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There was David, defenseless, covered
with shame, with his head downcast,
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lamenting his many enemies, lamenting their
terrible taunts that there's no salvation for him
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in God. And you see,
what's so devastating about that taunt for David
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is the thought that it might be
true. I mean, if you just
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compare psalm three to the psalm that
comes right before it, the famous psalm
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too. Their placed right next to
each other for a reason. PSALMTO likewise
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begins with enemies surrounding the Lord's anointed, just like in Psalm three. In
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Psalm two, verse two, the
Kings of the Earth set themselves and the
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rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying let us
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burst their bonds apart and cast away
their cords from us. But in Psalmto,
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victory was granted through the Lord's anointed. The Lord Brings Victory and justice
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to the nations through the Faithful Sun. Now, therefore, O kings,
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be wise, be warned. o
rulers of the Earth, serve the Lord
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with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Psalm two, verse twelve says kiss the
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Son lest he be angry, and
you perish in the way, for his
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wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are
those who take refuge in him. And
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yet here in Psalm three, immediately
on the heels of that promise, it's
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not pagan rulers who surround the king, it's not the nations who plot together,
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it's members of David's own family,
and not just any members of his
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family, it's his own son.
Remember the Lord's Covenant With David. The
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David would have a son who would
sit on his throne forever. Absalom's rebellion
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is the for this thing from a
fulfillment of that promise. David's flight from
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Jerusalem is in shame it it looks
like a disgraced king, not like the
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Lord's anointed ruler. The taunt that
there's no salvation for him and God it
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stings because it looks like, during
these circumstances, it could be true.
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These are not empty insults. There's
a sense in which it rings true in
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what David himself is is experiencing.
And you look at how abruptly David Responds
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to these accusations. In verse three
we have an abrupt transition. And notice
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what's not here in the midst of
insults, instead of excuses, instead of
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desire to argue against him and against
these men. Rather, he addresses the
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Lord in Verse Three. But you, oh Lord, are a shield about
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me, my glory and the lifter
of my head. I cried aloud to
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the Lord and he answered me from
his Holy Hill. David knew how bad
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things had gotten. Nobody had to
remind him how much he himself deserved what
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he was getting. And Still David
forcefully proclaims, but you, Oh Lord,
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are a shield about me, my
glory and the lifter of my head.
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Don't you see? It's only when
he's been stripped of everything that he
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can make such a statement like this. Without the safety of city walls or
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palace gates, without the large armies
of soldiers to protect him, without these
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things, David is able to see
where his protection truly is found. That
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God himself is David's shield. And
I love this imagery a shield about me,
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because, even though it uses the
imagery of a shield, that's not
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exactly how shields worked in the ancient
world. A shield could protect you from
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one direction, it couldn't protect you
from all directions. That's that's impractical.
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David is talking about this supernatural presence, the Supernatural Shield, the protection of
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the Lord who stands on all sides
of him, the perfect safety that belongs
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to him, as he's encircled not
by iron but by the very Lord of
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Heaven and earth. And yet how
can David say this? He calls the
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Lord his shield. And yet how
can he call the Lord His Shield?
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What has the Lord protected him from? Has he been shielded from shame,
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from humiliation? Has he been shielded
from the unnatural tragedy of his son becoming
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his enemy? has been shielded from
the consequences to his own sin and failures?
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No, the Lord has shielded him
from none of these things. So
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why would David Call The Lord His
Shield? What does the Lord protected him
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from about? The only thing you
could say is his own death, because
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David has lost everything except for his
own life. And this language of a
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shield that it implies danger, it
implies that you're in a battlefield, it
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implies that there's warfare going on.
When David Calls God his shield, he's
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not describing a situation in the absence
of tragedy, of opposition, he's not
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describing the absence of of great trials, the very imagery declares that he's in
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the midst of great trials, for
the Lord to be a shield and a
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protector. But you see, David
is confessing that even here, even in
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the depths, even where his life
is hanging on by a thread, even
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here, where it seems as though
all is lost, things are not as
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they appear. He's not fragile,
he's not broken, because he's not alone.
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The Lord is his shield and more
than that, David says, the
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Lord is his glory. It's only
when actual royal pomp and ceremony and when
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all that stuff can is wiped away, all the riches that David owned,
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all the earthly glory that he possessed, only when those things are gone can
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he truly say where his true glory
is found. All those things are gone,
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but his true glory has gone nowhere, because the Lord is his glory.
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You, oh Lord, are a
shield about me, my glory and
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the lifter of my head. So
where does this confidence come from? Why
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is Davil David able to say these
things in the midst of such sorrow and
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tragedy? The circumstances of Psalm three
are almost a hundred eighty degrees different from
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psalm to in Psalm two, of
the Lord's anointed head victory. Here David
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is fleeing from his enemies. Where
Psalm to look back upon the divided covenant
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where God promised a son to David
who would sit on the throne forever?
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David now has a son who's seeking
not only David's throne but also his life.
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The accusations which began psalm three attack
that very promise. And yet David
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spawns with confidence in the Lord.
You, oh Lord, are a shield
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about me, my glory, the
lifter of my head. I cried aloud
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to the Lord and he answered me
from his Holy Hill. I lay down
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and slept. I woke again,
for the Lord Sustains me. I will
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not be afraid of my of many
thousands of people who set themselves against me
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all around. Explains such such confidence
and such fearlessness. Well, I love
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how David's words here Echo and even
more ancient covenant, Looking back beyond the
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dividic promise. David's referring back to
that promise made to Abraham back in Genesis
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fifteen and the famous passage where God
establishes his unconditional covenant with Abraham. We
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find these words in Genesis Fifteen,
verse one. The word of the Lord
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came to Abram in a vision.
Fear not, Abram, I am your
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shield. Your reward shall be very
great. The Lord tells Abram. Do
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not be afraid, I am your
shield. David is echoing that very promise
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when he says you, oh Lord, are a shield about me. He's
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echoing this promise when he declares that
he will not be afraid, because remember
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what else the Lord told Abraham in
Genesis fifteen five. Look toward the heaven,
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number the stars. If you're able
to number them, and he said
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to him, so shall your offspring
be. Do you hear David echoing this
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very same promise when he calls God
the lifter of my head? Not only
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is David's posture likely gone from from
one of dejection to confidence, from looking
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down to looking up, but the
emphasis is on David's faith, which is
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being called to look up, to
look up to the stars. And when
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he looks up at those stars he's
looking directly at the promises of God,
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the very promise he made to Abra
Him. So that at the end of
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Psalm three, the multitudes return,
the wicked rabble once again surrounds the Lord's
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anointed and once again likes him to
despite how things appear from the outside,
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despite the accusations and the antagonism,
salvation still belongs to the Lord. Arise,
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Oh Lord, save me, Oh
my God, for you strike all
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my enemies on the cheek, you
break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation
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belongs to the Lord. Your blessing
be on your people. So the ultimately,
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this is a psalm about salvation,
and David is answering the question.
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Where is salvation to be found?
The taunt that says there's no salvation in
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the Lord is the Taunt of utter
blasphemy. It's the taunt of pure evil.
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It's Satanic, for it's the Taunt
of Satan himself. To believe that
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accusation is to agree with the enemy. To believe that is to stand with
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the enemy in opposition to the Lord
Lord. And this taunt is also answered
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by the response of faith. It's
the response of faith which says, with
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Verse Eight, salvation belongs to the
Lord, because this is what faith looks
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like. Just as David himself looks
away from himself, we two are called
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to look away from ourselves, just
as David looks away from himself. We
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two are to look away from even
David. What's evident from this psalm is
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that David, the anointed servant of
the Lord, is not the anointed servant
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of the Lord. This king of
Israel is not the King of Israel.
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Remember, in Psalm too, where
salvation is to be found, it's in
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the Lord's anointed. And Psalm two
ends with the blessing. Blessed are those
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who take refuge in him, in
the Sun, in the anointed, and
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so the triumph of Psalm too is
immediately meant with the elements of psalm three.
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David, the Lord's chosen anointed,
does not provide this refuge. Rather,
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he himself is in need of refuge, and David trusts not in himself
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but in the Lord. The Lord
is the one who promises deliverance. The
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Lord is the one who secures salvation. For this reason, it has to
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be the Lord himself who is truly
the Lord's anointed. How does David know
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that salvation belongs to the Lord,
even for a murderous king like himself?
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Don't you hear in David's words the
very necessity of the cross? How does
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David know his own sin will not
separate him from God. God's promise of
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Grace to Abraham and grace to David
and to the rest is only possible because
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of the certainty of what God himself
would do on the cross. Only on
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the basis of Christ's perfect atonement and
righteousness could God promise such blessings of peace
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and life to his people. Jesus
came to take upon himself the guilt and
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shame of our sin. Many rose
up against him, and yet he did
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not retaliate. The very people who
saw Jesus Perform Miracles mocked him and scoffed
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at him. His own creation spat
on him. His disciples abandoned and betrayed
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him. Though he was perfectly righteous, though he was almighty, he left
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himself without a defense and silently he
suffered for the sake of his people.
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And finally, upon the Cross,
he exposed himself to the eternal wrath of
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God. His hands were pierced with
the guilt of his people, his head
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was covered with a thorny crown of
shame. And therefore, by doing that,
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Jesus bore away the guilt of his
people. And by enduring this,
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Jesus removes shame from his people.
For you see, without Christ, such
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trayers for deliverance would amount to just
wishful thinking. In Ye, because of
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the work of Christ. Do you
see how Jesus is your perfect shield,
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who protects you not from the trials
and the torments and the losses of this
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life, but protecting you from eternal
death, protecting you from the accusations of
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Satan, so that Jesus is your
glory where the glory of this world would
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fade and perish. The Glory of
Christ is heavenly and eternal, and that,
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through the resurrection, Jesus is the
lifter of your head. For we
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are called to look up, to
look up from our own guilt and shame,
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to look up from our own sorrow
and loss, to gaze with eyes
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of faith upon where Jesus is now
ceded in glory. Its colossians three says,
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if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above
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where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on
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things that are above that, on
things that are on earth, for you
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have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God, so that,
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when Christ is your shield, what
can disturb you or bring you fear.
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And when Christ is your glory,
what can take that glory away from you?
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And when Christ is the lifter of
your head, what can take your
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eyes away from him? Truly,
this psalm is a psalm for the people
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of God. It's a psalm for
those who find their hope and their life
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in Christ, and these heavenly words
give expression to the confusion and frustrations of
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our own struggles. This is a
psalm for you, when your own doubts,
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when your own trials, call into
question the salvation of God, the
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goodness of God, the loving kindness
of your Lord. For here we're shown
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the accusations of the enemy and reminded
of that ancient accuser who would try to
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dissuade your confidence and your trust.
And yet these words lead us away from
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such accusations, these words lead us
away from from our own guilt and shame,
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because in this psalm we are led
to Christ and in Him we can
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declare with David, salvation belongs to
the Lord. Your blessing be on your
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people. Amen. Let's pray
