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[0:00] entire psalm. It's 11 verses. And when you find it, what's the last word of the psalm? Somebody.

[0:12] Okay, so we're there. All right, let's begin. Verse number one, Psalm 57, verse one, be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed.

[0:32] I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps.

[1:05] My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise.

[1:19] Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. Let's pray together. Father, please help us now. Help us to get something from the scriptures that will help us, and Lord, I pray that within us would be a resolve that will love you, that will serve you, and that nothing in this life can shake us from that. And Lord, that's going to have to be a work that you do in us, and it's going to have to be our hearts humbling themselves before you and submitting to it. But God, I ask that you'll move in our hearts, that you'll take this time and use it for your glory. And help me to say something that'll be a blessing to your people.

[2:15] And I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So here we got Psalm 57. And I didn't note it, but look, you probably have a little note there underneath where it says Psalm 57, a little heading before the first verse that says, to the chief musician. That's not the hard word. The next one's the hard word. Al-taxith, miktam of David, meaning a prayer of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.

[2:42] And so what follows is his words in a pretty tough time in his life. And I know we've studied some of that. I don't know how long ago it's been. We studied some of it. I don't even think we finished that study that we started with some of these Psalms of David and connecting where he was in his life to the words that he penned. And here's another good case of it because it's a rough time in his life.

[3:04] He's in a cave. He's not getting good sleep in the cave. It's not very cozy in the cave. You'd have to acknowledge that. He's not at home. He's not in his bed. He's not with his wives or children or families or friends. He's in a, he's like, see those hills up there? He's up there somewhere where nobody down here can find him. He's in a cave. He's always on alert. Yet in this condition, he pens some words.

[3:33] And these, these are some words of faith. In verse number one, he said, my soul trusteth in thee. These are words of faith. He says in verse three, he shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. So he hasn't wavered in his trust or his belief and what the Lord had told him and that he'll make good on it.

[3:56] He pens words of faith. He pens words of praise. And the latter half of this Psalm, be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. He says, I'll sing and give praise. Awake by glory. Awake up and so forth. I'm going to, I'm going to praise thee in verse nine among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations.

[4:16] Be thou exalted, O God. These are words of praise. But it's verse seven that, that I really get caught up on. And in verse number seven, he pens some words of resolve where he says, my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed.

[4:34] And I can't tell you how many times I've read through that Psalm, just reading through one after the other. And every single time that verse, that phrase just grabs my attention and it ministers to me. And that's versus this line of this verse has been a big help to me in my life.

[4:54] And it's been a big help to a lot of Christians too. And it can be a big help to you too, if you'll let it. My heart is fixed. I want to preach that as the message tonight. My heart is fixed. And I want to say a few things about it that I hope the Lord will use. And the first thing I want us to see is that these words of resolution with David, it's a personal, a personal resolution. He said, my heart, mine, my heart is fixed. David's not speaking for his King. He's not speaking for the men that he's with. Even some of these men, when something goes down, they turn on him and they spake a stoning him because some things went down with burning Ziklag and their families and things. These very, he's not speaking on their behalf at all. This is a personal resolution. David's not speaking for his family or for anybody else. What he's testifying to us as a personal decision that David has made a commitment that he has made on the inside. David's in a cave and the going is getting tough and it's going to get tougher and tougher each day. But David says, my heart is fixed. I'm not giving up. I believe what

[6:08] God told me and that he's going to bring it to pass. I believe he's going to see it through. I believe he's going to see me through and I'm going to be stay where I'm staying. He made a personal resolution. He made one on the inside. And I, I don't know that David would say it in this way, but it's something I just thought on and wrote it down. David says, if God told, or, um, if somebody's going to back out on this, it's going to be God. It's not going to be me.

[6:34] My heart is fixed. It's a personal resolution. Now I'll turn back to the book of Job, just a short way back to Job chapter one. And you know, the story of Job and how he lost his children in one day, all of them. He, um, later then loses his health. And let's point out some things that came out of his mouth in this, in this, the gravest of situations. Job chapter one and verse 20, after he loses all of his possessions and family and children, then Job arose and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and complained. No. And quit. No. He, he worshiped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sin, not nor charge God foolishly.

[7:36] So then Satan goes back and forth with God and ends up, uh, smiting him with boils and his wife shows up in verse nine, then said his wife on him, does thou still retain that integrity, curse God and die.

[7:49] But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speakest. What shall we receive good at the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil? And all this did, did not Job sin with his lips.

[8:02] So considering this, this distress that Job's in, I want you to notice Job's heart was already fixed. Job in one day loses all his children, all his possession. Then is stressed out, rightfully so stressed out, weaker vessel of a wife turns on him. And then his friends show up in verse 11 and on, and they don't say much. They don't say anything for a while. Then they accuse him. And he says, miserable comforters are you all. You're not helping a bit came here to help me out.

[8:32] You're not helping a bit, but they didn't change his mind on anything. Why? Because Job's heart was fixed. What kept him from sinning with his lips? What kept him from charging God foolishly?

[8:44] What was inside of Job that he could bless God? His heart was fixed. No matter what happens in this life, good or bad, good or evil, whatever way it goes for me, I'm going to do right. I'm going to stay with God. His heart was fixed on the Lord. It was a personal resolution with Job, just like it was with David. Job wasn't reliant upon his children because they're gone. He wasn't reliant upon his wives and her spirituality. It wasn't there. But he retained his integrity. It wasn't reliant upon his friends. It was a personal resolution on the inside. Come back to, I should have told you to keep your place in Psalms, but come back to Joshua. Look at the book of Joshua, the last chapter, 24.

[9:35] It's a personal resolution. My heart is fixed. It's individual. It only works for one person, and that person is you. Joshua 24, and starting verse 15, here's Joshua dealing with these Jews and trying to get them to serve the Lord as they try to conquer the land. And later in his life, verse 15, it says, and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

[10:25] And Joshua told him right then and there, you people have a choice to make this day. You need to make a choice. You need to make a decision. And whatever you do, that's on you. You can follow what your fathers have done and just follow them and do what they did. Or you can follow the people that are around here that aren't right with God, these Amorites. Whatever you do, know this, my heart is fixed. As for me and my heart, I don't care what you do. It's not going to affect me because my heart is fixed. We will serve the Lord. It's already been decided. His heart was fixed. He wasn't looking to get the pulse of the crowd to see which way it would go. He wasn't interested in that at all. He'd already made his decision up. Joshua wasn't seeking approval and he wasn't seeking acceptance. It was a personal resolution. Let me ask you a question tonight. Is your heart fixed?

[11:21] Is it fixed? I'm not talking about your wife's heart. I'm not talking about your husband's heart or your kids' hearts or your parents' hearts or your friends' or the church members' hearts. I'm talking about your heart. It's personal. David said, my heart is fixed. Is your heart fixed?

[11:39] Could you stand there when some calamity comes on you and say, that stinks, but you know what? My heart is fixed. I'm with God no matter what happens. Is your heart fixed? Is it fixed on Jesus Christ no matter what? If so, it's a personal decision. It's a personal resolution and it's only good for one person, you. It's only good for you. You can't fix your heart, the heart of your wife.

[12:08] You can't fix your kids' hearts. You can be an example, but you can't settle in their heart how they're going to react and live and what they're going to respond. You can't do that, but you can fix your heart. You can't choose for anybody else, only you. Is it fixed? I'll come back to the Psalms.

[12:29] Again, we're in Psalm 57 and we see, first of all, that this is a personal resolution, a personal thing for David, only for David. And I want you to see, secondly, I already noted that in the heading there that it says, when he fled from Saul in a cave, in the cave. And I want to notice the place of this resolution. The place, it's in a cave. I've mentioned it already, but literally he's fleeing for his, he only has one, his life. This could be the end for him. I can't really put myself in his shoes fully. I can't understand the reality, the intensity, the threat, and the level that it's on, how high this is, how that, the adrenaline, the fear. I can't understand that. I've never been in that position. But that's the place in which David made this resolution. My heart is fixed. He had the king of the land concerned about just one thing, get David. Find him and kill him. And here he is in a cave hiding. And he says things like this in this passage in verse number three. He says in Psalm 57, three, he shall send from heaven and save me from, it says the reproach of him, that's King Saul, that would swallow me up. In verse four, my soul is among lions. And I lie even among them that are set on fire. Even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue, a sharp sword.

[14:09] Sounds like he didn't even trust the men that he was close to. It says in verse six, he says, they prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. He's not living too large, is he? He's not too excited. There's an ant. They've digged a pit for me. Before me, they're trying to get me to fall.

[14:35] This is the place that David decides, my heart's fixed. I'm not going anywhere. He's talking about lions and fire and spears and arrows and swords and net and a pit and the king that's coming after him and trying to swallow him up and kill him. If there was ever a time in his life where he could just say, enough, I can't do this anymore. I've had it. Everybody's after me. Would this not, would we not justify this? I've seen people quit on God and a whole lot less. They weren't, nobody was coming for their life. I've seen people walk away from church and from the ministry and just, just go off to the world like unbelievable. Shake your head. How in the world could you stand in a pulpit and preach and then not even show up in church? And yet they do it. And yet they do it for a whole lot less than what David's doing here. And it's worth noting that instead of finding a reason and instead of being exhausted and saying day after day and week after week, I have to deal with this and put up with this and run for my life. Instead of quitting, this is the place where David declares, my heart is fixed.

[15:55] Oh God, my heart is fixed. You know what'll show you or give me an indicator of where your heart is? It's those tough times. It's those times that are inconvenient or the change that comes into your life that you don't want. It'll tempt you to quit. You'll find a good reason to. You'll even justify it.

[16:18] You'll find a justification and it's just enough. So many do. And I think this place for David is significant. It's a hard place. And instead of looking for a way out, David affirms where his heart is. As a matter of fact, he doubles down on it and says it twice. My heart is fixed.

[16:39] The place of this resolution. Back in Exodus 32, you don't need to turn there. As you recall, Moses being up on the mount and God says, what's going on down below? It says the people have corrupted themselves. And God even says this. He says, let them alone that my wrath may wax hot against them. He's just ready to destroy them. He is not happy with what's going on. And Moses, you know, he comes down the mountain and the Aaron and the golden calf and the whole situation grinds into powder. And when that thing is getting, when Moses inserts himself into the situation and he confronts it, he says this, he says, who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi come across, come to Moses. What about the sons of Dan? What about Manasseh?

[17:39] What about Judah? Mighty Judah? Where's Reuben? Where's all the Reubenites? Where are that? Where's all of them? Well, just the tribe of Levi walks across and stands with Moses. Isn't that interesting? You don't realize in that moment, those guys are completely horribly outnumbered by their own people. And Moses says, gird on every man his sword. We're going to take care, take some action right here and right now. Some people are going to die for what went on. And those Levites came over there. They're not among the crowd, outnumbered, standing for God and standing for what's right. And although the people were against them and this situation was extremely ugly, when these men were called upon to make a choice, the decision to them was obvious. I say their heart must have been fixed already, already fixed.

[18:38] I wonder if you can find yourself sometimes to be outnumbered by people or by family or by friends or maybe completely alone and find out the scene, the situation to be grim like David or like in the situation with Moses and the children of Israel. Nothing to take and nothing to stand on but the word of God.

[19:02] I wonder in that ugly place, can you double down and say, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. My heart is fixed.

[19:13] The place of the resolution was when it was ugly. It wasn't an easy thing to do. The easy thing to do would be to walk away and give up. But that's when David doubled down. Now look another thing back in the psalm here, right? Psalm 57, where we were.

[19:32] And look at the object of his resolution. When he says in verse 7, my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. What David's not doing is declaring his allegiance to a woman. He's not expressing his faithfulness and his loyalty and his love to the mother of his children, the love of his life. He's not saying, honey, my heart's fixed on you till death do us part. That's not what these words mean. He's not pledging his allegiance to his country or to his countrymen. He's not taking a vow.

[20:12] He's not standing before them to say, I'll fight and I'll give my life for you and for this country. David's object of his resolution and his commitment. It's not his employer. It's not his father. It's not his children. It's his God. In Psalm 108 and verse 1, he says it again. He says, Oh God, my heart is fixed.

[20:36] He said in verse 1, my soul trusteth in thee. That's his object of his trust and of his resolution. I read it in verse 3 where he describes his belief that God is going to take care of this thing for me.

[20:51] He's going to send from heaven. He later says something similar to that, that they're going to lay a net, but Lord, that's in verse 6 in the midst where they are fallen themselves.

[21:04] And David here expresses the object of his trust and of his resolve. It's none other but his God. He's got it under control. The object then of your resolve, Christian, of your fixed heart, can be no one but the Lord. Nobody. You can't put it in a person. You can't fix your heart on a person because that person can leave you. I mean, they could pass away and be gone. It could be through no fault of their own, but they could not be in your life anymore. You can't put your faith in a person. You can't resolve to be with God as long as they're helping you or with you.

[21:45] That personal resolution has got to be toward the Lord God, the object of your resolution. People will let you down. People will leave. People will move on and friendships will dissolve.

[22:01] Relationships will dissolve. Life has a way of surprising you. Absolutely. Absolutely. And times of instability will arise without warning.

[22:16] And that's why your heart can't be fixed on anything established by man. The object of your resolution has got to be the one that never changes. The one that never leaves nor forsakes. The one that never lets you down.

[22:30] Jesus Christ. The same yesterday and today and forever. That's the only object of your resolution that'll work. As I mentioned earlier in the passage in verses 1 and verse 3, David didn't lose his faith in the Lord. He didn't lose his faith in what God promised him.

[22:49] Something that began as far back as when Samuel anointed him with oil and a promise was made there. He realized he's to be the next king over Israel. And here he is running from the king of Israel.

[23:02] But he didn't lose his faith in what God promised him. And things are ugly but he continued to believe and trust that God would work it out. The object of his faith was God.

[23:15] And I'll just say this as I stand here. The object of my faith and the reason I'm standing here tonight is the Lord God. The Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't... I'm not here for you. I'm not here for my wife.

[23:28] I'm here, first of all, primarily for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the way I live and the way I want to live. And then let's look at one more thing here.

[23:40] In Psalm 57, I want you to see the result of his resolution. In verse number 7 again, he said, My heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed.

[23:50] I will sing and give praise. Really, David? In the cave? I will sing and give praise. Is that the result to your resolution?

[24:03] Is that the way you act when people are against you? Is that the go-to for your heart? Is to start glorifying God and praising? When you're in a mess? When you're in a corner? When you don't know how something's going to work out or resolve?

[24:17] You just sing and give praise? Well, when your heart is fixed, and when your heart is settled, that you're going to love God, that you're going to serve God, that he's got first place forever, no matter what, that his way is right, it's going to result in your heart, as he does, exalting him and praising him.

[24:39] And it's going to steer you off of your problems. And as the passage says, it's going to turn you toward his mercy, toward his truth, and toward his glory. All three of those words show up a few times in this passage.

[24:52] Turn to Acts chapter 16. I want to take you to one more place in the Bible. Acts 16. The result of his resolution was to sing and to give praise and to exalt the Lord God.

[25:12] He said it twice, Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. In Acts chapter 16, here's Paul and Silas.

[25:25] And what I think is these two fellows had the same fixed heart that we've read about. Look at verse 22. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them.

[25:42] And when they had laid many stripes upon them, many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.

[26:00] Now, consider that these guys are bloody. They've been ripped on in their backs, and there is blood on them. And then they get yanked into this prison, no, not to where there's any form of liberty, to the innermost prison.

[26:15] And now they're locked up, shackled up, feet fast in the stocks. They're not walking anywhere. I don't know the position they're in, but they're locked up, going nowhere fast.

[26:25] And verse 25 says, And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.

[26:40] David reacted like this in the cave. My heart's fixed, I'll sing and give praise. Paul and Silas had the same fixed heart, that the circumstances that they're in, bloodied in the innermost prison, locked up and shackled, late at night, at midnight, didn't shake them one bit.

[26:59] when your heart is fixed, there's a song in there that comes out. And you can't help but to glorify God when your heart is fixed.

[27:13] If your heart's not fixed, then the circumstances can push you. And the voices can call you and distract you. And things can deter you from where you ought to be and where your focus and your heart and your love should be if your heart's not fixed, if it's not established.

[27:33] You know, if you went out to, I'd say, a pretty good illustration would be those mountains up there, I'd say they're pretty fixed. And I could go up there and yell at those mountains.

[27:47] And we could all, I could come back in here and say, I need your help. And we could all go up there and scream at those mountains, say, get out of my way. And they're fixed. I could take my fist.

[27:57] I could take my feet. And we could just go at it for days and days until we're just done. And we're not going to do much of anything. When your heart is fixed, it's not going anywhere.

[28:09] And when the rainstorms come and just beat on it for a while, the winds blow against it, still there. When it clears out, praise the Lord, it's good to see they're still there.

[28:21] When your heart is fixed, it's not going to go anywhere. And your mouth's going to have a song. There'll be a result of it, is that you can glorify God.

[28:32] These guys aren't complaining. And it wasn't David and it wasn't Job. I don't see them fussing about it. I saw them starting to turn and blessing the name of the Lord and singing and giving praise and singing praises unto God and praying.

[28:48] My. Is that the way you react when things go against you? Is your heart fixed? Is it settled in your heart whom you're going to love and who you're going to serve?

[29:04] That's the message. That's the thought. I love that line from Psalm 57. My heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. It's a personal resolution that everybody in their own life, whenever and however, when God impress, you have to make it on your own.

[29:21] I can't decide it for anybody in here. I can't even decide it for my children or my wife. It's a personal thing. Everybody's going to have to decide, am I going to serve God with my life?

[29:34] Am I going to do everything for his glory? Am I going to chase some other things? Am I going to allow the world to get a piece of my heart? It's a personal resolution. The place of his resolution from David being in such an ugly place in a cave shows us, it shows us how sad we are sometimes to let little things get us turned sideways and not be fixed.

[30:02] I pointed out the object of his resolution was his God. And putting your faith or resolve in anything else, it's not like those mountains. And there ought to be a song that comes out of it.

[30:16] It will. There's a result when you're fixed. And when you're fixed, it hurts. It can hurt, but you can still glorify God. You can still glorify God and just let it go. And some of those songs in our hymnal, one of them I just thought of is Be Still My Soul.

[30:33] You ever read the words of that? I love that song. That's powerful. And it talks about the tough stuff in life and just you're not going to get caught away with it. I'm not going to get drawn into it.

[30:44]  There's some songs in this hymnal, I'm sure of it. Some songs that are written from the perspective of trials and things that shake moments.