Psalm 27

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to Psalms once again.

[0:11] The book of Psalms, Psalm 27. We're trucking through these few Psalms and I am preparing myself to go through the book of Zephaniah.

[0:28] That's kind of on the horizon. God willing, be able to start it. I'd like to. The last Sunday of July, maybe the first Sunday of August. That's kind of the plan.

[0:40] So we'll see how that works out. That's the plan so far. But so today, and we're just doing, did 25, then last week 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.

[0:52] That's kind of the, we're trucking through the Psalms. They're short Psalms. Short, important, emotional Psalms from David.

[1:07] Possibly during the time of Saul. Maybe during the time of Absalom. It's hard to decipher the time frame of this. But it would apply to both enemies coming after him.

[1:19] So Psalm 27 this morning. Psalm 27 of David. Yahweh is my light and my salvation.

[1:29] Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

[1:42] Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, this I shall be confident.

[1:56] One thing I've asked from the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh, to meditate in his temple.

[2:09] For in the day of trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle. In the secret place of his tent, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.

[2:25] I will offer up, excuse me, I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice.

[2:38] Be gracious to me and answer me. When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me.

[2:49] Do not turn your servant away in anger. You've been my help. Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me.

[3:02] But Yahweh will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord. And lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries.

[3:15] For false witnesses have risen against me. And such as breathe out violence. Unless I have believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

[3:29] Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh. Have you ever experienced a time where you can't wait to introduce a person you love dearly to someone else?

[3:53] I enjoy doing that when I introduce people to my wife. She's wonderful. You need to meet my wife.

[4:04] Or someone else that's maybe important to you. You want to introduce someone. This is so much. This is my wife. This is my kids. This is my mom. This is whoever. You're so excited to do that.

[4:17] You get enjoyment from that because you think so highly of this person. That's what David does here.

[4:30] His God was everything to him. I titled this psalm Come and Meet My God. David is saying come.

[4:41] Meet my God. This is who he is to me. This is who he has been for me. And he's going to walk through four characteristics about God for us.

[4:55] Come and meet my God. This is who he is. He's going to list them off. This, this, this, this. He will help and defend his people. This is my God.

[5:07] When confronted with many enemies, we must seek the Lord and worship and find in him our confidence, contentment, comfort, and courage.

[5:20] That's who he is. When people meet him, that's who he is. He helps and defends his people. These psalms, actually, 26, 27, 28, they're three consecutive psalms where David focused upon seeking the Lord in his house.

[5:41] And as I said earlier, the situation resembles that of David either during the time of Absalom or during the time where he's running from Saul. But either one, you can see how they apply to both aspects, both events in his life.

[5:59] Come and meet my God. So who is he? Number one, he's going to list off who God is. He is my confidence. I trust him. Verses one through three.

[6:11] These are four identities of God, four characteristics of God from David that we see from the psalm, Psalm 27. First, he is my confidence.

[6:23] He is my confidence. I will trust him. I trust him. This is how he begins. Yahweh is my light and my salvation.

[6:34] Light, when darkness surrounds you and overtakes you, he's light. He's my salvation. He is the defense of my life.

[6:46] These terms, it denotes joy, happiness, life, hope, metaphors of divine holiness, truth, life. God in his holiness gives life.

[6:57] He's my salvation. The only one who can save me. The only one who can deliver me. He's my confidence. Notice, God is our light.

[7:10] God is our salvation. It's who he is. All that we need is wrapped up in God alone. And everything that takes place in our lives comes to instill in us a deeper love for and devotion to God so we will make much of him and enjoy him forever.

[7:32] So we trust him. We trust Yahweh God. He is my defense. He says, defense of my life or my refuge.

[7:44] I go to him to seek refuge from the storms, from the darkness, from the howling winds. He's my refuge. His life is hidden as a fortress built upon a rock.

[7:56] So if David can stand upon the rock of his God, notice the questions. Verse 1, Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I dread?

[8:11] When one continually places his or her refuge in the Lord, what reason is there to be afraid? What reason is there to be in dread? We can, with confidence and courage, look past the trials and hardships of our lives.

[8:34] Psalm 118 brings us up. 118 verse 6, The Lord is for me, I will not fear. What can man do to me? That's a verse I quote when I go up to Jerome on Fridays.

[8:51] The Lord is for me. What shall I fear? What can man do to me? God's promises are before your eyes. So you can have unshrinking confidence in Him.

[9:08] When we take comfort in the fact that God will surely care for us and be kind to us, it will overwhelm our hearts with admiration for Him, causing us to trust Him.

[9:20] may it banish all fear. May it banish all fear from us the way Paul explained it in Romans 8, 31.

[9:31] If God is for us, who's going to be against us? We're overwhelmingly conquerors. Trust Him.

[9:41] But how can this be? The enemies were coming against David. If this is during Absalom's time, during his rebellion, David was running from his throne in Jerusalem while he's saying this.

[10:02] But David trusted. He put his confidence in the Lord alone. Listen to what John Piper says in his book, Don't Waste Your Life. Quote, It is simple trust in Christ that in Him God will do everything necessary so that we can enjoy making much of Him forever.

[10:23] Every good poised to bless us and every evil arrayed against us will in the end help us boast only in the cross, magnify Christ, and glorify our Creator.

[10:38] End quote. Everything that's going on in your life. Blessing is directing you to the cross to magnify Christ and glorify your Creator.

[10:50] An evil, a hardship is directing you to magnify Christ to look to the cross and glorify your Creator. We're confident of this and we can come to God at any time.

[11:04] That's why the writer of Hebrews says this in Hebrews 4 verse 16, Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

[11:20] Look at what David says in verse 2. When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries, and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Whenever mischief his enemies conspire against him, he fearlessly stood up against them, trusting in Yahweh.

[11:38] He's going to cause them to stumble. He's going to cause them to fall. They won't get far. Look at what he says in verse 3.

[11:49] Though a host encamp against me, though war arise against me, people hated him and surrounded him, they rose up against him to make war, but for David, he was confident.

[12:04] He says, my heart will not fear. This I shall be confident. God is my confidence. I trust him. No matter how great and threatening the danger of our enemies may be, we must refuse to be afraid and remain confident in our God and who he is.

[12:25] when devastation ensues, our trust in God will prove invincible because we rely on God alone.

[12:37] And it's those times where we're tempted to question him, to question his character. Instead, David, instead of that, he resorts to confidence confidence in God.

[12:52] He's my confidence. I trust him. Here's number two. He is my contentment. I want him. First, he's my confidence.

[13:04] I trust him. Excuse me. Second, he's my contentment. I want him. I desire him. Look at verse four.

[13:17] One thing I've asked from the Lord that I shall seek. His confidence in Yahweh grew out of his communion with Yahweh.

[13:29] His confidence in the Lord grew out of his communion, his fellowship with the Lord. Attacks bring distraction, weakness, disappointment, discouragement.

[13:42] That's why it must be one thing. One affection. One goal. One purpose. One drive. One passion. Here's the one thing that I seek that's driven me that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple.

[14:08] That his desire will become the very thing that drives him to action. That our desire may be the very thing that drives you to action. to dwell in the house of Yahweh to be with him.

[14:23] His desire was not so much to see the tabernacle but to worship Yahweh to adore Yahweh. People use this to talk about a church building.

[14:35] It has nothing to do with a church building. It has to do with God himself. That's where he was. He wanted God himself. He wanted to live for the glory of God.

[14:45] He wanted the continuation of his communion with God. He wanted that to be the one chief goal of his life. A life long dwelling in God's house having intimate spiritual fellowship with God.

[15:04] God's presence was in the tabernacle and he didn't see it. He didn't see the glory of God. He wasn't allowed in there.

[15:15] He wasn't allowed in the Holy of Holies. So what is he talking about? He's talking about being with the Lord experiencing the goodness and the grace and the faithfulness of God. That's what he's talking about.

[15:29] That's why he says to behold the beauty of the Lord. He wanted to behold and feast upon God. the pleasantness of Yahweh.

[15:43] And he says to meditate. Not meditate in other words not like that but meditate means to ponder means to reflect to reflect in the tabernacle.

[15:55] He was so content with Yahweh. He only wanted God to fix his gaze on God and his beauty the beauty of his goodness it might ring true to you the beauty of God in the sense of Exodus chapter 34 when Moses saw his back and the Lord declared words he said the Lord the Lord the compassionate and gracious God slow to anger and abounding in covenant love and faithfulness.

[16:32] That's who he is. And that's really the essence of the gospel. The gospel is I want Jesus more than anyone or anything else. That's the heart of the gospel.

[16:44] You turn from your sin you turn away from yourself you realize you should be judged and say God I should be condemned I need you I want you Jesus save me that's the gospel.

[16:59] you want Jesus more than anyone or anything else. If you're here you don't know Jesus come and he will satisfy you.

[17:11] And look at what he says in verse 5 from the day of trouble he will conceal me he who abides with God is kept safe in his great sovereign power.

[17:23] God's sanctuary was a refuge in which he could hide himself in the secret place of his tent he will hide me he will lift me up on a rock he says in God's sanctuary he was removed from all dangers lifted high above them set on a rock I mean think about if he's running from Saul or Absalom the sanctuary was his desire being with God was his sole purpose a rock is a place of inaccessible safety an impenetrable tower personal triumph in times of adversity that's who God is to me he's my contentment I want him alone and he says in verse six and now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me enemies of a person who keeps close communion with God will be brought low and

[18:23] David was completely sure of it our heads will be lifted up and kept safe in God in God's timing not in David's timing he knew that but notice how he resolves to respond verse six I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy he vowed to offer thanks and praise after he'd been delivered no even though he wasn't delivered I'm going to do this he affirmed and confirmed himself in the hope of deliverance in the hope of God and his character we will be able to extend our praise and thanks to God with shouts of triumph and sacrifices of jubilant thanks and joyful contentment him

[19:39] A psalm of Asaph, Psalm 73 says, verse 25, Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

[20:01] And then Asaph says in verse 28, But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. Yes. That rings true.

[20:11] Piper again, I'll quote this for you. Quote, If we starve, He will be our everlasting life-giving bread. If we're shamed with nakedness, He will be our perfect all-righteous apparel.

[20:27] If we're tortured and made to scream in our dying pain, He will keep us from cursing His name and will restore our beaten body to everlasting beauty. He's my confidence.

[20:40] I trust Him. He's my contentment. I want Him. Number three, He's my comfort. I need Him.

[20:50] The reality of danger became consciously felt here in the psalm. It changes a little bit here.

[21:02] So that the voice of joy became the voice of crying out to God. That's why He resorts to, He was confident.

[21:14] I'm going to trust Him. Contentment. I want Him. But now He's, You're my comfort. I need you. His prayer was first, was getting right with God, seeking His favor, seeking God, to know in order to do the will of God.

[21:34] But now He sought to know, to do the will of God, within His present circumstances, before asking for safety, within those circumstances. Notice what He does here in verse 7.

[21:47] Hear, O Yahweh, when I cry with my voice. Be gracious to me. Answer me. Notice the commands here. The cries to God.

[21:59] Hear me. Be gracious to me. Answer me. Imperatives describing His request, His cry for God to help Him.

[22:10] He cried out to God as an expression of desperation to move God to help Him and to come to His aid.

[22:22] The Psalms are filled with the psalmist crying out to God. When you're in danger, Christian, cry out to God. When you're struggling, cry out to God.

[22:34] Bring your complaints with such awe and with such reverence and fear of God. Say, Lord, I am in danger here. What? What's going on?

[22:46] I need you. Look at what He does here in verse 8. You said, Seek my face. My heart said to you. Your face, O Yahweh, I will seek.

[22:57] Hard to translate from the Hebrew, but you could translate it like this. My heart said of you, Seek my face. Your face, Yahweh, I will seek.

[23:08] So what does He mean? What's He talking about? In other words, I know that you want me to seek you, so I'm going to seek you. Because I need you.

[23:22] Richard Sibb says, The more we know of Him, the more we shall admire Him. I need you. You have to be my comfort in this because I cannot do this.

[23:37] And then look at what He does in verse 9. The requests are now being poured out. Notice the do not, do not hide your face from me.

[23:48] Do not turn from your servant. Do not abandon me. If this was during the time of Absalom, He would be thinking about Saul and what happened to Saul.

[24:05] The Lord turned away from Saul. The Lord abandoned Saul. David did not want to end up like Saul. He wanted to continue to seek Yahweh and needed the Lord to continue to be on His side.

[24:21] Notice, do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. And the idea is, the face is turned away so that he's not facing the blessing of the Lord to have the Lord's face to be the blessing.

[24:37] The face away from Him would be His anger. So He's saying, don't turn your face away from me. I need you. Notice, there's the phrase, I need you. You've been my help.

[24:52] Do not abandon me nor forsake me. O God of my salvation, in the middle of this and in the end of this, He declared God as His helper and Savior. Only Yahweh God could help Him.

[25:06] Only Yahweh God could save Him. And then look at what He says here in verse 10. For my father and my mother have forsaken me.

[25:19] When earthly people give way, like parents, the Lord will still be the one upon whom we can depend.

[25:33] The ones closest to us, like parents, spouses, siblings, when they give way, He says, the Lord will take me up.

[25:49] God will still be faithful. Any kindness, love, and attention from others are inferior compared to God's mercy, God's love, God's grace, which encompasses His people.

[26:03] God will be both your father and mother. His love is more precious. His love is much more lovely. And gospel relationships we see are more permanent and much more precious than relationships with family.

[26:21] Grace should be thicker than blood. And David here experienced the opposite. Those closest to Him turned on Him, which is why some people think maybe this was Absalom because his own son turned on Him.

[26:37] His own family turned on Him. Jesus experienced this with His own family. Our own Lord did this.

[26:47] Our own Lord experienced this. They didn't believe in Him. They thought He was a clown until after His resurrection.

[27:00] But you see, Jesus followed the Father. Jesus trusted the Father. Jesus depended upon the Father. That's exactly what Jesus did. Setting an example for us to do.

[27:14] We will trust Him. And then look at how David responds here in verse 11. There's a forsake. Don't forsake me. Don't turn your face away from me. I need you. And here's where he puts himself under God.

[27:28] Teach me, verse 11. Teach me your way, O Lord. Lead me in a level path because of my foes. Show me what conduct I should follow to please you, O God.

[27:45] A road to follow led in the way of God without the crookedness of sin. Notice, you see here, humility. He's teachable.

[27:56] There's cheerful obedience. So David, he's really humbling himself here. He's saying, Lord, I need you to teach me.

[28:09] I'm ready. If we want God's protection, then we must first confess and renounce sin. We should not expect God who promises to give us a happy satisfaction of himself and gives us faith to trust in his faithfulness to bless us in our wicked, crooked ways.

[28:25] No way. And look at verse 12, the last verse in this section. He is my comfort. I need you.

[28:35] Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me and such as breathe out violence.

[28:47] These enemies would devour him as a victim thrown before a hungry lion. Their souls, their desires wanted him. He was oppressed on every side by wicked men.

[29:02] He says, false witnesses, slanderers. Don't let them conquer me, Yahweh. It gives us great comfort to know that God maintains his cause for us as people and opposes the cruelty of our enemies.

[29:22] He's the only one who can comfort us. Realize this. He's your confidence. You can trust him. He's your contentment. We should want him and he's our comfort.

[29:33] We need him. And then last, number four. He is my courage. I trust him.

[29:46] He is my courage. I trust him. He kind of gives himself a pep talk here. David's giving himself a pep talk. Gave himself self-encouragement to stronger confidence.

[30:02] Kind of a courageous pep talk right before the big football game, right? And it's odd here too. Verse 13. It just says, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

[30:14] The sentence is unfinished for poetical emphasis. You have there in your, if you have a New American Standard has it in italics, I would have despaired.

[30:25] But that's not in the Hebrew. It's added. And it's, nothing's there because it's, he's trying to drive home a point is for emphasis. It's not a past faith but a present faith he now has.

[30:42] He declared his confident belief to see the proof of God's goodness. He wanted to have courage in God. In other words, we must believe to see.

[30:56] Not see in order to believe. That's normally what people say, right? I need to see to believe. No, no, no. You believe so that you can see.

[31:09] We must trust to see God's goodness in the land of the living. We must trust God and then we'll see his goodness. That's what David's saying here.

[31:21] Our hope, in other words, cannot be in our circumstances. Otherwise, we doubt everything regarding God and his character. If you've missed everything this morning, don't miss this.

[31:37] Our hope cannot be in our circumstances. Otherwise, we would doubt everything regarding God and his character. But when we trust God and his character, that instills the courage to keep going forward, to keep trusting him.

[32:05] And that's why he ends the psalm this way. He's reminding himself, come on, David, come on. Wait for the Lord. He's talking to himself.

[32:15] What is it that Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said? Don't listen to yourself. Talk to yourself. Tell yourself the gospel. Tell yourself, wait for the Lord.

[32:27] Be strong. Let your heart take courage. He's my courage. Wait for the Lord. And remember, this means wait.

[32:38] It doesn't mean to wait like this. You're waiting for the taxi to come take you home. Waiting for somebody to come pick you up. Wait here means to trust the Lord, to have a positive, patient endurance in him.

[32:54] 25, we looked at this a couple weeks ago. 25, verse 5. Lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation. For you, I wait all the day.

[33:06] I trust in you. Even Psalm 40, verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry.

[33:18] It's all throughout the Psalms. And sometimes it means a waiting like this, but majority of the time, wait means to have a trust in him. A positive, patient endurance in him.

[33:31] So, David realized his weakness. Do you realize that you're weak? Do you realize how frail you are?

[33:47] And he knew his trust in the Lord was the means of preserving him. So, he commands himself to continue to trust, to take courage in the Lord and to trust him.

[34:04] Let your heart give proof of strength, he says. Be strong. Strength and courage come only from trusting that God will be faithful to his promises.

[34:18] Strength and courage come only from trusting that God will be faithful to his promises. If there's great fear, great temptation, great feelings of wrestling through the situations of your life, resolve.

[34:42] I will trust him. I want him. I need him. I will be courageous in him. He'll be my courage to keep trusting him.

[34:53] He's my courage. I will wait upon him. When confronted with many enemies, be they within or without, we must seek the Lord and worship and find in him confidence, contentment, comfort, and courage.

[35:16] May he be your confidence. Trust him. May he be your contentment. Want him. May he be your comfort.

[35:28] You need him. May he be your courage. Keep trusting him. Let's do that now in prayer.

[35:39] Father, we proclaim that we are so inadequate, Father.

[35:53] Our faith is weak and frail and yet thank you that you are strong and enduring and so is your character.

[36:05] so hear us, we pray. Be our confidence. Be our contentment.

[36:17] Be our comfort. Be our courage. Help us as a body to trust you.

[36:30] help us as a body to want you. Help us as a body to remember that we need you and help us as a body to wait upon you.

[36:48] I encourage you to take these few moments to ponder, to reflect what we've seen from God's word this morning here from Psalm 27.

[37:18] and we'll sing in a few minutes. Just take these few moments to cry out to God and humble yourself before Him and reflect upon how He's spoken to us this morning from His word.

[37:45] Do that now, please. follow me on p随 time that ive on p随 this morning without me. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. gusta below your water .

[37:59] Let me Thank you.