[0:00] So, we'll be looking at Psalm 20, not the whole Psalm, although I'll give you some background on that. We'll be looking primarily at verses 4 and 5.
[0:12] But what do we do with this? What are we to do today, in our day and age, with all our technology and all of our wonderful activity and hustle and bustle?
[0:26] What are we supposed to do with this ancient prayer or petition for or by an Israelite king? This is what Psalm 20 is.
[0:40] It's a petition, an intercessory type prayer, by or for the king. Now, do we look at this psalm as a merely historical artifact?
[0:50] It's something that was in the history of God's people in the past. That's it. Or do we look at it as the living word of God? Now, hopefully, in this congregation, that hopefully at least the vast majority of you would say, we want to look at it as the living word of God.
[1:09] Good. But what does that mean, to look at a passage like this, with all of its nuances, with all of its strangeness to us and our current situation?
[1:24] How do we translate it into what we are to do and how we're to live today? This is a prayer of intercession really for anyone facing almost any crisis.
[1:43] Unlike many of the psalms, which contain complaints against the Lord or various enemies and a cry out to the Lord for help against those enemies, there's nobody listed here as an enemy or something hostile.
[1:58] And so it is applicable to all of us in all of life's tight spaces. The way it's expressed here is a day of trouble, and I'll be saying more about that as we look more at this psalm.
[2:12] But it applies to each of us. We all face troubles in life. So unless you're a person that's stranger than I've ever met and have no troubles, this psalm applies to you, okay?
[2:25] And is a word of encouragement to you to strengthen your faith. As I said, we're not going to be looking at everything in this beautiful little psalm. And it's strange that you would hear that from me because I love Hebrew poetry and I love the psalms, so the poetry is just magnificent.
[2:44] But there are some things which we do need to be aware of so that we understand the two verses, verses 4 and 5, that I'm going to draw our attention to. We have to see those two verses set in the context of the whole psalm.
[3:00] They're in the middle of the psalm, and they play a very important role in the whole psalm. First of all, we need to look at the nature of this psalm. It is a psalm of petition or intercession.
[3:15] And it's primarily by and for a king, the anointed one in verse 6, or the king in verse 9. By way of extension, it applies to everyone who is in need of saving presence of the Lord.
[3:31] The use of the expression, the anointed one, or the anointed here, that explicit expression, his anointed, is used in several places in the book of Samuel to refer to the king, especially the Davidic king.
[3:49] For instance, in 2 Samuel 22, verse 51, great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David, and to his offspring forever.
[4:04] So the whole spectrum of the covenant blessings of God come into play with this term, the anointed one. The king was God's representative of his people.
[4:15] So it wasn't just an isolated individual. He represented all of God's people. The king. Also in the Old Testament, as I'm sure you're aware, prophets and priests were also anointed and called anointed ones.
[4:30] The priests had to be anointed in order to go in and do the service of worship. And prophets were called by God himself his anointed ones. But the term anointed is also used of the Messiah in particular.
[4:46] He is going to become God's anointed one for the task that God has set him aside to do. But by way of extension, the people of God in general are called the anointed ones as well.
[5:02] They're God's anointed. We see that in Psalm 28, verse 8. The Lord is the strength of his people. He is the saving refuge of his anointed.
[5:14] So we all are God's anointed. We share in that anointing that the Messiah, Christ, has. He was anointed as prophet, priest, and king. And we share in that anointing.
[5:26] So this is a psalm about us in a certain sense. Sure, it's about the king, the Davidic king. But it's also about us. The broader use of this idea of the anointed is also seen in the personal pronouns throughout the psalm.
[5:42] You see over and over again the pronoun you. So it's very personal. This isn't some abstract thing. It's a petition for you. Okay? Examples of that.
[5:53] May the Lord answer you. May he send you help. May he grant you your heart's desire. Over and over again there's this personal application. This is not just abstract theology.
[6:06] It's something that has to do with us in our daily lives. It's further highlighted by the change from the personal pronoun you to we or our and us.
[6:19] We see that in verse 5. May we shout. Or again in verse 5, our banners. Or in verse 7, we trust.
[6:30] And in verse 9, answer us. So we see this switch, if you will, from you to us. There's an inclusion of all of God's people in what's going on here.
[6:43] This is a psalm that we can all pray, particularly in a day of trouble. Context of the psalm, it's a psalm of David. So historical context is the early phase of the monarchy in Israel.
[6:58] It has to do primarily with some kind of military crisis, but it's not spelled out exactly what that is. We know that it's a military crisis because there's talk in here about trusting in chariots and horses.
[7:10] So it's a battle scene. These are the chief military instruments of power, expressions of power. And so it's in the Davidic time, a time of military crisis of some sort.
[7:24] However, the use of the expression, the day of trouble, describes any crisis of any individual or group of God's people.
[7:38] The term used here for trouble means distress, misery, anxiety, anguish, dismay, affliction, calamity, hardship, trouble, oppression, fear, terror, in fact.
[7:52] So it refers to any kind of affliction, physical or mental or psychological. It's not just external enemies are attacking us or are on the walls, protect us from them.
[8:06] The word has to do with a restriction, a tightness. We're in a situation where it doesn't look like we're going to be able to get out. And that can be external enemies, physical dangers, or it can be mental.
[8:24] And so we need to see this as applicable to all of us. The root verb means to bind, to tie up, to shut up, to be in a cramped place, to be impeded or restricted, to be in straits or distress and tribulations.
[8:43] So it applies to all of us. We can't go, oh, well, that was back then when David, and so that doesn't have anything to do with me today. We all face days of trouble, of distress, where things are perplexing at best.
[8:58] The word family is applied to any kind of restricting or claustrophobic experience. It's often used in military settings relating to danger or defeat like as in a siege.
[9:10] We don't have that fear. If you imagine you're in a city, a walled city, and you're surrounded by enemy, I mean completely surrounded. They've been laying siege to you for a year or more.
[9:22] Food is running short. It's a day of trouble. The Israelites knew that. And so it's talking about that kind of a situation, but it's much broader than just a military siege.
[9:34] It refers to a crisis too great for either an individual or the people of God as a community to face without the saving help of God.
[9:46] It's not a cry of despair. It's not saying, oh, we can't deal with this, and so just give up. No, it's saying this is trouble. This is physical trouble.
[9:58] This is mental anguish. But it's in the context of a relationship with the Lord. So as we look at this, you have to ask, have you ever been or are you currently in such a situation?
[10:15] If not, have you ever known someone who has a literally tight spot in the most literal sense where there doesn't seem room to breathe, where there's no light at the end of the tunnel, where no answers seem available, where sleep escapes, where your strength is at its end, where the pain just doesn't stop, whether it's physical or mental agony or anguish or anxiety or misery?
[10:51] Ever been there? You will if you haven't. That's the reality of life in a fallen world. So this psalm is not some glorious theology.
[11:05] It's about the realities of life as we face it, with all the pain, with all of the anxiety, with all of the frustration, with all of the dangers that are there.
[11:20] This is the context of this psalm. And it speaks a word of comfort designed to strengthen our faith amidst the harsh and often crushing realities of life in a fallen world.
[11:36] And it's important to note here that Old Testament theology of affliction as expressed in this term, the day of trouble, as well as other Hebrew terms, is not humanistic or horizontal, where the Lord is completely absent from the situation.
[11:56] In Scripture, affliction may have been even caused by the Lord as judgment for sin. But it's generally the Lord who hears the cries of the afflicted and delivers them.
[12:11] The psalmist here in Psalm 20 bases his confidence, as we'll see, on Yahweh's ability and willingness to deliver, as well as the psalmist's past experiences of such deliverance.
[12:26] He knows that Yahweh is not only capable, but has experienced that delivery in the past from days of trouble. And so he's confident that Yahweh will do that yet again.
[12:39] He bases that confidence on Yahweh's own deliverance. The cause of the affliction in Scripture can vary, but the overriding focus is to cause God's people to look in faith to Him for deliverance.
[12:56] He knows your plight and has moved to care for you. Underlying the day of trouble is the sure faith that the Lord is a refuge and a source of deliverance and strength amid the crushing realities of life.
[13:14] That deliverance is to be found only in the Lord and His presence. And that deliverance is certain. And I want us to get a sense of that. And so I want to mention several passages in the Psalms where this word for trouble is used, not so that we see, oh, it's really bad, but so that we see that trouble is always in a context where God hears and answers and delivers.
[13:42] It's not just God saying, oh, you got troubles? Join the club. Get over it. It's God hearing His people's troubles and responding.
[13:54] So I want you to just let the truth of God's Word here bathe your soul. Give you assurance of His help amidst trouble. Let it strengthen your faith in the One who loves and cares for you beyond your comprehension.
[14:12] First, in Psalm 4, verse 1, answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have given me relief when I was in distress or trouble.
[14:24] Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. For Psalm 18, verse 6, in my distress or trouble, I called upon the Lord. To my God, I cried for help.
[14:35] From His temple, He heard me. And my cry to Him reached His ears. Psalm 22, verse 11, Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.
[14:56] Psalm 25, verse 22, Redeem Israel, O Lord, out of all of his troubles. Psalm 31, verse 7, I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love because you have seen my affliction.
[15:13] You have known the distress of my soul. Or Psalm 32, verse 7, You are a hiding place for me.
[15:27] You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. See, there's trouble. Scripture acknowledges that.
[15:39] But there's the Lord who hears our cry for help and comes willingly, graciously, to intervene, to bring deliverance. Psalm 34, verse 17, When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
[16:00] The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Again, God is not far off. He hears.
[16:17] One last passage out of Isaiah. Those of you who are in the Saturday course, I sort of like Isaiah. I'm just putting it mildly.
[16:28] From Isaiah 63, verse 9. It's an amazing passage. There we read, In all their affliction, He was afflicted. And the angel of His presence saved them.
[16:43] In His love and in His pity, He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. It's not that God just knows when we have troubles.
[16:57] He is troubled when we are. That's how much He loves us and cares for us. And that's what this psalm is all about.
[17:07] How do we respond to that? Troubles, it can get hard, that there's a Lord there on whom we can rely. Next, we need to look at the structure of the psalm.
[17:22] And I talk about the structure and that's important because in Hebrew poetry, it's not just the meanings of individual words that gives us the sense of what's going on.
[17:32] The structure itself aids in our understanding of it. Things are repeated to drive home a point. Today, in modern literature, you avoid repetition.
[17:44] That's boring. In the Bible, repetition is there because we're thick-headed. We need to hear it again and again. We need to hear it in a little bit different way. And so you'll see in this psalm, there's many different parallel expressions as we go through.
[17:59] Or the form of the verbs give nuanced senses and meaning to words. And so as we look through this, we need to understand this. You look at the psalm overall, it's divided into two major chunks.
[18:12] Verses 1 to 4 is stanza 1 and verses 6 to 9 is stanza 2 and in the very middle, verse 5 is this middle verse that stands out and we'll look at a little bit of how that is.
[18:26] So you have four verses, a middle verse, and then four verses. We need to look at the petitionary nature of this psalm. It's clearly seen in the eight phrases in verses 1 to 4 which express the psalmist's desire or wish or pray or plea.
[18:44] May the Lord do this. May. There's this pleading with God to do certain things. So it's a petition. The Lord alone can answer and protect and send help and give support and remember and regard with favor and grant and fulfill.
[19:05] Eight things are listed there and the psalmist goes to the Lord for these things and only to Him. It's not if I really work hard I can do this.
[19:18] That's not what's going on here. This is a day of trouble. And only the Lord can provide the help that's needed. And so the psalmist goes to Him and petitions for the Lord's help.
[19:28] The expression of faith in the Lord's salvation is found in the second part. The first four verses are an expression of petition. The last four verses are an expression of faith in the Lord's salvation.
[19:44] Some say confidence but today confidence can get misleading I think because sometimes you think of self-confidence. That's not what is meant here. The psalmist is confident yes but he's confident that the Lord will do what He says.
[19:58] that He will save. And He expresses that freely. So we move from petition to this statement of faith and confidence in the Lord. In verses 6-9 there's a change from petition to confident expression of faith in the salvation that God has promised.
[20:18] We see this in the explicit statement of assured faith in verse 6. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed. There's no doubt there.
[20:28] Why? Is it a hope against hope and maybe God will do this? No. God has promised this. And the psalmist is taking God at His word and He says I know this.
[20:39] I know it now that the Lord saves. It's a confident and sure faith in Yahweh the one who never changes. The I am that I am.
[20:50] The one who always keeps covenant. Who always does what He has promised to do. who remains faithful no matter what the circumstances. Our circumstances change.
[21:03] But God doesn't. He remains faithful no matter what those circumstances may be. So we see it as well in the contrast between some in verse 7 who trust in chariots and horses.
[21:19] the most fearful weapons of the ancient Near East. That these people collapse and fail. And those are contrasted with God's people who trust in the name of their God and they rise and stand upright.
[21:39] And so there's this confidence that yeah other people can trust in what they want. We're trusting in God. They'll fall but we'll stand up. In the midst of our troubles.
[21:53] So now I want us to look at verses 4 and 5. The kind of core of this psalm. And verse 4 the first the whole of verse 4 and then the very end of verse 5 is an expectant petition.
[22:11] And we need to learn from that. When you're in trouble what do you do? Oh oh it's just so bad it's just so bad it's just so bad and you fret and worry and well how different are you than someone who does not know the living God?
[22:29] Here we need to see what we're to do. We're to petition our God. So we need to look at this. Verse 20 verse 4 may he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans.
[22:44] And then the word fulfill is repeated in the last part of verse 5 may the Lord fulfill all your petitions. So it's saying basically the same thing again.
[22:55] And we need to see the relation of verse 4 to the first three verses in the psalm. It's not an isolated expression that we just go oh God's just going to take care of the desires of my heart.
[23:08] And that's it. No this is just one more of these petitions that have been listed. It has to be seen in parallel with the other six petitions in verses 1 to 3.
[23:21] There we're told may the Lord answer you. When you're in trouble you cry out to him. Hopefully. And here's the assurance that he would answer.
[23:32] Or may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. And the word that's used there for protect expresses the thought of being lifted up above the fray so to speak. To be kept safe, protected, made strong.
[23:46] May he send you help. And here the word for help conveys support and aid even comfort and relief. May he remember all of your offerings.
[23:59] things. The word remember has a wide range of meanings in the Old Testament that has a covenantal context. God remembers his covenant.
[24:10] He remembers his people. That's why he redeemed them out of Egypt. He remembered the covenant with Abraham. So he says, I've got to deal with these folks. So when God remembers things, it's not just, oh yeah, yeah.
[24:24] It's not like my to-do list. I write them down on paper and I promptly put the paper aside and forget. But that's why I put it on the paper so I can pull it out and go, oh yeah, I'm supposed to do that.
[24:34] God's not like that. He remembers. He remembers us, his people. And that's what the petition here is, remembers your offerings.
[24:45] Offerings were given in a context of petitioning God help. And so I'm offering up something. And sacrifices, burnt sacrifices. And here's a plea that God would remember those.
[25:00] And then also the last of the six petitions that are parallel to those in verse 4, regard with favor your burnt sacrifice. This expression is a description of abundance and refreshment.
[25:13] Regard you with favor. In a certain sense, verse 4 serves as a summary of all of these petitions. May God grant you the desires of your heart and fulfill your plans.
[25:27] first of all, as we look at this, we need to see that the focus is on the Lord. There's two parallel expressions here, both expressing what the Lord will do.
[25:39] This is not saying, when you're in trouble, here's things you're supposed to do. And it's up to you to work it out and get out of that trouble. No. What the psalmist does is say, you're in trouble?
[25:50] Good. Now, here's what God's going to do. That's where the petition focuses. He says, may he grant.
[26:02] It's about a gift from the Lord. The Lord Himself. It's not something we do or have earned or deserve. Whether because of our good deeds or of our stellar faith.
[26:17] We have such good faith, God's got to do something for us. No. Or we're such righteous people, God's got to do something for us. No. This is a gift.
[26:28] When you get a gift, you don't deserve it. That's why it's a gift. It's a paycheck if you've deserved it. But a gift is something God gives. Parallel with this, may he grant it and fulfill.
[26:43] The may he is implied in the form of the verb. And to fulfill is to bring something to completion, to finish it. To carry it out, to perform it. And again, this is what the Lord does, not us.
[26:57] It's not to say, you've got your plans worked out, stick with the plan, go for it. No. God has to fulfill those plans. And that's what the petition is for. This is what the Lord does, not us.
[27:12] This expectant petition is directed to the Lord. It is a plea for his grace and salvation. saying, Lord, grant these things.
[27:24] Lord, fulfill these things. That's grace upon grace. But there's also a human element in this petition. But not quite what we might expect.
[27:38] Again, there's two parallel expressions. Your heart's desire and all your plans. And it's paralleled with your petitions. The same thing. the text here literally when it says your heart's desire, literally says as your heart.
[27:54] So it's the idea of your heart has these desires. And it's a petition for God to grant those desires. The point of this petition is that the Lord would grant the desires of your heart.
[28:10] And heart, the word that's used here for heart in Hebrew, is not your center of your emotions or your emotional life, your inner emotions. Rather, it refers to the core of one's being, intellect, will, and emotions.
[28:25] The whole person at the deepest level. So what's this saying? We need to realize that it is only those heart's desires which are pleasing to the Lord, which he's going to grant.
[28:40] This is not a shopping list kind of a thing, saying, okay, what's the desire of your heart? Well, God will give that to you. Okay? That's not what's saying. What if it's a sinful thing that your heart desires?
[28:53] You know, I'd like to have $10 million. Well, the Lord knows better than to give this person $10 million. Or I may lust, or I may steal.
[29:05] I want what somebody else has. Those are sinful things. This is not saying you can have whatever you want. Rather, it's as our desires are pleasing to him.
[29:16] God will grant those desires. We'll say more about that as we go on. But I want us to stop and just say, ask ourselves, what's your heart's desire?
[29:27] Be honest. You don't have to tell anybody. What's your heart's desire? Health? Friends?
[29:41] Better job? More money? Better house? What is it? Be thinking about that as we go through here. Parallel to this, your heart's desire is all your plans.
[29:55] And notice, it's all your plans, not just some. And plans refer to counsel or advice. And here, too, the point is not that we can expect God to bring to fruition whatever we would like to have happen.
[30:07] Like, oh, I'd like to do this and this and this and I'd like to go there and there and there and I'd like to meet these people and do these things. So I've got all these plans. Now, God, take care of this. That's not what this verse is about.
[30:20] I could have evil plans. I want to go murder somebody. I want to go steal something. I want to go use drugs. I want to whatever. This is not saying God's going to do whatever we plan, okay, any more than He's going to give us the desire of our heart no matter what that is.
[30:39] In Scripture, human plans often fail. And God even frustrates the plans of human beings. It's only plans which are made in accordance with God's perfect plan that we may expect God to fulfill.
[30:53] people. Again, it's a gift of God's grace that He would do this for us. And again, we'll look at this more in a bit, but stop and ask yourself, what are my plans?
[31:09] How much of those plans really coincide with God's overarching plan? Or are they my plans? We'll talk about that in a bit.
[31:20] Then we need to move on to verse 5. The believing response. So here's the petition. You don't just sit back and go, okay, that was nice.
[31:34] Psalm 20 adds a believing response to this expectant petition. It is not merely a matter of making our petitions known to the Lord. We need to do something about them.
[31:46] But here again, it is not what you might think. It's not roll up your sleeves time and get on with it and make the best of a situation. This is a day of trouble.
[31:57] A day where I can't get out of this. I don't know the answer to this. So what do we need to see here? First of all, there's a theological focus.
[32:10] There's two parallel expressions. Again, over your salvation and in the name of God. God. So our God. It's a very theocentric focus.
[32:23] The word used here for salvation is deliverance in the broadest sense possible. This is not just merely forgiveness of sins and getting to heaven. It's salvation in the fullest sense of God restoring all that was lost in the fall.
[32:38] Fellowship again with the Creator. A remaking of our sinful nature so that we conform to the image of His Son. That's what this is about.
[32:50] It's over the salvation that only God can produce. The point here is that the focus is on what God has done and what He promises yet to do.
[33:04] The salvation He has accomplished. That is the basis for our response at which we will look shortly. This is not about what we are or even could do.
[33:18] Remember, it's a day of trouble. A situation where we simply cannot deliver ourselves. Whatever that situation is, God must do that.
[33:31] And it is that salvation which serves as the foundation and the source of our response. This isn't just work it up and respond.
[33:42] First of all, acknowledge what God has done. The salvation He has provided. And then we respond to that. What we are to do here is to respond to what God has promised to do.
[33:57] Secondly, as far as the theological focus, it's in the name of our God. Throughout Scripture, God's name is a revelation of all that He is.
[34:08] Moses says, if you don't go with us, I'm not going to go. Show me your glory. And then God passes over and He hides him in the cleft and He declares His name to Moses.
[34:19] And then talks about several of His attributes. God's name is who He is. That's His nature. Okay? So doing something in the name of God is to do it in order to reflect God's name and His nature.
[34:34] To do something in accordance with God's nature. something which brings Him glory. This isn't for my name. I'm not doing this in the name of Will Trowell. I'm doing this in the name of the living God.
[34:47] So it needs to reflect God's nature. This is not about us. It's not about doing our own thing here. It's responding with our entire being by God's grace to reflect all that He is and all that we say and do.
[35:05] that's how we're to respond. All of us. Reflecting God's nature. His character. Yet once again there's human action here.
[35:18] And there's two parallel expressions of a faithful response. Both of which flow out of and are completely dependent on as well as the response to salvation that the Lord has accomplished.
[35:31] accomplished. This isn't something that we have to go out and work up or take a seminar and get skills to do this. It's first of all by faith laying hold of what God has done and then responding to that.
[35:46] These activities are expressions of faith. They are not something we do in order to earn salvation but rather are expressions of faith in the salvation that the Lord has promised and provided.
[35:59] it. First of all is shout for joy. This does not refer to the kind of shouting that people do at a football match. They shout.
[36:11] Why? They're excited that their team scored a goal. Well this is shouting over God scoring a goal of God's salvation. And it should elicit a shout of joy from God's people.
[36:26] The term that's used here means to sing for joy. It indicates a loud, enthusiastic, melodic, and joyful expression of praise to the Lord for what he has done.
[36:39] In numerous contexts the word that's used here could well be translated to give a joyous victory shout. God's won the victory. And as we think about that it should elicit this shout of joy from us as God's people.
[36:55] And the picture that we need to have here in our minds is reflected in Hebrews 2.12 where Psalm 22 verse 22 is quoted. It's a picture of Christ before the throne of the Father singing for joy over the salvation that he has accomplished.
[37:13] Is that your picture of Christ before the throne singing for joy that it's done? Salvation is accomplished. If our Savior is doing that, what are we doing?
[37:28] Where's our shouts of joy? Is this how you respond when you think about your salvation? Does it make you want to explode with joy?
[37:40] Shouting the victory which only the Lord could accomplish? That's what this psalm is calling us to do. Parallel with that is to set up your banners.
[37:50] Now this is a little bit more difficult to understand. We don't set up banners today. The word that's used here for banners is generally designated the standards or banners of each of the twelve tribes of Israel, especially the tribe's military force as they went into battle.
[38:10] And these banners were identification markers showing that these people belong to the people of God. This is the tribe of whatever.
[38:20] they belong to the people of God. And the banners were unfurled on various occasions, but particularly after a victory had been won.
[38:33] So here in Psalm 20 verse 5, the word reflects the celebration of Yahweh's victory over the enemies of His people. Their complete salvation, restoration of the covenant people of God.
[38:47] To set up one's banners is to engage in a victory celebration, a victory which Yahweh has accomplished, which is perfectly parallel with shouting for joy over that same victory.
[38:59] It's putting the victory of the Lord on display and drawing attention to what God has done. That's what setting up a banner is. It's not saying, look at me and what I've done. It's saying, look at what Yahweh has done.
[39:10] And we're going to roll out a banner to show you what He's done. Do we do that? Not literally setting up banners on the outside of the church so as people drive by they go, oh, that's not what it's talking about.
[39:27] But do we set up banners with our lives, our words, our actions, both as individuals and as a congregation? Do we put on display what God has done?
[39:41] Unfurl the banner of the victory that Christ has won. That's what this psalmist called is too. But we need to notice something very important here.
[39:54] If we understand what this joyous shouting and all the banner waving is about. As we look at these two verses, nothing has changed.
[40:04] It's still a day of trouble. There's nothing in this psalm that indicates the victory has been won, the enemies are defeated, and this is great. Now as a response to all of that, now we can do this.
[40:15] No, it's still a day of trouble. This is in the midst of that trouble, that anxiety, that affliction. That's when the shouts of joy and the unfurling of the banners come out.
[40:28] To say, it's not me, it's not up to me, it's what God has done in His Son. That's what this is all about. That's where the joy comes from. That's where the celebration comes.
[40:40] comes. What we have here is an expression of faith that the Lord will bring salvation as He has promised. That He will indeed save in His name.
[40:55] This is a response now based on faith in what God will do. It is what living by faith looks like.
[41:07] We want to say, yeah, we live by faith. What's that mean? We tick a few theological boxes and we say, yeah, God is triune and Jesus is man and God and, you know, is that what living by faith is?
[41:20] What this psalm is saying is in the midst of affliction, of trouble, God's people live by faith saying, God's going to save. I know the situation doesn't look that way, but God's going to save.
[41:33] So I can shout for joy. So I can unfurl a banner because of who my God is and He is faithful to save. Psalm 20 verse 4 is not a genie in a bottle.
[41:48] As we look at this psalm, we need to understand a couple things by way of application, just briefly. Two kind of correctives. First of all, there's a corrective to what's generally known as prosperity gospel.
[42:04] Prosperity gospel or a man-centered approach. It says if you just believe enough, you can be healthy and wealthy and everything will go fine for you. Or, the older version, works righteousness is if you just work hard enough, you can save yourself.
[42:20] It's all about me. It focuses on my own, on often sinful desires and plans, on my needs, my welfare, my happiness.
[42:31] happiness. God's not there. I just have to have faith and then God will do these things. When the focus is on my sinful desires and plans, it's not on God and His glory.
[42:49] Or as our catechism puts it, knowing or glorifying God and enjoying Him with all that we say and do and think. That's what it's all about. It's not about me.
[43:00] It's about bringing glory to our God. As I said, Psalm 24 isn't a genie in the bottle. An expression of the prosperity gospel. If I just believe enough, it will all be mine.
[43:13] Every desire that I think of, God will give it to me. No, it's when my desires are to please Him, to glorify Him. God can't wait for us to do that and just loves to grit those desires.
[43:29] It's when our hearts are overjoyed to do His bidding, to bring Him glory, that God is then overjoyed to grant those desires.
[43:43] Or when our plans are focused exclusively on seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then He will fulfill those plans. When our hearts desire to do God's will and to serve Christ and to grow in our love for Him, increase our knowledge of what He has done for us and how we might obey Him more, He'll most certainly grant those requests.
[44:08] It's not about me prospering in the way I think. It's about God being glorified. The problem is we don't often desire to do those things.
[44:20] We have our plans and our desires. And sometimes God gets included in those, most of the time not. Our plans are just that.
[44:35] Our plans. And often they have nothing whatsoever to do with God's plans. Our own sinful selfish desires crowd out the desire to glorify God.
[44:48] So we need to petition the Lord to change and remake us. after the image of His Son. So that those things do become the desires of our heart. That God delights in granting.
[45:01] That will only happen by the grace of God working in us by the transforming power of His Word and Spirit. Not something that we can work up on ourselves.
[45:14] Christ must remake us and redeem us. That's what this psalm is calling us to. Petition God to change us so that our desires are pleasing to Him. Bringing glory to Him.
[45:26] The second corrective, and this is the last point, is a corrective for dour Presbyterianism. Finally, I believe that Psalm 20, verse 5, has something to say to those of us who sometimes appear to be dour, joyless Presbyterians.
[45:47] That's what we need to be. We can't show too much joy because we're Presbyterians. We like to talk about God's sovereign grace and that it's not up to us to save ourselves.
[45:59] And that is spot on and totally true. How do we react to that? It isn't up to us. Thanks be to God. If it were, we'd all be on our noses.
[46:12] It's up to what God has done in His Son. Doesn't that cause you to just want to explode? What is our reaction to the amazing truth of the Gospel?
[46:26] That it's not up to me and what I do or don't do. Christ has done it all on my behalf. He took my place, bearing the penalty my sin deserved, granting me His perfect righteousness, interceding before the Father on the basis of His finished work without ceasing, filling me with His Spirit whose task is to remake me into the image of the Son.
[46:58] Does that really overwhelm you anew every day? That's what this is how I'm calling us to. Think about what God has done and then let it take hold of you.
[47:10] Let it just grab you and change you. Make you shout for joy. an unfurl of banner. Not because you've done it, but because of what Christ has done.
[47:22] This is not about a joy that comes from the immediate context and everything being fixed. This is a joy in the midst of suffering, in the midst of affliction, in the midst of perplexity, uncertainty, because it's a joy based on the finished work of Christ.
[47:44] Why? Because we're masochists? We love this suffering that we have to go through? No, definitely not. It's because we know and believe that God will save.
[47:57] And how do we know that? Because he sent his only son to the cross to take my place, to bring salvation. And he rose again from the dead as the first fruits of the restoration that he is accomplishing.
[48:11] we need to shout for joy and set up our banners, especially when it's the day of trouble. Right in the middle of life's crushing realities as an expression of faith and hope that the Lord does save.
[48:33] Not as yet as one more thing that we should do. It's not a guilt trip. Oh, I've got it now in the midst of this suffering be joyous. It's not that.
[48:45] It's a matter of saying in the midst of your suffering, think about what Christ has done for you. It's finished. And let that be your joy.
[48:57] Let's pray. Oh, Lord our God, we thank you for what you've done for us in your son. We thank you for what you are doing for us through your spirit.
[49:17] Oh, Lord, remake us. Change our heart's desires. Change our plans so that they're pleasing to you.
[49:28] So that you will be eager to grant them and fulfill them. Help us to rejoice in the gospel. To shout for joy.
[49:40] To celebrate the victory that Christ has won. This is our prayer. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Continue to worship by singing Psalm 20, verses 1-9.
[49:59] So now you get the chance to sing this. It's a good thing about preaching on the Psalms. Then we can sing them. Page 24.
[50:13] Oh, Lord, in your strength, how the king is exultant. How great is his joy. And the triumphs you bring. Let's stand and sing the praise to our God.
[50:25] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.