Good morning. Let's ask the Lord's
blessings. Our merciful heavenly Father,
thank you for putting it in our hearts to desire thy praise and
worship. Lord, might you provide what
you have already given us. May you give us Lord your spirit
and enable us to enter in to that desire that
you've given us or that our hearts might be moved
in praise and worship Lord, that you would be pleased to use your
word to reveal to us more of the glory of our savior, thy
dear son. We ask it in his name, amen. All right, let's open our Bibles
together to 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel chapter 22. Last Sunday we began in verse
one and didn't even quite make it through the second verse.
I titled that message, Praise is Comely. Praise is comely,
it's beautiful. It's beautiful to the hearts
of God's people and more importantly, it's calmly to God. I thought how beauty is in the
eyes of the beholder and that's true. Some people might find a particular
type of art beautiful, another might not see the beauty in it
at all. The countenance of a person might
be beautiful to one person and not so much to another. Geography,
some people might find the ocean beautiful, others find the mountains
beautiful. So beauty is in the eyes of the
beholder. And certainly that's true when
it comes to the gospel Scripture says that the gospel of God's
free grace in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
savor of life to some and a savor of death to others. When the
alabaster jar of God's grace is broken open in the room and
fills the room with a sweet aroma of his mercy and of his grace,
to some it's a stench to their nostrils. To some, it robs them
of their righteousness and so it is, the gospel, beautiful,
only in the eyes of those who have been given the grace to
behold Christ. The Lord tells us in Isaiah chapter
53, left to ourselves, there is no
beauty in him that we should desire him. If the Lord doesn't
do a work of grace for us and enable us to behold Christ, we'll
find no beauty in him. But having been given the mind
of Christ, having been given a glimpse of His glory, and oh,
but just a glimpse of it. We wanna see more of Him. And
to the believer, He's beautiful. And their hearts are moved by
the Spirit of God to express as David did in this Psalm, Words and expressions of praise. Only the Holy Spirit can make
the difference, and He does. In the new birth, He causes us
to not just behold His glory, but to find nothing more beautiful
than Him. and nothing to be desired more
of than him. And nothing that we find worthy
of praise more than him. More importantly, a term of me,
if you will, to the Song of Solomon, the Song of Solomon. Very encouraging
verse of scripture here I want you to look at. Chapter 2 of the Song of Solomon. The Lord Jesus is speaking to
his church, to the bride of Christ. And this is what he says in verse
14 of the Song of Solomon, chapter 2. "'O my dove, thou that art
in the clefts of the rock." Now that's a reference to being found
in Christ, not having our own righteousness which is of the
law. The beauty, our beauty is not because of our righteousness.
He's made us comely with his comeliness and given to us the
righteousness of Christ. And so when he looks upon his
bride, he sees that beauty. And he says, oh, my dove, thou
art in the cleft of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. This is a place that only God
can put you. But when he does, let me see
thy countenance. The Lord Jesus is saying to his
bride, let me see thy countenance. Well, how do we show our countenance
to him? Praise, worship, prayer, coming
before the throne of grace, expressing our thanksgiving, our adoration.
Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance
is comely. Now that's our Lord speaking
to us. Come, let me hear thy praise. The countenance that you have
is beautiful to me. Let's go back to our text in
2 Samuel chapter 22. David is expressing every believer's
heart. And I love what the Lord tells
us in the book of Hosea chapter 14. He says, when you come to
worship, take with you words and turn to the Lord. Now, most of our prayers are expressed
in groanings more than in words. How oftentimes we come before
the Lord in time of need and we don't know what words to say.
We just express ourselves as a needy child dependent upon
him, pleading for his mercy, trying to express our thanksgiving
and our worship to him. But if we are to bring words
to him, he's given us the words to bring. Not that we pray in
vain repetition. I grew up learning prayers and
you, you know, just if you're gonna come before God, you recite
these prayers and you count the beads on a rosary and you say
these words and that word. And it really is no difference
than what we hear today from people that will say, well, you
just pray this prayer. You know, you hear these free
willers talking about inviting Jesus into your heart and they'll
give you a sinner's prayer to pray. And if you just say these
words, somehow there'll be some magical power in these words. That's not what we're talking
about. When the Lord said to Hosea or through Hosea, when
you come before me, bring with you words, I believe he's telling
us to take these words and with the understanding that I give
you, express them, express them to me in praise and in worship. So we're not speaking of some
sort of prayer that's expressed in rote memory. When the Lord
said, The disciples ask him, Lord, teach us to pray. And the
Lord said, when you pray, pray like this. He didn't say repeat
this prayer, repeat these words, but pray like this. Let your
prayers involve these elements, our father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, and so on. And so, these words are so
precious. to the Lord that he's given them
to us twice. Not only does David record them
here after the destruction of all of his enemies, but he records
them in Psalm 18. So we have the same words given
to us that the Lord would have us bring to him in worship recorded
twice in the scriptures. Verse one, David spake unto the
Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered
him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of
Saul. These words of praise are to come with melody and thanksgiving
and gladness in the heart. It's a song. And he said, the
Lord is my rock, and the Lord is my fortress, and the Lord
is my deliverer. Now, we dealt with these things. two verses last Sunday, so we're
not going to go back over them in detail. Just to remind you
that the Lord has delivered us from our enemy. He's delivered
us from the penalty of sin. He's delivered us from the power
of sin. He's delivered us from the grave. He's delivered us
from this present evil world. And so these words of praise
and thanksgiving are expressed to him for what he's done in
destroying all our enemies. And he is our rock and he is
our fortress. And so this morning we'll pick
up where we left off with The Lord being our deliverer, our
deliverer. Not a deliverer, but our deliverer. The only way that we're able
to express praise and worship to God from the heart is if we've
experienced delivery ourselves. It's easy to join our voice with
a choir, but these expressions of worship have to come from
the heart. That's what the Lord told the
woman at the well. When she was concerned about where to worship
and how to worship or when to worship, the Lord said, it's
a worship that's to be done in spirit and in truth. It can only be done in the power
of the Holy Spirit. It can only be done from the
Spirit. And it can only be done in Christ according to the truth
that God's revealed concerning Him. So this is a need that we
have. And when the Lord delivers us,
oh, our hearts are moved to want to worship Him. Is that not the
evidence of our salvation, our heart's desire to come into his
presence with praise? In order for me to have a deliverer,
I must have been held in bondage to something that I can't deliver
myself from. I can't deliver myself from sin.
certainly not from the penalty of it, nor from the power of
it. And I'll never be able to deliver myself from the very
presence of it. But therein lies our hope. The
Lord as our deliverer has done just that. And we long for that
day when this corruptible flesh will be made incorruptible. and
in his presence there'll be nothing but righteousness and sin will
be no more. Lord, that's what I need to be
delivered from. And only the believer can express
that because sin will be all the unbeliever will ever know
for all eternity. Raising their fist in rebellion
against God in a Christless eternity. Lord, you've delivered me. In Galatians 1, verse 4, God
gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this
present evil world. We live in a very dark world,
a world that has no light apart from the light of the gospel,
no light in terms of the truth concerning God, concerning man,
concerning salvation, and And the Lord Jesus came in order
to shine the light of the gospel in a dark place. Turn with me
to John chapter 1. This is John's theme. declaring the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he says, in the beginning was the word and
the word was with God and the word was God. And then in verse
four, in him was life. Outside of him, there is no life.
Outside of him, there's nothing but death. Nothing but separation,
nothing but sorrow, but in him is life. And the life was the
light of men. You know, in the natural world, life is dependent upon light.
Light has to come before the seed will germinate, before it
will grow, before the plant will bloom and produce fruit. There
has to be light for there to be life. But in the spiritual
world, it's life that brings about light. And look at verse
7, speaking of John the Baptist, the same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. John was not that light, but
was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
that bringeth every man, I'm sorry, and that was the true
light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Lord Jesus is the light of
the world. Oh, we have to be delivered from
the present evil darkness of this world, the darkness of our
souls, the darkness of sin. And the Lord Jesus has done that.
And what a delight we have in walking in the light as he is
in the light, having fellowship one with another. and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleansing us of all our sin, all our sin. Is this not grounds for praise? Is this not a reason to worship
and delight in the comeliness of praise? Scripture says that the Lord
Jesus came to deliver them who through fear of death were always
held in bondage. Lord, you've taken away that
wrath, that fear. You've given me hope in death. You've opened the grave. You've
opened the very doors to heaven. And you've gone in before me
and brought your works before your heavenly father on my behalf.
And you've said to me, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself so that
where I am, there you may be also. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also
in me. Lord, by the grace of your Spirit,
you've caused my heart to believe on Christ. And for that reason,
I rejoice, setting my affections on things above, looking to my
Redeemer, my Deliverer, the one who's seated at the right hand
of God, who speaks on my behalf. We have the hope of knowing that
when we draw our last breath in this world, we have an advocate
with the Father who will stand and receive us into glory. What
reason for praise? This is what David's doing. David
said, he delivered me out of the hand of all of my enemies. The enemy that you and I have
to deal with most often is the enemy of our own flesh, is it
not? And did not Paul the apostle say in Romans chapter seven,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? thanks be
to God through Christ Jesus I am free so that now there is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ we have a deliverer
and as a result if we've been delivered if we've been delivered
Our hearts are moved in worship and in praise. And these words,
these words that the Lord has given us are words that we can
bring before him. In that model prayer that I made
reference to a moment ago, the Lord said, when you pray,
pray like this, lead me not into temptation,
but deliver me, deliver me. And the literal interpretation
of that verse is deliver me from the evil one. Lord, I have no
power over Satan, but what great hope I have in knowing that you
have complete power over him. and that you came to destroy
the works of the devil. And Lord, I can come into thy
presence and plead your mercy and your grace to deliver me,
deliver me from the evil one. Why is the Lord able to be our
deliverer? Because he refused to deliver himself. When the
Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life at Calvary's cross, he said,
I could call on 12 legions of angels to come and deliver me. How oftentimes we see in the
Old Testament where God would send one angel to destroy an
entire army and a legion is, I think, if
I remember correctly, about 700 Roman soldiers and the Lord said
I could call on 12 legions to come and deliver me. Don't you
know that every angel in heaven was standing ready with swords
drawn, coming, ready to come at one word from him, that's
all it would have taken, one word, and they all would have
come. and destroyed this world. But
here's what the scripture says. In Matthew chapter 27, verse
43, those enemies of the gospel said of the Lord Jesus, as he
was hanging on the cross, he trusted in God, let him deliver
him now. If he will have him, for he said,
I am the son of God. How is it that the Lord Jesus
is able to deliver us from our enemies? He refused to be delivered
himself. Those that mocked him as he hung
there on the cross, let him deliver himself. He could have, but he
didn't. He didn't, why? So that you and
I could be delivered. Oh, what reason. What reason
for worship? What reason for praise? And notice in verse two of our
text, and he said, the Lord is my rock. Now, anytime you see L-O-R-D
all in caps in the Old Testament King James Bible, it is a reference
to Yahweh or Jehovah, that name that the Lord gave to Moses at
the burning bush, I am. Whom shall I say sent me? What
is your name? What the Lord say, I am that
I am. Tell them that I am sent you. It's his covenant name. What
he's saying is, I am faithful to all of my covenant promises. And the hope of your salvation
cannot be found in your faithfulness. It must only be found in my faithfulness. And that's what David is rejoicing
in. I have a covenant keeping God
who is Lord of heaven and earth, and he will be faithful. He will
be faithful. In another chapter, chapter 23,
we're gonna find David saying, although my house be not so with
God, although I've not been faithful as I ought, yet he has made with
me an everlasting covenant. This is all my salvation, this
is all my desire. That's what Lord is a reference
to. And now in verse three, he says,
the God of my rock, the God of my rock. Now that word speaks
of his ability. He is God almighty. He possesses all power. So these
two words together speak Number one of his willingness, his willingness
based on his covenant promise, he is willing to keep his promises
and God, his ability. So we have a savior who's not
only willing, but able. There's our hope. He's willing
to save and he's able to save. What more could we ask for? What
greater reason do we have to express our worship? You know, you and I, how many
times we've made promises that we were unable to keep because
of unforeseen circumstances. Something came up that we didn't
anticipate and we couldn't be there on time or we couldn't
do what we thought we were going to be able to do. Our God's never
had that problem. He controls the circumstances
to fulfill his promises. He possesses all power. He's not only the Lord, my rock,
but he's the God of my rock. He's not only willing to save,
but he is able to save. This is our reason for praise
and this is how we express ourselves to the Lord. Look at verse 3.
The God of my rock, in him will I trust. I can rest, I can trust, I can
believe. I can know beyond any shadow
of a doubt. This hope that we have is not
an uncertain hope. It is a sure hope. We don't have
a hope like the world who just, well, you know, I hope it works
out in the end. Our hope is based on the promises
of a God who is able to fulfill all of his promises. And David said, I'm gonna trust
him. Where else can I go? Where else
do I need to go? Where else do I want to go? but
to trust him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able, he's able to keep
that. That's what David's saying, Lord,
I'm gonna just trust you and I believe that you're faithful. Notice, that David says of the
Lord, that he is my shield. He is my shield. Now, Paul in
Romans chapter six, when he gives us that spiritual armor, you
remember the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God and
the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness.
And he concludes that all those different pieces of of armor
by saying, and above all, above all, the shield of faith that
we might be able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. How
often this spiritual power who we cannot resist in this world,
how are we going to be delivered from him? only by the shield of faith.
The shield of faith. And notice that a shield is a
defensive weapon. It's not an offensive weapon.
It's not something that we pull out and use. We don't just find,
well, I'm gonna pull this faith out and I'm gonna use this faith
to quench the fiery darts of the devil and I'm gonna, you
know, apply it again. Faith is something, shield is
something you get behind. Faith is not something that we
can boast in. To the contrary, faith, the nature
of faith is the absence of all boasting. It's the absence of
all works. It's the absence of all credit.
It's the absence of, Lord, all I can do is hide behind the shield. It's the only way that I can
be delivered. It's the only way that I can be protected. We cower
behind the shield of faith, looking unto Jesus. It's not something
that we exercise. It's something that we get behind. Faith is by its very nature trusting in another, resting
in and relying upon another. And it's not the amount of faith
that we have, it's the object of our faith. It's the object
of our faith. When those disciples said to
the Lord, Lord, increase our faith, the Lord Jesus said, if
you had faith of a mustard seed, He didn't say, oh, I'll give
you more faith. We've misunderstood faith when we find any reason whatsoever to
boast in it. When we find any reason whatsoever
to boast in how much more faith I have now than I had before,
or how much more faith this person has over that person, that's
a misunderstanding of faith. Faith is humility and dependence. Faith is weakness, it's weakness. Except you become as a little
child, you should not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are the little children for they. You have to be like them, like
them. A child finds it easy to believe,
don't they? We only become cynical after
we've learned a few things about man and about ourselves, but
a young child believes what you tell them. Might we come before
the Lord as little children? Might we believe what he has
said? Not question, not deny, not just,
just, Lord, Lord, I, Just trust you, whatever, everything you've
said. In him will I trust for he is
my shield. He doesn't say I pull out my
shield and I use my shield. No, he's my shield. He's my shield. and the horn
of my salvation. Now in the Old Testament language
of scripture, the horn is a symbol of strength. It's a symbol of
strength. An animal will use its horn as
a weapon. And it's the horn of an animal
you need to be careful of if you're facing any sort of a...
The Lord is the horn. of my salvation. Psalm 132, the scripture says,
I will make the horn of David to flourish. Who's the horn of David? Who
is the horn of David? Who's David's strength? What's
David saying right here? He's my horn. and I'm gonna make
him to flourish. I'm gonna grow you in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you grow in grace, you'll
only see more and more of your need of grace, you'll see more
and more of Christ, more and more of his glory. I will cause
the horn of David to flourish. Lord, you've caused me, Lord,
I see more of my need for Christ now than ever before. Lord, thank
you. Thank you that you've caused
the horn of David to flourish in my life. You remember when
Mary and Joseph took the Lord Jesus to be circumcised on the
eighth day into the temple and there was a priest there by the
name of Zacharias. And when Zachariah saw the Lord
Jesus, he knew that that was the consolation of Israel. That
was the Messiah. The Lord had promised him that
he was going to see the Christ before he died. And when Zachariah
sees the Lord Jesus, he says, the Lord has raised up the horn
of David in the house of Jerusalem. He's raised up the horn of David.
The Lord Jesus is the strength of my salvation. That strength
is not found in me. That strength is found in him.
And I have reason to come and offer to him comely praise because
he is my strength. And his strength is only made
perfect in my weakness. So Paul said, I'll boast in my
afflictions. I'll boast in my afflictions
that he might get all the glory. In another place, the scriptures
tell us that the Lord will cut off the horn of the wicked. I have reason to praise God because
that which I thought was gained to me, the Lord cut it off. There was a time when I thought
my strength, my hope of salvation was based on something that I
did or something that I didn't do. It was based upon a decision
that I made or a dedication that I was committed to. And that
was the horn of my salvation. And the scripture says that the
Lord will cut off the horn of the wicked. What a blessing it
is. What reason we have to praise
when the Lord does for us what he did for Saul of Tarsus and
cause us to see that that which we thought was gained to us was
actually to our loss because we were trusting in those
things. and the Lord cut that horn off. Oh Lord, cut off any horn that
grows in my heart and cause me to say with David, read it with
me, verse three, the God of my rock, in him will I trust. He is my shield and he is the
horn of my salvation. Praise brethren is comely to
the Lord. Might we be often in expressing
it. All right.