Psalm 57. Psalm 57. The name of the message is Prayer
Turned to Praise. Prayer Turned to Praise. I was looking at this psalm There's a distinction here definitely
made where the psalmist is praying to our great God, and then it
turns into adoration and praise for the great things that God
has done for his people. Psalm 57, To the cheap musician
outtasketh Mitcham of David when he fled from Saul in the cave.
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. 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, Selah. 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 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. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before
me. into the midst whereof they are falling themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed, O God. My
heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise.
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. So let's first consider David's
prayer. And we see that the word Altescath
is at the first there, it says to the chief position, so this
psalm is written to the chief position, and it says in some
Bibles, it'll say this little heading before the psalm, Altescath,
Mitchum of David. Now, Altescath means destroy
not in the Hebrew. It means destroy not in the Hebrew.
And it's found in the introductory verse to Psalm 57, 58, 59, and 75. And some say it's probably
the beginning of some song or poem to the tune of which these
Psalms were to be chanted. In Mitchum, so that's not the
name of a person, that's an actual Hebrew word which means destroy
not that all tasketh. In Mitchum, it means poem or
engraving a poem, technically a poem of David. David had said,
destroy not, in reference to Saul. While he was writing this
hymn, Saul and his men were trying to kill him. Saul was in power. And now he takes pleasure in
employing the same words in supplication to God. So this word Altesketh
appears four times at the beginning of four Psalms. They are called
the Destroy Not Psalms, one commentator said. They are the 57th, 58th,
59th, and 75th Psalm. Now, in all of them, and I looked
at all of them today, this is amazing, in all of them is a
distinct declaration of the destruction of the wicked. It's distinct. a declaration of the destruction
of the wicked, and the preservation of the righteous by God. Hence,
to destroy not. Lord, don't destroy me. Don't
destroy me. And in this psalm, David was
fleeing from his enemies, and while he's fleeing from his enemies,
think of this, while he's fleeing from his enemies, he's fleeing
to God. He's fleeing to God. His enemies
are pursuing him, but in prayer, in his heart, spiritually. Physically
he's running from his enemies, and spiritually he's running
to God. He's running to God. My! Fleeing in his heart to the
only one who can defend him. Fleeing to the only refuge of
sinners. He's fleeing to the King of Glory. He's fleeing to
God Himself, in prayer. The only refuge, the only protection,
The only one who gives grace and strength during trials and
times of trouble and all times of life. We are told, turn if
you would to the book of Hebrews chapter four, we are told as
believers in the book of Hebrews and Hebrews chapter 416, I'd
like us to look at this verse. We are told, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews chapter 416,
I'll read it again. So we are told as believers in
the New Testament. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace. David's coming petitioning God.
He's coming boldly before the throne of grace. But as believers
were to come boldly before the throne of grace, look what it
says in Hebrews 416, that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Now, here's a question that says
and find grace to help in time of need. When are we not needed? We're always needy, aren't we?
Oh my, I know I am. I'm always needy. We're needy all the time. But
what do we find at the throne of grace? Mercy, grace to help
in time of need. My, look it says, let us, let
us therefore, let us as believers, all who love Christ, all who
rest in his redemptive work, Let us, what? Therefore come
boldly. Come boldly, without fear of
being turned away. My, the believer can approach
the throne of grace without fear of being turned away. My, let
us therefore come boldly. Not on our own merit, eh? And
think of this. We can come boldly, boldly before
that throne. We who believe, because it says
let us, and it's talking about believers. Let us, all those
who are redeemed, come boldly without fear of being turned
away because of our sins and our infirmities. So let us come
before the throne of grace without fear of condemnation. Isn't that
wonderful? That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. Because in our natural state,
right? The law condemns us. We can't
approach God in our own righteousness. But that text says, let us therefore
come boldly. Boldly. Where? Before the throne
of grace. Why? How and why can we do that?
Because Christ obeyed the law and died for our sins. The throne of judgment and justice
is now a throne of grace. It was a throne of judgment and
justice at one time to us, wasn't it? Now, it's a throne of grace. Why? It's all because of Christ
and what will we find there mercy and grace grace for every need
This is what David is doing beloved in Psalm 57. This is what he's
doing He's coming before the throne of grace in his time of
need And David was again physically running from his enemies. He's
running from Saul and his men, but in his heart spiritually
he's running to God He's running to our great God and King. He's
running to the throne of grace, seeking mercy and grace. Seeking
mercy and grace and where do we all we only find mercy and
grace in Christ in Christ? We won't find it nowhere else
Nowhere else so look at Psalm 57 1 be merciful to under me.
Oh God be merciful unto me He repeats it a second time for
my soul trust is in thee yay in the shadow of thy wings Will
I make my refuge until these calamities be over past? Our
great God delights to show mercy to his people. He delights to show mercy to
his people, how in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And here
in this text, David proclaims, Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. David's soul,
he trusts in his eternal soul to a great God, Jehovah, to God
himself. And now we who are redeemed are
most interested in mercy, aren't we? We are, we're most interested
in mercy. We love thinking about the mercy
of God which has been bestowed upon us in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we say with David, my soul
trusteth in thee, Lord. My soul trusteth in thee. And
it's not so though with the lost. Most people, Most lost folks
are interested in merit, their own merit, their own righteousness. They think that they can gain
merit and favor with God based upon their works. They think
they can justify themselves before God, but not so with the believer.
No, we've been taught of God. We've been taught of God. We've
been taught of God that we have no merit before God on our own.
None. We've been taught of God that
we can't justify ourselves before God by our works. We don't stand before God in
our own merit. We stand before God in the righteousness
of Christ and His merit. In and through Christ alone.
Have you ever asked God for mercy? Have you ever asked God to have
mercy upon you for all your sins? Have you ever cried out to God?
Oh God, be merciful to me. Be merciful to me. I pray that
God would give you grace to do so if you haven't. That He would
grant you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that
you would cry out with the redeemed. Because this is our cry. God
have mercy. And every one of God's people
will tell you we are mercy beggars. We're mercy beggars. I'm a mercy
beggar. All believers are mercy beggars
before God, and we see that here in David's prayer. Be merciful
unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. He's a mercy
beggar, beloved. And this mercy only comes from
God himself. And note it's David's only refuge.
In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. The only refuge for David is
God himself, Jehovah. In the shadows of thy wings refers
to the mercy seat, beloved. Christ alone is the refuge of
sinners. Other refuge have I none. Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave all, leave me not alone.
Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed.
All my help from Thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy love. David brings forth in this verse Our constant need for Christ
until these calamities be overpassed. A constant need. Because we're
sinners, we have a constant need for God's mercy. A constant need
for His mercy. We cry out in prayer just like
David to our great God and King. We cry out just like the publican,
God be merciful to me a sinner. It leads right into our next
verse. I will cry unto God most high.
Unto God that performeth all things for me. And note his cry
is to one true God. It's to the one true God. Who
what? Who performs all things for me.
He is the only one who can deliver me from my iniquities. He's the
only one who can deliver me from all my sins. The believer waits. And God works. The believer waits. God works
and we are confident in Him alone. We're confident in Him alone,
confident in God, confident in the fact that He which has begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus,
of Jesus Christ. He who has begun a good work,
He will perform it until that day. The Lord will and does finish
anything and everything which He had begun. Whatsoever the
Lord takes in hand he will accomplish He will accomplish it Let us
look and see the past mercies in our life. You heard me often
talk about that But let us look and see the past mercies in our
lives the past deliverances in our lives One commentator says
there are guarantees for future mercies. I Guarantees for future
mercy. So no, is it not the Lord merciful
to us each and every day? Are we not daily loaded down
with benefits? Is not his mercy new every morning?
His lamentation says every morning. Is he not merciful to us? Does he not answer the prayer
of a mercy beggar? God be merciful to me. Past deliverance is our guarantees
that he will deliver us from our troubles and tribulations.
And he has, when we look back, he's delivered us time and time
and time again. Even before we were saved, he
was taking care of us and watching over us. Oh my goodness. My goodness. And he will deliver us. And this is good reason for us
to cry out to him. because we can look back and
see His hand of faithfulness in our lives. It's a good reason
for us to cry out to Him in prayer and trust only Him. Let's consider
verse 3. It says, He shall send from heaven
and save me from the reproach of Him that would swallow me
up. Selah. God sendeth forth His mercy and
His truth. Look at this verse. He shall
send from heaven and save me from the reproach of Him that
would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his
mercy and his truth. What sovereign mercy is here
in this little verse? What sovereign mercy is here
on display in this little verse? In actually these three verses.
But consider verse three, he shall send from heaven and save
me from the reproach of him that swallows me up. Selah. God shall
send forth his mercy and his truth. Did not God send Christ from
heaven to save his people from their sins? Oh my, what a verse. God sent his son to perform all
things for his people, to save us from our sins, to satisfy
God's justice in our place, to live a perfect life as our substitute
and to die upon Calvary's cross, paying all that God demanded
for the sins of all his people. What a Savior. Did He not send
mercy to His people in and through Christ alone? He did. He did. He shall send from heaven
and save me. Oh, He saved me. He sent one
from heaven to save me. And He is called the Truth. Oh, and I've obtained mercy through
Him. My Note on our verse, he shall send from heaven, and he
did, he sent Christ. And the result is this, he shall
save, isn't it? He sent, and he shall save. He shall send from heaven and
save me, and he did it, beloved. He did it. God sent Christ to
this earth, and the result is he did what he came to do. To
save his people from their sins and hallelujah. What a Savior
the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished this Let us never forget that God
has all power to save all righteousness to justify us all wisdom to enlighten
us and all mercy to save us from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up and All power also to keep us. Those he saves, he keeps. What a Savior. What a salvation
the believer has in Christ. And truly we've been saved from
our enemies, from the accuser of the brethren. And we've been
saved from our own sins. Saved from the wrath of God.
Saved from the law of God, which hath a rightful claim upon every
one of us, the believer is saved in Christ, in Christ alone, and
prays God's salvation. In Christ is a complete salvation. We are complete in Him. It's
not based upon us. It's based all upon what He's
done. And now we see David's enemies
spoken of in verses four and six. My soul, we'll read verses
four to six, we'll read five in there too. 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. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Thy
glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before
me in the midst where they have fallen themselves. See. Note in verse 4, these wicked
men are figuratively compared to lions for their stoutness
and courage and strength and fierceness and cruelty. This meaning Saul and those with
him. Three thousand chosen men, stout, courageous, fierce, and
furious, as Gil comments, and merciful. And note they're set
on fire. They've been stirred up against
David. They've been stirred up. By words,
says Gil, by wicked men and by the devil who stirred up Saul
against David and filled him with wrath and fury so that he
breathed out nothing but flame and vengeance and threat and
slaughter against David. By wicked men, his right-hand men who kindled
and stirred a fire of contention between them and David. Turn,
if you would, to James chapter 3. James chapter 3. Note in verse
4, it says, then their tongue is a sharp sword. Verse 4 of
the psalm says, look at James chapter 3, I'm talking about
the tongue. Oh Lord, guard our tongue. Guard
our tongue. It can be used to praise, to
praise God. It can be used for prayer, but
it can also stir up strife and division. We need to guard our
tongue, beloved. We need to guard our tongue.
Look at James chapter 3. Even so, the tongue is a little
member and boasts its great things. Verse 5. Behold, how great a
matter a little fire kindleth. The tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
that it defiled the whole body and set it on fire, the course
of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast,
and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed.
and hath been tamed of mankind, but tongue can no man tame."
Oh my, God give us grace. It is unruly, evil, full of deadly
poison. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after
the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be so. Doth a fountain send forth at the Same place,
sweet water and bitter, can the fig tree, my brother, and bear
all of berries, either of vine, figs, so can no fountain both
yield salt water and fresh. So what's happened is these men
with Saul have been stirred up by Saul, stirred up against David,
against the man of God. And the enemy's stirring Saul
up. And so Paul or James gives us a warning about the tongue.
And it's mentioned in Psalm four about the tongue, too. It's my
we got to be careful. But look at here, let's go back
to Psalm 57. Look at here before David closes
his. His prayer, he interjects a verse
of praise. Look at right in between verses 4 and 6, it's verse 5,
and look at this. David interjects a verse of praise
to our great God and King, who rules supreme and who is worthy
of all glory and honor and praise. All the glory and honor and praise
of his people. He's worthy. Look at this. Be
thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above
all the earth. Our great God and Savior is higher
than all. Does any rival our God in power? No one. No one. Remember, Satan is God's devil. He could only do what God allowed
in the book of Job. God's sovereign. No one rivals
the power of God. No one. And David's exclaiming
here in in adoration, be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,
let thy glory be above all the earth. My. No one can rival God in power,
and he can easily deliver us, he can easily deliver us and
easily defeat our enemies. Those who oppose the gospel of
God's free grace are enemies, His enemies. And our enemies
are His enemies. Our enemies are His enemies.
And our God is far above them all. He is far above them all. Now look at verse 6, David continues
to describe the wicked men who are hunting him and are seeking
to destroy him. They have prepared a net for
my steps, my soul is bowed down, they have digged a pit before
me, and to the midst whereof they are falling themselves.
Selah. Who are they? Those who lead us into sin. Those
who proclaim a works-based salvation. Those who would lead us away
from the Church of God and away from His Gospel and away from
Christ. And how shall we escape them? By trusting in Christ alone. by trusting in Christ alone,
our only Savior and Redeemer, by trusting daily in Him amidst
all the troubles and trials of life, by resting and reposing
in Him. And this is all done by His power,
remember. He keeps us, doesn't He? He keeps
us. If we were left to ourselves,
we'd be gone, every one of us. We know that, too. He keeps us
all by His almighty power, but we need to be on guard. Someone
comes along and says, salvation's by doing this. We say, no, that's
wrong. Salvation's in Christ alone, plus nothing. Plus nothing. It's all in Him. All in Him. Salvation's in the Lord, just
like the scriptures say. That's our answer. Now let us consider next here,
David's prayer is turned to praise in the latter part of the psalm.
Look at this in verse 7. My heart is fixed, O God, my
heart is fixed, I will sing and give praise. Prayer is turned
to praise. Now note the word fixed here
in verse 7. The Hebrew meaning for this word
fixed is to be firm, be stable, be established. To be set up,
to be firmly established, to be stable, be secure, be enduring. That's wonderful. David says,
my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. He repeats it a second time.
He's established. Firmly established, stable, secure. Enduring I ask you who are redeemed
of the Lord aren't you thankful that God has given you a new
heart that is fixed and established in Christ aren't you thankful
oh my Fixed and established in Christ
alone does it not make your heart sore to know that God has made
it possible Not any artwork is it? Oh, no,
we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're giving a
new heart new desires We love we love our great God and King
now God's made it so Thy people shall be made willing in the
day of his power and now our hearts fixed Fixed upon our Savior
fixed upon our great God and what do we do? We sing and give
praise don't we? for the mighty work that he's Is it any wonder, then, David's
prayer is turned to praise? Oh, my. Turned to praise of our
great God and King, turned to the praise of our mighty Redeemer.
No, it's no wonder, as David's trust is in God and God alone.
His trust is in the God who has saved him, time after time, after
time and again, through trials and tribulations, but more so,
his trust is in the God who saved his soul. My. The God who saved him from his
enemies and saved him from his sins. And this turns the believer's
prayer into praise. My God has delivered me time
and time and time again, but more so He has saved me from
my sins. He's done that for me, which
I could never do for myself. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. And the psalmist heart is fixed,
established, fixed upon God, anchored in Him. Anchored in
Christ for the believer. We're anchored in him firm and
sure trusting in the Lord believing Believing that he will save us
out of all our troubles You'll be with us Remember what what
I've said many times a little brother Scott Richardson said
that the believers either going into trouble in trouble or coming
out of trouble It's just the cycle that happens with us And
God just continues to deliver us, don't he? Time after time
and after time again, oh my. We have troubles in our heart,
we have trouble sometimes with family, we have trouble sometimes
with our health, but God just continues to deliver us, continues
to take care of us, and one day he'll take us home to glory.
Oh my, we'll be forever delivered then out of all our troubles
and trials, won't we? Oh, what a glorious day that'll
be. What a glorious day that'll be. So the believer in Christ
is, The one who is assured of their salvation in and by Christ
alone. And our hearts are rooted and
grounded in the love of God. Firmly built on the foundation
which is Christ. He is the foundation. And the
affections of the believer is set upon him. Is set upon him. We may be troubled and tried,
but God keeps us. And our hope is Christ. Our hope
is Christ. In Christ alone. The believer
is fixed upon God. Fixed upon Christ who is God. Fixed upon His precious Word. Fixed upon salvation which is
only found in Him. Fixed upon heaven where our great
God resides and one day we will be there too. and fixed upon
Him, God, from whom our help comes. That's where our help
comes from. Remember Jeremiah, there's
a guy who's in the, Jeremiah's in the pit, he can't get out, right?
Meyer would play. Where's help come from? It comes
from above. It comes from above. For the
sinner, who God's drawn, God, the Holy
Spirit is drawn affectionately. Where does our help come from?
We look to Christ. And then we never stop looking.
We just keep looking to Him all the rest of our lives. Our help
comes from Christ and Christ Him. So the believer in Christ
will sing and give praise for the salvation which has been
wrought for us by Christ. And this salvation is sure. Salvation in Christ is sure.
It's sure. And it's finished. Let's let that sink in. It is
finished, the Savior cried. That means the work is done. So what does a believer do? He
just looks and lives. I have nothing for me to do.
I just look to Christ. He's done it all. Now, does that
mean that we can go and live a riotous life? Absolutely not.
No believer will do. That's antinomianism. We don't
believe in that. But what will happen? The love of Christ constrains
us, doesn't it? When we sin, what happens? We
get convicted, don't we? We get convicted. Yeah, we do. And then as we grow in grace,
we see ourselves more and more as a sinner. And what do we do?
We just keep going to Christ, don't we? We just keep fleeing
to our Savior. Oh God, be merciful to me, the
sinner. Oh, but we rest and repose in
his finished work and what he's done at Calvary's Cross. And
these precious truths, what do these do? What do these precious
truths do? They lead us to praise and worship
our great God. They lead us to praise and worship
him for the great things that he had done for us. His wondrous
works of redemption, salvation, which he's accomplished. And
then let's look at the next four verses here. Wake up, wake 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. Now think of this, we who were once dead in trespasses
and sins. We didn't praise the Lord before
the Lord saved us, did we? We had no interest in the things
of God. We had no interest in God's people, no interest in
the word, no interest in Christ. We thought we could save ourselves.
But is this not our words now? Wake up, my glory, awake, sultry
in heart. 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. We know
it's great. Look at the great things he's
done for us. His mercy is great. The Savior is great. Christ is
great. He's the one true Savior. And oh, what mercy he's had upon
his people. For thy mercy is great unto the
heavens. and thy truth into the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God,
above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth. So the psalm opens with David in a time of trouble and
sorrow. But note, it closes in joy and
praise to our great God. It closes in joy and praise to
our great God and King. The very one David looks to,
the very one we look to, is the one who is our all in all. He's
everything to the believer. One time he meant nothing to
us. And some may say, well, that's not true. It's true in our words
and our actions before the Lord saved us. Because we thought
we could save ourselves. But now he truly is my all in
all. Is he not yours? Yes, he is,
isn't he? He's everything. All my redemption. All my sanctification. All my
wisdom. Christ is all. He's our all in
all. So let us always remember that
the one who keeps us is the one who saved us, Jehovah. And we're
to bless His holy name for our salvation. Let the redeemed of the Lord
praise Him for His great work of salvation for us. Let the
redeemed of the Lord praise Him for His perfect, spotless righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ, which the believer is clothed
in. Let the redeemed praise Him for this. Let the redeemed of the Lord
praise Him that we are forgiven in Christ of all our sins. All
because of the shedding of His precious blood. Let the redeemed
of the Lord praise Him. And let the redeemed of the Lord
praise Him for delivering us from all our enemies. And let
the redeemed of the Lord praise God for His mercy. Oh, His mercy. We've obtained mercy. His mercy
which endures forever. and which has been bestowed upon
us in Christ, in Christ. And let the redeemed of the Lord
praise his mighty name, and may he be exalted above the heavens,
and may he receive all the glory, all the glory. Gracious Heavenly
Father, We thank thee for this wonderful psalm which we've looked
at tonight. We see how our dear brother David's
prayer has been turned into praise. And oh, when we think about what
you have done for us, for the redeemed of the Lord, what you've
done for your people, it will lead us to praise thy mighty
name amidst the trials and tribulations of this life. We seek that you'd
be glorified and magnified in the preaching of your And we
love you because you first loved us in Jesus name. Amen.