Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 27. I have looked forward to this
evening to preach from this blessed psalm. This Psalm 27 is one of
my very, very favorite psalms. And I am confident that I've
read this psalm more than any other individual psalm. And no
matter how many times I've read it, I still get a blessing from
it every time I read it. And I pray it'll be that way
to your heart tonight. I really only have one point
that I want to make tonight. Just one point. I want us all
to get this before we go on. If you fear the Lord, you don't
have to be afraid of anything. That's the title of the message.
No reason to be afraid. Verse 1, look what David says.
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Now
David asked first, whom shall I fear? Who should I fear? Well,
the answer to that is the Lord. And the fear that David speaks
of here is not fear like being afraid. It means reverence. The word actually means To revere. To revere. I don't think Isaac
will mind me using him as an example. To understand what does
revere, it means respect. Isaac, I know this about you.
You revere your dad, don't you? Now, it's very difficult for
me to believe, but I bet you there was a time that your dad
whipped you. And you did what you did or didn't
do because you were afraid he was going to whip you. You didn't
want to go in there whipping. As you get a little older, I think
you're getting this point. You get to the point you want
to please Him. You want to be like Him. Because
you revere and respect Him. That's what this is talking about.
Revere. God's children revere the Lord. We don't serve Him because we're
afraid He's going to whip us. We don't do the things that,
you know, walk the way that a believer is supposed to walk and try to
do the things we do because we're afraid He's going to whip us.
but because we revere Him. We need to worship Him. We always
trust Him. We believe Him. That's the revere,
the reverence, the fear that David's talking about here. And
you've got to get that before you go anywhere. This fear, this
reverence. Solomon said the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You can't be wise unless you
revere the Lord. So if you fear, you reverence
the Lord, You don't have a reason to be afraid of anything. David said, whom shall I fear?
And then he says, of whom shall I be afraid? Well, if I trust
the Lord, if I fear the Lord, I'm not going to be afraid of
anyone. That's the point that I want
to make tonight. Just that one point. I have several examples of it
from our text this evening. Number one, if I fear the Lord,
I don't have to be afraid of the dark. I don't have to be
afraid of the darkness of unbelief and spiritual ignorance because
Christ is my light. That's what David says. Verse
one, the Lord is my light. Now, by nature, we are spiritual
darkness. And I said that right. It's not
just that we're in spiritual darkness. We are spiritual darkness. We are in such darkness that
the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended
it not. God had to send John the Baptist to say, light shining.
That's how darkness, how much darkness we are. You'll notice
here, David doesn't say Christ just gives light to his people. Christ is the light of his people. The only way we'll ever see what
we really are by nature, the only way we'll ever see the darkness
of our nature, the only way we'll see the utter, dark, ugly depravity
of our nature, is to see Christ alive. We'll get a true view
of ourselves if we ever see ourselves or the Lord ever gives us a view
of ourselves in the light of who Christ is. That's the only
way we can ever get a right estimation of who we are. If we ever see
Christ as He is, we're going to say with our brother Job,
now I abhor myself because mine eye seeth thee. The only way
we can ever see, understand, how can God save a sinner like
me and still be going. The only way we ever see that
is to see Christ the light, that it's in him, that it's through
his obedience, it's through his sacrifice, it's all in him. So
if I see Christ, if he's my light, if he's the light that enables
me to see, then I'll never be deceived into thinking there's
another way of salvation. Christ is my light. I'll never
be deceived into thinking there's some other way to God. Something
else I have to do. No. I just come through Him because
Christ is the only way. If Christ is my light, as ignorant
as I am, as little as I know, as much as I need to be taught,
I don't need to be afraid of the dark. I'll never fall into
eternal darkness if Christ is my light. So I don't have to
be afraid of the dark. Thank God He has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. Christ is your light. You don't have to be afraid of
the dark. Then second, if I fear the Lord, I won't have to be
afraid of damnation because Christ is my salvation. The Lord is
my light and my salvation. Now I understand sinners fear
punishment. Sinners fear God sending them
to hell. They fear condemnation. I understand that perfectly.
I understand being afraid of punishment because that's what
our sin deserves. A holy God must punish sin. He must. It's
only right if He punishes sin. But Christ is my Savior. I don't fear damnation. I love
the way David writes this. He doesn't say, you'll notice,
I'm not afraid because I got saved. That's not what he says. If I got saved, I'm going to
be afraid. David doesn't even say I'm not
afraid because the Lord saved me, although that's true, he
did. But this is David's comfort.
This is why he's not afraid. He says the Lord is my salvation. Christ is my salvation. Salvation is not a thing Salvation
is not a doctrinal point on a piece of paper. Salvation is a person. And if the wonderful, glorious,
perfect person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if he's my Savior, if
all my salvation's in him, I can never be lost. So there's no
reason for me to be afraid of damnation. Now still face the
judgment. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. I'm not going to be afraid of
being damned when I get there because Christ is my salvation.
Christ already suffered all the damnation my sin deserves. Then I can never be damned. My
salvation is the person who sits upon the right hand of God, guaranteeing
my salvation. Then I'm not afraid. I'm not
afraid of anything. Thirdly, if I fear the Lord,
I don't have to be afraid of death. Because Christ is my life. David says, the Lord is my life,
my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. So of whom shall I be afraid? There is no reason for the believer
to be afraid of the death of these bodies. None whatsoever.
Because Christ took the sting away. Christ took the sting of
death away when he took the sin of his people away. Christ already
died and rose again for His people. So now, to the believer, the
death of these bodies, all it is, is to lay down this body
of sin and depart and go be with the Lord in a perfect heart.
Now there's no reason to fear that, is there? There's no reason
to fear going to be with the Lord. There's no reason for a
believer to fear death, to be afraid of death. any more than
there is a tired person to be afraid to lay down and get a
good night's sleep. It's good for us. Sunday night, Jan and
I got home about 10 o'clock. I want to tell you how just exhausted
we were. And you didn't have to do much. Guests go to bed, did you? We
were so looking forward to it because these bodies were so
exhausted. Right now, I don't think there's
a person in this room that wants to die right now. John, you ought
not want to. You've got family. You ought
to want to be with them. You ought to want to love them, support them, be
with them. There's coming a day that this
body is going to be so wore out. It's, oh, we're going to long
to leave it. We're going to long to go be
with the Lord. Let me lay down and go to sleep.
That's what the Lord called the death of these bodies. He's just
going to sleep. And he's going to raise these
bodies again in the resurrection. There's no need to fear laying
his body down. The Lord's going to raise it
again in the resurrection. But listen, he's not going to raise
them like they are now. He's going to raise them in a
glorious, perfect body. Not this corrupt, sinful, dying
body. He's going to raise them in a
body just like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid
of that. Are you? I long for it. There's
no reason to be afraid of death. And we've already touched on
this about this darkness. There's no reason for the believer
to be afraid. I'm sorry about damnation. We
don't have to be afraid of damnation if Christ is our Savior. Well,
there's no reason for the believer to fear eternal death if Christ
is our life. Look at John chapter 11. No one
who believes Christ can ever die. Because Christ already died
as our substitute. Look here at John 11. You know
this story very well. Our Lord's talking to Martha
after her brother Lazarus had died. In verse 23, Jesus saith
unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Now Martha had the doctrine
downright. Listen to her. She saith unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of
the last day. Then Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection. I am the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Martha, you believe this?
She saith unto him, yea Lord. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which come into the world. Now there's a great
big difference between what Martha said in verse 24 and verse 27,
isn't there? She believed in the resurrection. But let's get
right down to where the rubber meets the road. She said, yeah,
yes, I believe. I believe you. I believe you. I believe you're the Christ.
I believe you're my life. If I believe Christ like that,
I have no reason to be afraid of dying. Fourthly, back in our
text, verse two, if I fear the Lord, I don't have to be afraid
of any enemy, because the Lord is going to fight all of them
for me. Verse 2, when the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,
came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. The first
enemies I thought of when I read that are the obvious enemies
that the believer has, Satan, and those who hate the gospel,
those who hate our Savior. If they had their way, they'd
destroy me. They sure would. They have plenty
of power and their hatred is fueled by this hatred of God. They're more powerful than me.
There are more of them than me. Why shouldn't I be afraid of
them? Because if they're going to get to me, then I get to my
Lord first. And that's just not going to
happen. It's not going to happen. No enemy can ever touch my soul. I'm held in the hand of Christ.
I'm held in the hand of the Father. Nobody can get to me. And even
if the Lord does give them permission to touch my body, that's as far
as they can ever go. They can never separate me from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Matthew
chapter 10. We don't have to fear these enemies. Don't be afraid of them. Our
Lord will take care of them. He'll fight. He'll fight all
of our battles for us. Matthew chapter 10, verse 26. Fear them not, therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light, and what you hear in the ear, that preach
ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are
not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father. Sparrows are nothing. Not one
of them ever falls to the ground without our God knowing it. But
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore. Ye are of more value than many
sparrows. We don't have to be afraid of
these enemies. Our Lord will fight that battle
for us. But there's another enemy. The
enemy of my soul is dangerous and deadly. It's my own sins. Well, look at verse 3. Though
an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.
Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
My sin, David talks about a host encamping against me. My sin
is an innumerable host just surrounding me. It's a host encamped against
me that would destroy my very soul. That sin, it's a host. Every individual one of them
deserves damnation. It's a host of them against me.
But you know, I don't have to be afraid of them. I don't have
to be afraid of my sin if I fear the Lord. Because Christ took
my sin and His own precious body upon the tree and put all that
sin away by His sacrifice. So that, God said, their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. because there's nothing
left to remember. For by one offering, the Lord
Jesus Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. His
blood has blotted out the sin of his people, so there's nothing
for God to remember. So I don't have to be afraid
of these enemies. I don't have to be afraid of Satan. Satan
at Calvary tried to destroy me by destroying the Savior. And
when he did that, you know what happened? He stumbled and fell. Christ crushed his head. Well
now, no accusation of Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
will ever stick to me. They'll never stick to you if
you fear the Lord, because Christ took the sin of his people away
and made them perfect in him. So there's no reason for us to
ever be afraid of any enemy if we fear the Lord. Fifthly, if
I fear the Lord, I don't have to be afraid of becoming spiritually
homeless. because I live in Christ and
I'll always live in Christ. Verse four. One thing have I
desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Being found in Christ, knowing
Christ, having Christ is so important. David said, that's the only thing
I desire. One thing I desire. There's lots
of things I'd like to have. There's lots of things that might,
you know, have some interest. But there's one thing I desire.
There's one thing needful. I must have Christ. Give me Christ
or else I die. No matter what else I have, none
of it will matter if I don't have Christ. But if I have Christ,
no matter what I don't have, it won't matter. if I have Him. This is the one thing needful.
Every believer desires to be in Christ, to dwell in Christ. And you know what they will?
Every believer will live in the house of the Lord all the days
of our lives. What a house. A believer dwells
in the house of the Lord right now. We dwell in Christ right
now, in Christ. We live and move and have our
being. So we dwell in Him. But want me to tell you when
a believer lives. We live when we're in the house
of the Lord. When we come together these times
of public worship. When we come together to hear
the gospel preached. A man told me this week, he said,
this is what I've learned. over the past couple of years.
He's got a successful business and family and these things.
He said, you know, none of it matters. None of it matters. He said all that is is just marking
time. So I go be with the Lord. Whether it's in the house of
worship or I go be with the Lord. That's all it is. The believer
lives from Sunday to Wednesday. Sunday to Wednesday, from the
time I can read the Word, from the time I can go to the Lord
in prayer, that's when we live. That's what the believer's life,
I was going to say centers around, but that's what the believer's
life is, isn't it? We live in Christ. And the one thing we
desire is to be in the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty
of Christ. That's what you came here tonight
to hear, the gospel of Christ, His beauty. The beauty of Christ
is the beauty of His holiness. That's His true beauty. And the
thrilling thing is that's my beauty, too. That's my wedding
garment. If I'm in Christ, I'm dressed just like Him, dressed
in Him. The one thing the believer desires is to be in the house
of the Lord, to be able to come together and worship and to inquire
of Him, to inquire of the Lord. Now, we know Christ. Every believer
knows Christ. But you won't find one that's
satisfied with how much they know of him. We all want to know
more, don't we? We want to know more of him.
We want to learn more of him. We want to be taught more of
his way, more of his gospel, more of his salvation. We can
say with the Apostle Paul, oh, that I might know him and the
power of his resurrection. I want to know him better. And when this life is over, there's
coming a day we're going to meet here for the last time. His life's
going to be hopeful. And when it is, the believer
shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Now that house, it's not going
to be a house or a mansion in the skies like people like to
talk about. That house in which we will dwell forever is a body. It's a body made just like the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle, and what he's talking about earthly
house of this tabernacle is these bodies, the house he's talking
about is a body. For we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
our body which is from heaven, if so be. that being clothed
we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle,
in this fleshly body, this tabernacle, you know, a tabernacle is just
a tent. It's going to be folded up and put away soon. When we're
in this tabernacle of the flesh, we do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we're
always confident, knowing that whilst we're at home in the body,
we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. And we're confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body to be present with the Lord. When we're absent from
this body, we're going to be present with the Lord in a new
body. No reason to be afraid of that,
but every reason for the believer to look forward to All right,
sixth, if I fear the Lord, I don't have to be afraid of trials.
The Lord will defend me, he'll hold me up, he'll keep me. Verse
five, for in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion.
In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set
me up upon a rock. Now when I say we don't have
to be afraid of trials, I'm not saying that trials and troubles
won't come. No, you mark it down. They're coming. They're coming.
Often they come in spades, don't they? One right after another,
after another. Job told us that. A man that's
born a woman is a few days. And those days are full of trouble.
But I don't have to be afraid of them. I don't have to be afraid
of those troubles. I don't have to be afraid of
those trials. Because the Lord's gonna defend me. He's gonna take
care of me. He'll hide me. So I can't be
destroyed by my trials and my troubles. David gives us a threefold
defense here. First, he said he shall hide
me in his pavilion. Now, what David's talking about
there is the king's pavilion. The king's pavilion was whether
he's in the palace or even if they were out and about somewhere,
wherever was they set up the king's bed. The best, most valiant
soldiers would just ring that bed with their back to the bed,
looking out, guarding the king all night. It was a well-defensed
area in the middle of the camp. It's the king's pavilion. Nobody's
going to get to that king. But all those guards, those valiant
guards are standing on guard. The believer's hidden in the
king's pavilion. Nothing's going to get through
there. Nothing's going to get through and harm. In, not just
a pavilion, we're hidden in Christ the King. Well, nothing's going
to touch Him, so nothing's going to touch you who are in Him.
Second, David said, He shall hide me in the secret of His
tabernacle. What's he talking about there?
What he's saying is that He'll hide me in the sacrifice of Christ. The secret of the tabernacle,
the secret place with the Holy of Holies. That's where the high
priest went. One day a year on the Day of
Atonement with the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle the blood
on the mercy seat. This is what David is saying.
Troubles and trials are coming. I don't have to be afraid of
them. I don't have to be afraid of
what's going to happen because of them. If I'm resting in Christ, if
I'm resting in His sacrifice, if I'm covered by the blood of
Christ, that's the only covering I need. That's the only plea
I need. I'm covered in the blood of Christ. So God's wrath, His
just wrath, cannot touch me, because the blood has satisfied
God's wrath. Well, if God's justice can't
touch me, nothing else is going to be able to do either. He's
hidden me in a secret place in the sacrifice of Christ. Then
He said, He's going to put me up. He's not just going to hide
me somewhere all the time. He's going to put me up upon a rock,
upon the rock of Christ Jesus. Now the tempest, trials and the
storms and the difficulties of this life are going to be fierce
trials. We're not going to sweep you
off the rock, Christ Jesus. If our feet are founded upon
the rock, Christ Jesus, we shall not be moved. Because Christ
can't be moved. That's what David said in Psalm
62. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. So I shall not be moved. Now
if I fear the Lord, I'm not gonna be afraid. But I'll tell you
what I will do. I'm gonna offer sacrifices of
joy. I'm gonna sing the praises of the Lord. Verse six. And now
shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about
me. David's talking about here in the time of trouble, but look
how quickly he goes to saying, my head's gonna be lifted up
above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. There remaineth no more sacrifice
for sin. Sacrifices of joy, sacrifices
of praise and thanksgiving remain. The believer loves to offer the
sacrifices of joy, to sing the praises of Christ our Savior. We love to hear the praises of
the Savior. That's why we love to hear the
gospels preached, the gospels praising Christ our Savior. That
is our real lasting joy, our only real lasting joy on this
earth. So David says, as long as I live,
I'm going to sing. I'm going to sing praises unto
the Lord. Then seventh, if I fear the Lord, I don't have to be
afraid that the Lord's going to ignore me. Verse seven. Hear,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer
me. We can understand David's cry,
can't we? Lord, I'm crying to you, so hear me and have mercy
upon me. Don't hear me because I did something
good and deserve to be heard. Lord, hear me because you're
merciful, because you're merciful to your people. Don't ever let
me stand on my own, but deal with me in mercy. Hear me because
you're merciful. And our constant cry, our constant
cry is mercy. In every prayer, our cry is for
mercy. Lord, be merciful. Sometimes you think, well, maybe I should say something
different. Maybe I shouldn't cry for mercy all the time, many
times. Maybe the Lord's tired of hearing
me cry for mercy. Man, wait a minute. Don't ever
fall into that. We have very good reason to cry
for mercy and to keep crying for mercy. Never shut up. You know why? The Lord told us to keep crying. Verse 8, When thou saidest, Seek
ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I
seek. You told me to seek your face,
so that's just exactly what I'm going to do. I'm seeking your
face. Lord, would you turn your face upon me and look upon me
in mercy. And you keep crying, Until he
does. Because he told us to keep crying.
Remember the parable our Lord told about the unjust judge and
that widow woman? She cried and he wouldn't hear
her. And she kept crying, and she kept crying, and she kept
crying. Finally he said, well I don't fear the Lord or man.
But since she's going to keep crying, I'm just going to do
what she wants to shut her up. Our Lord told that parable to
this end. That man ought always to pray, not quit. crying to the Lord. He said cry. That's reason enough. Do you need mercy? Does anybody
here need mercy? Then keep crying. He said he'll
hear. I said not to the seed of Jacob
seek ye me in vain. God didn't tell you seek him
in vain. No sinner ever seeks the Lord in vain. Ever. Seek
and you'll find. and it shall be open to you.
You'll find Him in the day you seek for Him with all your heart.
The Lord will always hear the cry of His servant. Always. Because
the Lord hears and accepts His people for His mercy's sake,
not our goodness sake. If the Lord heard us for our
goodness sake, we'd be worried. The Lord's not going to hear
us. But the Lord hears His people because He hears them for His
mercy's sake. So I don't have to be afraid
that the Lord is ever going to ignore you. Now, will He grant
every request? No, He will not. Will He always
hear my cry of need? Yes, He will. Amen. All right,
eighth. If I fear the Lord, I don't have
to be afraid of being left alone. Verse nine. Hide not thy face
far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help. You've been my help all this
time in the past. Now leave me not. Neither forsake
me, O God, for my salvation. David's crying to the God of
my salvation. He's crying to the God who saved
me by His grace. We cry to our God, our Savior,
the one who punished His Son as our substitute. We cry to
the Father who left Christ alone as He suffered. as our substitute. Then the father will never leave
his people. You never have to be afraid of
being left alone because the believer never is. He left our
substitute. So he will never leave nor forsake
his people. He will never deal with his children
in anger because he's already dealt with Christ, our substitute
in anger. So this is why the Lord promises his people. This
is promised to his people. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. I don't have to be afraid, do
I? I look at verse 10, he kind of
gives us an illustration here. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. And you young people,
right now you're under the roof of your parents. And they raise
you, they provide for you, they do all these things for you.
You'll get to a certain point, and you know what they're going
to do? They're going to say, it's time for you to go out on
your own. It's time for you to go. You graduate from high school,
and they say, they're not going to kick you out on the street.
You're not going to be homeless. But they're going to tell you,
it's time to go off to college. It's time to go to trade school.
It's time for you to start staying on your own. They do it little
by little, but that's what parents have to do now. Just like a mother
bird. Have you ever seen a documentary
of a mother bird just shoving those chicks out of the nest
and that nest is way up there in the tree and she's just shoving
those little birds, those little babies. You think, that looks
so mean. How mean is that? They're going
to just die. But it's the only way the mama is ever going to
teach those babies to fly. They've got to go out on their
own. And when our parents do that for us, they tell you now,
Time to go. Go to the next phase. Got to
start school this year. I remember the start of school.
Never one year, not one, not one, did I ever want to go back
to school. And you know what my mom and
dad did? They said, get out of here. You're going to school.
That happened to you, didn't it? You got to go to school. You know why they
did that? So we learn. So we mature. And
eventually, you know what you're going to say? You're going to
say, I'm going to go to college. I'm ready to go. And they're going
to say, don't go. You're going to. Because that's
just what this is, the cycle of life. When our parents tell
us, now it's time for you to stand up there on your own. They're
not forsaking us in the sense that we talk about just abandoning
somebody. They're doing what's good for us by teaching us to
go stand on our own. When you were a little thing,
your mama tied your shoe all the time. Your shoe would come
untied, you'd be outside playing, you'd run, you'd just stick your
foot in the hole. She'd tie your shoe. Aren't you glad she's not
doing that anymore? She finally taught you, tie your
own shoe! So you started to learn to stand on your own. Our Heavenly Father will never
do that. Our Heavenly Father will never
tell one of His children, Time for you to stand on your own.
No. He will always hold up his people. He'll always strengthen
them and lead them and never leave them alone. And here's another difference.
It's something that we all face. Someday our earthly parents are
going to die. And they're going to leave us
here alone. That's why they're teaching us to take care of our
own self. They're not always going to be here. And when that
happens, You mark it down. Mark it down. God's word says
when that happens, the Lord will take me up. You're not going
to be left without a father, a heavenly father. The Lord will
take me up. Now that happens with our earthly
parents, but that'll never happen with our heavenly father. He's
eternal. He'll never die. He'll never
leave us. Then we don't have to be afraid
of being alone, do we? because our heavenly Father will
never go away and leave his children to stand alone. Then David closes
in prayer. David shows we don't have to
be afraid. He's got total confidence, doesn't he, in the Lord. But
confidence in Christ never makes us presume upon the Lord's mercy.
Confidence in Christ actually makes us go to the Lord in prayer.
And this is David's prayer, verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord,
and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Deliver me not
over into the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen
up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. But David prays,
Lord, teach me your way. This is the same thing that Moses
prayed. Lord, show me your way. Show
me your glory. Teach me your way. Teach me Christ
the way. So I fear him. Teach me Christ
the way of salvation. Christ the way of righteousness.
Christ the way of forgiveness. So I'll trust Christ alone. And
lead me in a plain path. A well-marked path so I can't
get off the path and go off on a tangent. I love the way David
says this. David doesn't just say, Lord,
teach me what to do. Teach me the way and then leave
me alone to do it. No, he said, Lord, teach me. And then lead
me in the way. Teach me. Put me in the way.
But don't leave me to myself, or I'll go away from Christ and
give your enemies cause to rejoice in both. But teach me the way,
put me in the way, and then leave me in the way so I don't go off
of it. Then David gives us some parting words. This will be our
parting words for this evening. Parting words of encouragement
to those who fear the Lord. Don't quit. Don't quit. If I thought to look it up and
write it down, I thought of Winston Churchill's famous series of
however he don't surrender. Don't ever surrender. Don't quit. That's what David says, verse
13. I'd fainted. I would have quit unless I believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. This
life journey is difficult. It's a tough place to live. We're
going to face many dangers, toils and snares. Many of them. Before
this thing's over, we're going to face many of them. David's
difficulties. I don't know what age David was
when he wrote this psalm, but they'd already been many. He's
going to face more. They're going to be hard, hard
ones. And he said, when all those things came up, I would have
just quit. If I didn't believe the Lord. I would have just quit. I wouldn't
have bothered trying to go back to the tabernacle or the temple.
I wouldn't have bothered trying to bring the Ark of the Covenant
back. I wouldn't have bothered to bow before the Lord and say,
Lord, who am I? What is my house that you'd be
so merciful? David, he said, I wouldn't bother
doing that. I'd just quit. But he said, I couldn't quit.
Because I believed God. I reverenced the Lord. David
would have quit unless he believed Christ was all he needed. David
would have quit unless he'd have believed that Christ is sufficient
in every situation. David didn't quit because the
Lord wouldn't let him quit. Because the Lord gave him faith
that won't quit. David didn't quit because the
Lord is the strength of his life. You take His home with you. When
you feel so weak, you feel so beaten down, storms of life that
just battered you and battered you and battered you and battered
you. And you feel like, I can't go on. Not one more second I
can't. Not only can I not take another
step, I can't take another breath. You just, you're so weak. Don't quit. Don't quit resting
in the Lord. Don't quit referencing the Lord.
Just depend upon Him. He is the strength of your life. That's what David did. He wouldn't
quit. He just depended upon the Lord. He said, Lord, help me.
And that's why he tells us, don't quit. Don't quit. Just wait. Just wait on the Lord. Verse 14. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. He shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. You know, people have problems
difficulties and heart-wrenching, heart-breaking, just crushing
troubles and trials. Oh, what's the answer? What is the answer? Other than this. Just wait on
the Lord. Keep crying. Cry to Him. Cry
to the Lord. He hears the cries of His children
sooner or later. And listen, when you cry to the
Lord, Don't think that you've got to offer him some suggestions.
Lord, you could do this, or you could do this, or you could do
this to fix the problem. He knows. Just cry like a small
child and have the Father. He'll hear you. He'll hear you.
He knows what to do. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for this
precious, precious song. We pray that you would grant
us this gift of faith that you gave our brother David, that
we won't quit because we believe. We believe God. Cause us to rest
in him. Give us a fear, a reverence of
the Lord so that we see we don't have to be afraid of anything.
But Christ is our hope. Cause us not to get Looking at
all the storms of this life and the difficulties of this life
and the enemy and what they're doing and what they want to do
just cause us to look to Christ and to see Him, to rest in Him
and wait on Him to accomplish His will. Father, we pray at
Your will to bless Your Word, comfort the hearts of Your people
and give glory to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is
in His matchless name we pray and give thanks. If some of you men, before you
leave, would set up our tables in the ordinary fashion so we
can have our dinner Sunday, I would greatly appreciate it.