Thank you, Brother Minnie. I'm
enriched by the friendships that develop between us and appreciate
the opportunity of being here. It's a joy to worship with you.
I hope I'm not showing any signs of weakness by admitting that
I'm nervous and intimidated. Intimidated following Brother
Minnie, but also nervous because these other guys are going to
come after me and I'm smack in the middle. I'm thankful I'm
in this slot. There was a lunch break between
the time that Brother Minnie spoke and myself. And then I'm
glad I'm not in the other spots. I get the better one, I think,
because as the day goes on, everyone gets a little bit tired. I'll
do my best to keep it concise and short. I have two requests. I usually make this at the congregation
in London. I'll make it with you. If you
have a mobile device, could I ensure that you triple check it switched
off? The ringing phone, the text messages coming in. It does disturb
the teaching of God's word. The second request, I don't know
if you're in the habit of taking notes. I always encourage those
that send them to the preaching of the word to take notes. I
believe it's a good habit to cultivate. And if you have a
pen or paper handy, I'd recommend you take it out. It will facilitate
you as I bring you through an exposition of our text. I'd like to ask you to take your
Bibles. We're looking at Psalm 56, and if I were to give a title
to the challenge, I would call it Thy Vows Are Upon Me. Thy Vows Are Upon Me, and the
text is Psalm 56. I'd like to begin by reading
for you the introduction. Psalm 56, the introduction. to the chief musician upon Jonathelem,
Rekochim, Michtim of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath. We believe the little incident
is referenced in the last part of 1 Samuel chapter 21. Little background, if you please.
David was publicly introduced to Israel when she was in battle
with her armies arrayed against those of the Philistines. Goliath
stood in the face of Israel and he defied the armies of the living
God. David secures from King Saul
permission to enter the battlefield and stand against this uncircumcised
Philistine with only a sling as his weapon And with a single
blow to the head, Goliath falls, whereupon David jumps on his
dead body. He takes Goliath's sword and
he severs the head from the corpse. David takes the head by the hair
and he delivers it to King Saul. King Saul makes David the captain
of the men of war. Saul and David are returning
home. All of the women in the surrounding
cities have come out to the gates to greet them. They're dancing,
they're singing. The song that they're singing
is this. One group of women call out in
song, Saul has slayed his thousands. Another group of women would
respond, but David hath slain his ten thousands. Upon hearing
this soul is stirred to anger. And from that day forward, he
set his heart against David in a spirit of jealousy between
the 18th In 20th chapters of 1st Samuel, Saul attempts to
kill David on at least 10 separate occasions. And each time he fails
in the attempt, he becomes only more hardened and embittered
against David. This ultimately led David to
confess, but truly as Jehovah liveth, there is but a step between
me and death. No longer able to remain in the
city, David flees for his life to a place called Nob. In this place is the tabernacle. And in this tabernacle is a priest
named Ahimelech. So desperate was David, he did
three things entirely out of character. First, he lies to
the priest. Second, he commits profanity
by taking the showbread. And third, he girds himself with
the sword of Goliath. This weapon had been given to
the priest for safekeeping. It's ironic that when David fought
Goliath, he refused a sword. But now in this time of his desperation,
He arms himself with the sword of Goliath. Word comes to David that even
in the tabernacle, he wasn't safe. So he fled. He goes to
another place, a place called Gath. Gath was the hometown of
Goliath. Gath was one of the chief cities
of the Philistines. People who lived in Gath were
the enemies of Israel and the arch enemy of David. But so distraught
was David that he felt he could find better refuge among his
enemies than among his own countrymen. When he arrives in Gath, he's
immediately taken before the king. Standing nearby are a group
of servants. When they recognize who David
is, the champion that defeated Goliath, they give word in the
king's ear. David sees the whispering. It
sends a shudder of fear through his bones. And now he's afraid
the king of Gath is gonna kill him. So David strategically begins
to act like a madman. He phones at the mouth, spittle
runs down his beard. He begins to speak in incoherent
language. His speech is slurred, his accent
is skewed. He has some type of writing instrument
in his hand. On the doors of the gates, he
begins to write unintelligent markings on the door. And then
he begins to beat himself against the doors. And when the King
of Gath sees this outlandish behavior, he lets David go. David then flees once again. He goes to a cave, the cave of
Adullam, finding himself alone, but secure. We believe it was
in the privacy of that cave that he wrote the words of this psalm. Psalm 56 is the text. If you look in your Bibles, I
like to outline it for you before I read the passage. There appears
to be three stanzas. First, David tells us something
about the time of his distress. Second, he tells us something
about the place of his distress. And third, he tells us something
about the object of his distress. Let me read to you the song keeping
that outline in mind. The first stanza, the time of
David's distress, this begins in verse one and runs through
verse four. I'll commence reading in verse
one. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up, he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies
would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against
me, O Thou Most High. What time, I am afraid, I will
trust in Thee. In God I will praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. I say this is all about the time
of David's distress because if you look in verse one, David
talks about the enemy fighting with him daily. If you look in
verse two, the enemy is swallowing him up daily. And in verse three,
he refers to the time he is afraid he will trust in the Lord. It's
all about the timing of David's distress. Take a look at the
second stanza. The second stanza is all about
the place of his distress. We're looking now in verses five
through nine. I commence reading in verse five.
Every day they rest my words. All their thoughts are against
me for evil. They gather themselves together.
They hide themselves. They mark my steps. When they
wait for my soul, Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine
anger cast down the people, O God. Thou tellest my wonderings, put
thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? When
I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know,
for God is for me. You notice at the end of verse
six, David says, the enemy have marked his steps. The reference
to steps tells us that David is speaking about the place or
the location of his distress. The enemy, their thoughts are
against him for evil. They've gathered themselves together. They strategically positioned
themselves in secret places with the design to ambush David in
his journey. That's what the stanza is essentially
telling us. But in verse number eight, David
acknowledges that God is in charge of his steps. He calls his steps
wanderings. David even makes mention of a
book where God has numbered all of his tears. And in verse nine,
David is confident that when he pours out his heart to the
Lord, then God will turn back his enemies and protect him in
his place. The second stanza is all about
the location or the place of David's distress. The third stanza,
the object of his distress. This forms the last part of the
Psalm beginning in verse 10. And God will I praise his word,
and the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render praises unto thee,
for thou hast delivered my soul from death. Will not thou deliver
my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light
of the living?" The object of his distress You look in verse
13 and he tells us precisely what it was. David refers to
the object of his distress in verse 13 when he says, the Lord
has delivered his soul from death. The object of this man's distress
was a terrifying death. You remember, he was running
for his life from Saul. He came to that place called
Nob, but even there he discovered he was a hunted man. He then
flees to Gath, hoping to find refuge among his enemies, but
to save his neck from that king, he degraded himself by acting
as a madman and fool. You see the great object of David's
distress was that he would be killed if not by King Saul, then
by the King of Gath. This last stanza is all about
the object of David's distress. And while we're at it, I might
as well point out something that's worth mentioning. Notice how
the first Let me put it this way. The last verse of the first
stanza is a repetition of the first two verses of the last
stanza. Let me point this out for you.
The last verse of the first stanza is verse four. Let me read it
for you again. And God, I will praise his word. And God, I have put my trust.
I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Now compare this
to the first two verses of the last stanza, looking in verse
10. In God, I will praise his word. In the Lord, I will praise his
word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. That last verse in the first
stanza, the first two verses in the last stanza, they're one
and the same. It's a repetition. The expressions
are very similar. David will not fear what man
can do to him for two reasons. First, because he has reverence
for the word of God. And second, because he has absolute
confidence in God himself. Well, That's a brief exposition
of this psalm as a whole. My special interest falls upon
one of the verses in the psalm. I'm interested in the third stanza,
and in particular, verse 12. David gives to us this confession. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render praises unto thee. I trust the Lord will bless these
words to us as we explore both the meaning and the implication
of this text and the life of God's people. There's two things
that appear to be going on here in the text. Number one, the
vows of God. Number two, the praises of David. Very simple. The vows of God,
the praises of David. Watch this. The vows of God are
upon David. Therefore, David will praise
the Lord. I like to explore these two things
in more depth and I'll begin in that order. First, the vows
of God. Here's the confession, thy vows
are upon me, oh God. I don't know about you, but this
comes at me as a curious expression. I mean, I'm familiar with the
term vows when it's used within the context of a man and a woman
exchanging an oath when they unite in marriage. These are
called wedding vows, marriage vows. I'm familiar with the term
vow when it's used within the context of a court of law. And
the witness in the box is there to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth. But it's not very often I take
this term vow and I connect it or relate it to God. But this
is precisely what David does in the text. He says, thy vows
are upon me. Oh God, this expression is so
curious that I turned to a number of resources. in an attempt to
get a clear understanding of what's happening. The first place
I went to was the Oxford English Dictionary. And this is what
I found about the term vow, simply means a solemn promise. And then
there were some synonyms that followed. A vow is an oath, a
pledge, a promise, a covenant, I then decided to take a look
at the meaning of the Hebrew word. So for this task, I turned
to Strong's Hebrew dictionary. He tells us that the Hebrew term
means a promise or a thing that is promised. In fact, I discovered
that the Hebrew term occurs 60 times in the Old Testament. When I looked up these passages,
I found something very interesting. In 59 references where this term
is used, it is always in connection with man making a pledge or a
promise to God. I'll give you an example of this.
Ecclesiastes chapter five in verse four. You don't need to
turn there. I'll just read it for you. And here you find the
Hebrew term used in this text. When thou vowest a vow unto God,
defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that
which thou hast vowed. Now in discovering that 59 out
of the 60 references all refer to a promise or pledge that man
makes to God, it only added confusion to this particular text, because
in Psalm 56, David appears to be saying the very opposite.
He says, thy vows are upon me, Oh God. In order to try to get more clarity
on the issue, I turned to the commentators. I hope they could
shed some light on this text. To my surprise, most of the commentators
took the view that this text should not be interpreted as
it reads at face value. Rather, they suggest that we
should be interpreting this statement in Psalm 56 in the same way that
this term vow is used in the other 59 instances, the Old Testament. To give you an example of this,
let me read for you the comments of John Gill. Psalm 56 verse
12, these are the words of Gil on the passage. He says, these
vows are those of David. The vows that David had made
to God in the time of his distress and trouble. And David looked
upon himself under great obligation to perform the promises that
he had made to his Lord. I wasn't satisfied with this
interpretation because it seems to me that from the text, David
is quite clearly showing us that the vows he's referring to are
vows that God has made upon him, not promises or pledges that
David has made, to the Lord. I was therefore greatly encouraged
to find one commentator who supported the most natural view of this
text, Robert Hawker. I'll read to you his words on
this passage. He says, blessed thought, all
the redeemed of God have the vows of God upon them. They are as the Israelites house
was appointed to be with the label upon the gate that every
traveler going by might read that inscription and say, here
dwelleth one of God's people. Now Hawker supports the view
that David is referring here to the vows God has made upon
him. And then Hawker uses this interesting
analogy of the children of Israel placing upon the doors of the
gates of their houses, the word of God. You remember the passage
Hawker's referring to, Deuteronomy chapter 11. The children of Israel
were to remember the words of the Lord. They were to do this
in four ways. First, they were to memorize
the word of God by storing it up in their hearts. Second, they
were to adorn themselves with God's word. They were to do this
by writing signs on the hand and also frontlets between the
eyes. Third, they were to teach the
word of God to their children. Before the children went to bed,
they were to teach the word of God. When the children wake up,
they were to have a time of devotion with the children. When the children
sat down in the house, the parents would be speaking to them about
God's word. When they went walking down to
the local market, they were to be speaking the word of God to
the children. Number four, the Israelites were
to take the words of God and write them upon the posts of
their houses and gates. as Hawker said, so as those who
passed by the house might know that the people living in that
home were the people of God. Hawker therefore says that these
vows of God, which he has placed upon David, they are like the
label the Israelites put upon the gate of their houses. Everyone
who would come in contact with David would know that this man
belongs to the Lord. God has marked him out from the
crowd. God has put his signature upon
David, making known to the world that this man belongs to him. And what are these vows that
God has placed upon David? What is this promise that God
has placed upon David? What is this pledge? But the
covenant of the triune Jehovah. You see, God had taken His eternal
covenant. He had fastened it to David like
a garment. And here is this man on the run
for his life. He's come to this cold, dark,
barren cave. He's all on his own. And then
he finds this soothing warmth that spreads over his soul when
he's able to recognize and confess, God, thy covenant is upon me. That this is the meaning of David,
I don't think, It can be easily disputed. The triune Jehovah
has made a vow. He has made a covenant that from
eternity God the Father has separated from the mass of the human race
a remnant and he has set his special love upon these persons. The Father has distinguished
these persons as vessels of honor. And it pleased the Father to
take this remnant of the human race, these objects of His special
love, these vessels of honor, and to give them to His Son. And the Son of God received them
freely, willingly, and He set His eternal love upon them. And
the Father appointed the Son to serve as the Mediator, as
the Redeemer for these persons. The Son of God agreed to this
appointment. so that in the fullness of time,
he might assume a human nature, that in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he might redeem his people, first by earning
for them eternal life by his perfect obedience to God's law. and then by delivering them from
eternal death and from their sins and guilt and God's wrath
through the shedding of His precious blood. Henceforth, these persons the
Father had set apart as vessels of honor, are now made by the
Son of God and the person of Christ, the vessels of mercy
fitted to glory. And the Father and the Son have
now taken the same persons that have been made vessels of honor
and vessels of mercy, and they have given these people into
the special care of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God
received them unto Himself, and the Spirit of God set His eternal
love upon them. And the Father and the Son appointed
the Spirit to serve as sanctifier. The Spirit of God agreed. And
throughout the course of history, The Spirit of God imparts to
the soul of every one of God's chosen and redeemed people a
new life in Christ through a new birth experience, sanctifying
them experientially, granting them new life in Christ. Yes, these are the vows of God. This is the promise of God. This
is the pledge of God. This is the gracious covenant
of God. That the father has set apart
these persons as vessels of honor and the son has remade them into
vessels of mercy and the spirit of God has made them vessels
of sanctification. And David confesses that this
covenant of the triune Jehovah was spread out upon him like
a garment. He said, thy covenant, thy vows
are upon me, oh God. But I want you to notice very
carefully from the text. This is a covenant made not with
David, but upon David. He says, thy vows, thy covenant,
it's upon me, O God. This covenant of Jehovah is from
eternity. It's made between the three persons
of the Godhead and between them alone. And let us praise God that this
covenant is not contingent on the sinner. Praise God that this
covenant does not depend upon the sinner exercising faith or
repenting of sin or keeping the law or repeating a prayer. Praise
God this covenant is contingent on Christ alone. Not the labor
of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal, no respite,
no. Could my tears forever flow. All for sin could not atone.
Thou must save and thou alone. And praise God, this covenant
is not only contingent on Christ, but it is also dependent on the
spirit of God. For it was while I was dead in
sin, without strength, blind and deaf, it was then, at the
appointed time, the Spirit of God conquered my heart. He planted
that flag of sovereign grace upon my soul. He inserted into
my soul this new life in Christ. I became a living creature in
Christ, a living soul in Christ, whereby I was then made willing
in the day of His power to come to the Savior. Yes, this is what
David is saying. David is saying, thy vows, thy
promises, thy pledge, thy covenant, O God, is upon me. I am one of
thy elect. You've given me this persuasion
in my heart. I may be an outcast of my countrymen. I may be hated by the Philistines. I might not even be able to find
refuge in the tabernacle of the Most High God, but this I know. And I have no doubts, no fears,
no qualms about it. This I know. I am one of Jehovah's
redeemed people. I'm a vessel of honor, love from
eternity. I'm a vessel of mercy, redeemed
by the atoning blood of Christ. I am a vessel of sanctification,
regenerated by the effectual power of the sovereign spirit. These are the vows of God upon
David. And I look at the time and I
see we're almost up. And so I have to shorten the
remainder of everything I've got to say. I come to the second
point and I'll make it as short as I can. Five, six minutes.
Be finished. The praises of David. I ask you
a simple question. What effect did this eternal
covenant spread across David's soul like a blanket warming him
in that cave of loneliness? What effect did that have on
David? He tells us the effect. He says,
I will render praises unto thee. I want you to mark down four
things about this confession. Number one, the order, the order. David says, thy vows are upon
me, O God, I will render praises unto thee. Watch, it's first
the vows of God, then the praises of David. It's first the covenant
of God and then the worship of David. All praises, all thanksgiving
is the product or the outflow of that gracious covenant God
has placed upon his people. That's the order. Number two,
the offering. David tells us his offering is
that of praises, praises. This term has a wide application
throughout the Old Testament. It's often translated thanksgiving. You realize that for a soul conquered
by sovereign grace, both of these things are true. When we praise God, we're acknowledging
who he is. But when we thank him, we're
recognizing what He does. For a soul conquered by sovereign
grace, we praise the triune Jehovah, giving all honor and glory to
the Father, Son, and Spirit. But we likewise thank Him, Father,
Son, and Spirit, for all of the spiritual blessings and heavenly
places secured for us in Christ. That's the offering. Number three,
the action. The action. David describes the
action as a rendering. A rendering. This term is often
used to describe some type of repayment. You know the expression,
one good deed deserves another. Your friend does something good
for you, you do something good in return. This is the meaning
of this term that David uses, rendering. It's used in that
connection here with reference to the action he's taking with
God. David is repaying to the Lord
what the Lord has done for him. Jehovah's placed his gracious
covenant upon David. So David is returning the kindness
with an act of praise and thanksgiving. This praise and thanksgiving
was not a payment for his salvation, but rather it was a repayment
of gratitude and praise for what God had given to him. That's
the action. And the fourth and final thing
I wanna say, the object, the object. I will render praises unto thee. You don't find the name Jehovah,
but that's precisely who it is that David is referring to. I
will render praises unto thee. The object is Jehovah. I close it up by asking you to
consider this final point, try to tie the loose end together.
Is not the object the final link to the strands that bring together
David's story and his testimony in this song? The providential
orderings of Jehovah were extreme in this man's life. God had squeezed
David's life until he was all alone. David was forced to flee
out of the city and forsake his family and friends. He went to
Nob hoping he could find safe refuge in the tabernacle, but
even there he was a hunted man. So he fled to Gath. Now he had
been completely forsaken by his countrymen, he goes among his
enemies. hoping to find refuge with his
enemies, he could find no refuge there. And so he's forced to
flee to the final place, a cave by himself. No friends, no family,
not even enemies to keep this man company. And you know what
Jesus said to his people? If you love father, mother more
than me, you're not worthy of me. If you love son or daughter
more than me, you're not worthy of me. Your love for me must
be supreme and all other attachments and loves and connections must
be secondary. Apparently Jehovah was taking
David by the cuff and he was shaking him loose of all the
earthly attachments until David alone in that cave could see
Jehovah and Jehovah only. And it was then, like that warm
blanket coming over his soul, he recognized, I don't need Goliath's
sword. I've forgotten my way. I've lost
myself. All I need is Jehovah. His covenant
is upon me. Therefore, will I render praises
to him. May the Lord bless us.