Psalm 27. Let's read the first three verses once
again. Psalm 27. 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? When
the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. You know, this psalm
can be read in a threefold way, and by that I mean that the language
can be applied to David, who wrote the psalm, inspired by
the Holy Spirit, or it can be applied to all of God's elect,
and it can also be applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. At the
top of the page of the Bible here, it says that David sustains
his faith by the power of God, and that's God-given faith. That's
not faith that's something that a man produces within himself,
but it's by the power of God. Psalm 27 is a prayer of faith,
offering prayer and praise to our God. We're gonna look at
a word right here, communication, just for a minute. A simple definition
of it is to exchange information, and that word, That word covers
a lot of information. You know, whether it's a physical
relationship or a spiritual relationship, communication is very important. You know, God communicates with
us through a spirit that lives in the heart of all of his elect. You know, when we come here together
to worship and to praise our Lord through the preaching of
his word, whatever we're facing in this world, at that time,
it brings us comfort and peace when we come into this building
and we're here together and we're here to worship and enter into
worship. And when we can really enter
into what is being said, we are truly able to glory in our Lord
and feel his presence in our hearts. And it does, it blesses
us so much. You know, if our Lord is being
glorified by praise and worship, thanksgiving, and true preaching
of his word, then his brethren is truly being fed. Anytime that
God, anytime that our Lord is truly being glorified, it truly
blesses the brethren. And it truly helps us when we
have to go back out into this world and face things that sometimes
are hard to deal with. But when we keep looking to Christ,
and we keep looking to him, and we know that he is absolute sovereign
over all things, it gives us peace. If there's two or three
words that you never did hear in false religion, it's sovereign,
two words, sovereign and providence. That's two words we very seldom
ever hear. But when we look at Psalm 27
here, verse one, we looked at them a few weeks ago, but this
evening, Lord's willing, we're gonna briefly expound on some
of the other verses in this chapter. But let's read verse one again,
very slowly, and think about it while we read it, and ask
God to cause us to enter into what is being said here. The
Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? But Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? You know,
as David, all believers can take his psalm personally. David said
that the Lord is my light. You know, a natural man, they
walk in darkness. But for God's elect, God's word
says in John 8, Jesus, our Lord, said, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You know,
David also said that the Lord was his salvation. And Christ
is not only our salvation, he is salvation. Salvation is a
person. And there are so many verses
that say this of our Lord. But the plainest one for me to
understand, and we all know it, is Acts 4.12. Neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. And David said also
that the Lord is the strength of my life. And the Lord is a
strength of our life because he is our life. He is not only
our life, he is our life. He said in Acts 17, for in him
we live, we move, and we have our being. Then Joshua said,
but our God is with thee wherever we go. You know it doesn't matter
where we're at, doesn't matter how we feel, It doesn't matter
who we're with, Christ is right there with us. Our Lord says
to be anxious for nothing, but in everything. And this is where
communication comes in at. As I look at myself, I'm very
shameful of the amount of time that I actually spend communicating
with my Lord. But He says here in everything,
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Everything we have
in this life, everything, it comes from our Lord. But he says,
let your requests be made known unto God. You know, I know that
we've become worried at times, and concerned, and aggravated,
and irritated about things in our lives. But that's just a
part of it. But I know that if we seek the
Lord's help, that he will answer our prayers. And it will make
us feel better because he said that he would answer our prayers.
And he will give us the grace to get through the things that
we have to get through. One of the verses that blesses
my heart so much, and I use it a lot, and that is that God is
our refuge and strength. It's not me. God is our refuge
and strength. And he is a very what? A very
present help in time of trouble. You know, we can see the language
of Christ when he was first consoling himself, in that first right
here, just before he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and they
was coming to take him to the cross. You know, he was Almighty
God in the flesh. He knew exactly what he was getting
ready to face, but I guarantee you there was no fear in him. He knew he was gonna suffer,
he knew he was gonna bleed, he knew he was gonna bleed to death
for his people. He knew he was gonna die. But I guarantee you
there was no fear in him. But anyway, it says here in Psalm 2 and 3,
when the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, come upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. And though a host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war shall rise
against me, and this will I be confident. You know, God's elect,
we have many enemies. And Christ, he had many enemies
while he was on this earth. And I may look at myself and
think, well, I don't have no enemies. I get along pretty good
with people. But you know, this world, in
this world, God's people, they have many enemies. Some are physical, but most of
them are spiritual. But the first enemy that we face
in this physical world, I can read about it in 1 John, it says,
Believe not every spirit, but cry the spirits whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. Hereby we know the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. You notice I said
Jesus Christ? You know Christ is actually,
that's not his name, that's his title. He is the anointed one
of God. God's only begotten son. And
it says every spirit that confesses not that Jesus has come in the
flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist
whereof you have heard that it should come and is now already
in the world. It's already in the world. And
if it was that bad then, 2,000 years later, as we look at the
world today, we see how many false prophets and teachers and
preachers there are in this world. And then we have to deal with
this nature. Even though we may be one of
God's elect, we still have the old nature. And we have to battle
it. The faith, I didn't know this,
but the faith, fear not or do not be afraid. It appears 365
times in the scriptures, holy scriptures. So, you know, God
knows our frame. He knows how weak we are, and
He knows how much we need Him, and we need Him every day, and
it appears. And some people interpret that
as a reminder of God's presence in our life. And that's why it
would be good for me to thank more of the Lord during the day.
One thing that comforts one of God's elect is that, you know,
there's a lot of times whenever We may be out of work, and we're
doing something, and we don't have the Bible. But sometimes
we can meditate upon our Lord and think about what He has done
for us, what He's doing for us, what He's going to do for us,
and that He's right there with us, regardless of what we're
going through. He's right there with us. And that reassures us,
and it encourages us. One good example of that, I didn't
realize that it appeared that much, but one good example of
that is another verse that's well read, and it's in the book
of Joshua. He says, be strong and have good
courage. Be not afraid. He tells us, be
not afraid, never be thou dismayed. Why? Because the Lord thy God
is with thee wherever we go. He's with us. And when we look
at that, we think about, well, this son of God, 1 John 5, it
says, the Lord said, and this is a record that God hath given
us of his son. has given us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. When we think about the Son,
well, who is the Son? Well, the Bible says in the beginning
the Word was with God and the Word was God. In other words,
He was God Almighty in the flesh, because it says in verse 14,
and the Word was made flesh, and He did go out among us. Why
was He made flesh? He was made flesh because he
could become bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh. He'd
come in the seat of a woman conceived by the Holy Spirit so that he
could come and die on the cross. And it was the Father that sent
him in, and he gave his life for us. If one does not believe his person,
if one, you know, what is it to believe on the Son of God?
If one does not believe him to be truly God, Almighty God, if
one does not believe his two natures, the divine and the human
nature in one person, if they don't believe the offices that
he helped, prophet, priest, and king, if they don't believe in
his redemption work that was finished on the cross, If they
don't believe in his perfect obedience to the law, if they
don't believe in the suffering that he went through, the death
that he died, if they don't believe that he was resurrected the third
day, that he ascended back into heaven, that he's sitting on
the right side of the throne of grace, and that he is coming
back again to judge and to reign, then that person is a deceiver,
and that person is an antichrist. Because that's exactly what is
said in the Holy Scriptures. In 2 John verse 7 it says, For
many are entered into the world who confess that Jesus Christ
has not come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. You know, there are many people
in this world that they hate the God of the Holy Scriptures.
There are so many gods in this world and there are so many little
Jesuses. And they hate God's people, his elect. You know,
I was in religion for a long time, and people that are deeply
religious people, they think that they are holier than thou,
and that they commit no sin. But that's not the way it is.
We know that's not the way it is. We have two natures. We still
have that old nature, and we have to deal with it every day.
And that's why we have, that's why I need to have a closer walk
with the Lord Jesus than what I have, because I need Him every
moment of every day. You know, Paul said in Romans
7a, he said, for I know that in me there is in my flesh dwelt
no good thing. There ain't a thing in this flesh
that's any good. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. Then we have
a host of enemies all around us. And this is something that
I seem to forget, but there's a spiritual world going on all
around us. Ephesians 6.12 says, it says,
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places, and though we
cannot see them, we are constantly surrounded by wicked spiritual
beings. We should not live in fear of
them, because as God's elect, we are well protected by our
great shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, God's word
says over in Galatians, it says, for by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Wherever there be thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by Him. You know, He has a purpose. He
has a purpose for all things. And He uses them according to
His will. But there are many verses in
Holy Scripture that gives God's children great comfort. And one
of those verses that gives us great comfort, you know, the
Bible says, according to the text, it says that we are dead
to this world. We're in the world, but we're
not of the world. We are dead in this world. In
fact, our life is hid in Christ with God. or with Christ in God. Now as it says in Romans, if
God be for us, if God be for us, who can be against us? Who
can be against us? You know, for God's people, it
brings great comfort to know that God is absolute. And that
word means not qualified nor diminished in any way. And he
is completely sovereign in salvation and creation and in providence.
David, you know, David was a great warrior. Look at verse three
here. It says, though a host should encamp against me, my
heart shall not fear, though war should rise against me, in
this will I be confident. David wasn't confident in himself.
I'm not confident in myself at all. But David's confidence,
his confidence was in the Lord. even though he had great abilities,
that's where his confidence was. Regardless of the hard times
that we face in this life, we keep our eyes on Christ. You
know, we're so weak and we're so fragile, in reality, we don't
even know where we really were, we will be five minutes from
now. But the Lord is our shepherd, and his elect are the sheep of
his pasture, and that's good enough for his people. You know,
as I said, the Lord is our light, He is our salvation. He is the
strength of our life. I like what Isaiah 9 says. It
says, the people that walk in darkness have seen a great light.
You know, once we all walked in darkness, didn't we? We've
seen that great light, the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, they that
do dwell in the land of the shadow of death. And that's what this
world is. It's death. It's sin. It's all around us.
It's in us. It's all around us. But it says,
upon them hath the light shined. And I thank God for that. God's
elect have so much to look forward to that we cannot even begin
to comprehend what is in store for us. You know, Isaiah 64,
God's word says, for since the beginning of the world, men have
not heard or perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen.
O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for them that wait for
him." For them that wait for him. You know, God's people is
looking and waiting for the return of Christ, our Lord. And we know
with all our hearts, we know by God's given faith that he
is coming back. Second Corinthians 4 says, for
which cause? We faint not. Why? Because we
know he's coming back. Christ is our strength. He is
our spiritual strength. And we look to him. Psalm 115
says, one, it says, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give mercy.
And for thy mercy. and for thy truth's sake. I thank
God for that. But as I was saying in 2 Corinthians
4, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For a lot of afflictions
which is but for a moment, and that's how long its life is,
it's just for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding weight
in glory. You know, in Christ, whom should
I fear? The Lord is my light, he is my
salvation, he is the strength of my life. For the outward man
in time will get weak and perish, The Lord is with us in these
bodies. He gives us joy and He gives
us peace, and He gives us grace. And mercy when it's needed, He
gives us love. And He comforts us to face today,
whatever it may bring. You know, He is the shepherd
of His flock, and He watches over us every day, every night. Why? Because He loves us. He
gave His life for us. You know, our Lord speaks to
His elect in Hebrews. You know what He says? He says,
and this is Jesus Christ speaking, he says, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. He's speaking to his elect. And
that's a promise from our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, a
lot of times I need to ask myself, do I really believe that? Do
I really believe what he says like in Romans 8, 28? And we
know that all things work together to the good, to them that love
God, to them that are the call according to his purpose. You
know, getting old, Young people may not know it, but getting
old, it's not as bad. It's not a bad thing for a believer.
You know, as Christ said, though our outward man perished, inward
is renewed day by day. Jesus Christ is same history
today and forever. And he lives in the hearts of
his people. And our strength grows, our spiritual
strength. Right now we see Jesus Christ
by God-given faith, but one day we will see Him face-to-face.
And we know this because He says that we will. Where is that at?
I think it's in John. Beloved, now are ye the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what ye shall be. But when he
shall appear, ye shall see him as he is, for ye shall be like
him. You know, we've been safe from
the curse of the law and the power of sin, but one day we're
gonna be safe from the presence of sin. This chapter right here
was read, if you would, turn to Isaiah 42. It blessed my heart
so much. Preacher read it just as every
day, but I wanna read it again. It's a father talking to his
son. And it does, it just, he says here in chapter 42 of Isaiah, Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flag shall he not
cringe. He shall bring forth judgment.
unto truth. He shall not fail or be discouraged,
till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the islands shall
wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, he that stretcheth
forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a cabinet of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. I thank God so much for that. You know, speaking of Jesus Christ,
you know, the religious leaders of that day, they tried to kill
him two or three times, but it wasn't his time to go. In Luke
28, it says that he was preaching in the synagogue. You know, he
had his enemies too, just like we do. But they were filled with
wrath, and they rose up, and they thrust him out of the city,
and they led him up on a high hill where they was going to
throw him over a bank and kill him. But he just passed right
through them. They couldn't touch him. And Ben and John, it says,
when men come to arrest the Lord Jesus, He asked them, who are
you seeking? And they answered, Jesus of Nazareth. And as soon as Christ said, I
am, the commentators added him to it. But actually, he just
said, I am. That's the name of Almighty God. And then they knocked them all
to the ground. And at this moment, Christ may have been meditating
on these words. When the wicked, even my enemies
and my foes, come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled
and they fell. Then in that same chapter, when
Judas, the one that becrayed Jesus, our Lord, came with a
band of men and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees,
they come with lanterns and torches to get to the Lord, and weapons,
and our Lord He could have been sand with perfect composure.
Like I said, I'm sure there was no fear in him. Thou hast encamped with perfect
composure. Verse three. Thou hast encamped
against me. My heart shall not fear. The
war shall rise against me. In this will I be confident.
You know, God's elect need our Lord each and every day of our
lives, each and every moment of our lives. And may the Lord
give us a passionate desire, a passionate desire to know Him
better and to get closer to Him and to love Him more, because
we need Him so much. And you know, as I said a while
ago, He's the giver and we're the taker. We have nothing to
give Him, because all we have is sin. I pray that may have
been a blessing to someone.