I titled this message here, Psalm
3, Thy blessing is upon thy people. God's blessing is upon His people. Let me read this psalm to you. Now, it says, A Psalm of David,
when he fled from Absalom his son. It's always interesting
to me when I can see the reason, like for example here, David,
why he wrote this psalm. What was going on? What was on
his heart? What was he experiencing? What
was the Lord putting him through that makes him a type of Christ
in this particular portion of Scripture. He says here, "...Lord,
how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up
against me. Many there be which say of my
soul, There is no help for him in God, They were saying, David, it's
over for you, buddy. It's over for you. There's no
help for you even in God. Selah. Pause and think of this. That's also considered to be
a musical note, but pause and think of this. But thou, O Lord,
art a shield for me, my glory in the lifter up of
mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down
and slept." All this trouble going on, David
was able to lay down and go to sleep at night. I awaked, for
the Lord sustained me, He kept me. I would not be afraid of
ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me
round about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my
God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone.
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. Thy blessing. Thy blessing of
salvation. If God has saved you, you have
all the blessing of God. He can give you no more than
what He's given you in Christ. Thy blessing is upon thy people. It had to be very distressing for David to have to run to flee
Jerusalem, to flee the throne from his son Absalom, his favorite
son. I mean, he loved Absalom. But Absalom wanted that throne.
He wanted David's position. And he went after it. But through this experience,
I want us to see the greater David. The greater David. The Lord Jesus Christ. And I want us to see our experience
in Christ. as we go through this life. I
want it to apply to us, too. I don't want to be detached from
it. David experienced what he's talking about here in the psalm,
Psalm 3. But if we miss Christ in this,
then we really miss the psalm. All we got was a history lesson.
But it's more than a history lesson. It's a lesson about Him. It's His story is what it is. Now he says, Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, self-existing. This is where we start in trouble. We start with the Lord, we go
to Him. I cannot stress to you and to myself, the first person
to go to, In time of trouble is the Lord. It's the Lord. He's very real. He's a very real
person. He's our God, as we'll see here
in a little bit. We go to Him first. Lord, how
are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up
against me. You know, our Lord had His enemies. He came unto His
own, and His own received Him not. You know, if you go back
to 2 Samuel, when you go home tonight or tomorrow, read that
whole story. David went weeping. It says,
David went weeping. Our Lord Jesus Christ stood,
looked out over Jerusalem, and it says, He wept. Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together, as a hen
doth gather her brood! But you would not." You would
not. And how troubling when your enemies
are they of your own household. But our Lord warned us of this
here in Matthew 10. A man's foe shall be they of
his own household. If you and I stand for the gospel,
those who do not believe the gospel, even in our own households,
will turn against us. They will. If you're truthful,
they will. If you want to see it come out,
just tell the truth, and you'll see it come out. Our Lord had His enemies, and
the believer has no less enemies. Our Lord said this, If the world
hates you, know that it hated Me first. It hated me first. But our Lord gives us the victory
over our enemies. You know, we already have the
victory. We already have it. The battle is over. Now you and
I are experiencing some troubles and some enemies and some conflict,
but the battle has already been won. It's already done. It's already done. They're not
going to do any more than what our Lord has already ordained
for them to do at any given time in any generation. Many there be which say of my soul..." And this hurt David. David was king for years, years,
and they turned on him like that. Aren't men fickle? Men and women are so fickle. David had been such a gracious
king, a great king. He was God's king. He was God's
king. He didn't make himself king.
God made him king. And yet, here Absalom drew the
hearts of these men, and here's what they said of David. There's
no help, there's no salvation for him in God. Satan, who's very real, lost
men and women, still rise up against the Lord Jesus Christ. They deny his person, they still
deny his person. They deny his work, they deny
his true person, his true character, and his true work. And he says here, many say, many,
You know, I realized as I was studying today, and I know this,
but sometimes it just comes home to me a little stronger as I
sit in the study and I read. But you know everyone that does
not believe the gospel is our enemy? They're our enemy. Every person
outside of Christ is an enemy. They're an enemy. And they say
there's no help for him in God. It says in Matthew 27.43 when
our Lord was hanging on the cross. He trusted in God. Let Him deliver
him now, if He will have him. For He said, I am the Son of
God. They mocked the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
I'm the Son of God. Let's stand back here now. Let's
see if God will have him. This is the one area where Satan
and men attack. They attack our hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I had someone say to me, this
has been years ago when I'd lost my job. He said two things. Number one,
he said, you must not be living right. And another time he said, I thought
you were a Christian. I thought you were a Christian. If you're a Christian, why would
things like this happen to you? If God is your father, if God
is your God, then why is this happening to you? And they are saying to David,
and as they said to our Lord, the greater David, that he trusted
in God, let him deliver him now if he'll have you. There's no
help for him in God. No help for him in God. You're too far
gone, son. You're too far gone. Oftentimes, when the world looks
at a believer, it looks like there's no help for him or her,
doesn't it? It looks like there's no help. It looks like, well, your faith
must have been false faith. You're going through this and
it's not ending? It's not going away? I'll tell
you when it'll end, when it's accomplished its purpose, and
you, as a child of God, have learned the lesson. That's when
it'll end. And then another one will come
along. Another one will come along. Israel looked helpless in Egypt.
Israel looked helpless in Egypt. Could there be anyone, any example
of anyone you can think of that looked more helpless than Jesus
Christ looked hanging on Calvary's tree? His visage was marred,
it says, His appearance was marred more than any man. It was marred
so much You couldn't tell by looking at Him who He was. It
was that marred. It looked like He was defeated. It looked like God had forsaken
Him. Well, God did forsake Him, but they didn't understand why.
Because Christ said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? Well, He forsook Him just for
a little while that He would not forsake Me and you. I will
not be forsaken because Jesus Christ was forsaken in my place." Oh, there's no help for him in
God. He's the only help I've got. See, David, he says that he's
got many enemies. Many have risen up against him.
And here's what they say. Here's what they say. There's
no help for him in God. But notice how he encourages
himself in verse 3. But thou, O Lord, but God, in
Ephesians 2, but God who is rich in mercy, for in great love wherewith
He loved us, but God. David said, this is what you
say. But here's what David says, and here's what the greater David
says, "'But thou, Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, art a shield for me. You're a shield for me, and you're
my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. The Lord will not
forsake His Anointed, nor will He forsake those in His Anointed,
the Lord Jesus Christ.'" Our Lord possessed full confidence
in His Father, helping Him in all His troubles. And David drew
on this. David, from knowing God, he drew
on this. He knew, he knew that no matter
what they said, his hope, his help was in God. That God was
his Savior. The Lord was his Savior. You
and I should have the same confidence. The Lord will help me. The Lord
will help me. There are three things here that
he takes confidence in. First, he says the Lord was his
shield. It was his shield. The word shield
in the original means a buckler. A buckler. Now what's a buckler?
A buckler was a protection that surrounded the whole person. It surrounded the whole person.
And no matter what direction you were being shot at, it protected
you. It protected you. It kept the
arrow from penetrating. God is our buckler. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ said. He's my buckler. That's what
he's saying here. He's my buckler. And that's what
you and I say. He's my buckler. He's my shield. He's my shield. He's my protection. God is my
protection. Now listen, if you really believe
that, if you really believe that in the Lord Jesus Christ you
are protected, you are safe, you can lay down. and you can
sleep at night. And he says here, He's my glory.
That means this, it means my victory. Jesus Christ is my victory. My
victory is a person. My victory is not my faith. It's
the Christ, the object of my faith. He's my victory. He's my victory over Satan. He's
my victory over sin. He's my victory over myself.
He's my victory over every enemy I've got, and I got a lot of
them, and you do too. You do too. You think you've got 400 friends
on Facebook? Just get in trouble and see how
many of them are your friends. Just get in trouble and see how
many of them show up. See how many of them really reach
out and help you. I've got one friend that sticks
closer than a brother. And I've got some good friends
here in Christ. And I've got them in different
parts of this world. But I'm telling you, we've got a lot
of enemies too. We've got a lot of enemies. But God is our shield. He is our glory. He's our victory. And listen, He's the lifter up
of my head. Oh, Absalom was about to lift
the head off of David. But he said, no, God is the one
who's the lifter up of my head. Now, who is our head? the Lord Jesus Christ. Is He
not the head and we are the body? He was lifted up on the cross.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
He was delivered up on the cross to die in the place of His people. He died for me. I believe that.
I believe the man Christ Jesus who was God manifested in the
flesh. I believe that God Almighty came into this world, took upon
Him flesh, went to that cross and died under the punishment
of His own law. I believe that. And then He was lifted up from
the grave. They buried him, but he said, in three days, I'm coming
out of there. I'm coming out of that grave. He's risen. Our head is risen. He is seated
at God's right hand. And where he is seated, we are
seated. In a little while, we will experience
it. But in reality, in truth, we
are right now seated in Christ, in glory, at God's right hand. If our head is lifted up, then
the body is lifted up. All who believe in Him are lifted
up. They are lifted up to glory. I tell you what, Continually,
He lifts up our name. Our head lifts up our name. He
intercedes for us. He constantly, constantly, constantly
intercedes for all His children. But it also means this. He's
the lifter up of my head. He restores my joy. He restores
my hope, my confidence. When all is said against me,
When everything is set against me, and it looks like there's
no way out, He enables me to rejoice in God my Savior. Right
in the midst of a storm, He enables me to rejoice. He restores my
joy. He lifts up my confidence, my
heart. He encourages me. Now here is his prayer. He says
in verse 4, I cried. It means this, I cried aloud.
He spoke out loud. He made a loud noise. Now we
often pray. We often pray in silence. Within ourselves we pray. But
here, in this desperate situation, He said, I cried aloud. One writer
said, this is wrestling with God. Have you ever really wrestled
with God? I cried aloud. Agony. Agony. I cried unto the Lord
with my voice. You know the best use of the
voice is preaching, praying, and singing His praises. God,
now listen, God has given us a voice. Let's use it calling upon Him. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice and He heard me. He heard me out of His holy hill. We saw in Psalm 2 last week,
I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion, the church. The church. When you cry unto the Lord, He
hears you. If you're His now, He hears you. Don't think He doesn't. He hears
you. I cried, He said, and I was heard. Our Lord was always heard when
He cried. Listen to Hebrews 5.7, Who in
the days of His flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death, and was heard in that he feared." Heard. Our Lord prayed. He prayed in
the Garden of Gethsemane. He sweat great drops of blood.
He cried unto the Lord in that Garden of Gethsemane. He said,
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. On the cross, he
cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he says,
Yeah, I was heard. What would it mean to you to
know that God heard your prayer? Can you put a price on that,
that God heard your prayer? Well, if you're His, He has.
And He does. And He will. His intercessions for us are
always heard. Brethren, that gives me comfort.
His intercessions for me are always heard. And they are always
answered. Always answered. And with my
voice, he said, I cried with my voice. Yes, he hears our groans,
but sometimes it's good to put a voice to it. Sometimes it's
good to put a voice to it. Just cry out. Just cry out unto
Him. And here's the results of trusting
our Lord, and here's the results of confidence. One writer called
it holy confidence. Holy confidence. Listen, this is the way it follows. After he cried unto the Lord
with his voice, after he was heard, he knew he was heard,
he knew God heard him, he knew he would be raised up, he knew
that God would keep him, he knew this. He said, I laid me down to sleep. David lost no sleep over Absalom's
rebellion. He was weeping, first of all,
because it was His Son that turned on Him. Just like all the sons
of Adam turned on the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into the world
and the world knew Him not. I laid me down and slept. I awaked for the Lord sustained
me. I thought this, we are most vulnerable when we are asleep. You know how vulnerable you are?
You are totally unconscious. You don't know what's going on.
You don't know what's going on. You might as well be dead. You
don't know what's going on. And yet our Lord, listen, our
Lord keeps us while we are asleep. The enemy's not asleep. The enemy's
never asleep. But you and I got to go to sleep.
And while we are asleep, guess who stands guard by the bed?
Our God. And the angels he sends to protect
and keep us surrounds that. You can't see it and you can't
even imagine it. But your house, Your house and
your bed is surrounded by angels, and you are surrounded, encircled,
and encompassed by God Himself. He's your shield. He's your buckler.
In Him we what? Live and move and have our being. As the song goes, take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Our Lord did. He did. And when he prayed, now listen. When he prayed, and he was on
enemy territory. But when he prayed, he left everything
in the hands of His Father and lay down and went to sleep. Every night. Every night. I thought of this yesterday.
There's no better sleeping aid than full confidence in the Lord
to handle every matter. There's no better sleeping aid
than that. Just like when our Lord slept
in the midst of the storm when He was on that boat. He was asleep. They were going nuts. They said,
don't you care? We perish. Spurgeon said, if
they had drowned, they couldn't have been in better company.
I thought that was so good. They couldn't have been in better
company. Our Lord never had a restless
night, except when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane being
made sin for us. He didn't walk in fear. Our Lord
never walked in fear. He said, I awaked, for the Lord
sustained me. That means He revived me, He
refreshed me, and supported me. When I awoke, I woke up refreshed,
revived, and ready to go again. Ready to go again. There were
many who wanted to kill the Lord Jesus Christ before His time,
but they couldn't do it. They could not do it, for His
time had not yet come. And I'm telling you the truth,
but I live in the same world you live in, same body of sin
you live in. I have my fears and doubts. But
nothing can touch us, nothing can take our lives before the
time. It just cannot do it. We can't die before there's a
time to be born. And what? Time to die. And the Lord will sustain us
until that time comes. He will keep us. Scripture says we are kept by
the power of God through faith. He keeps us by His power, and
He keeps us safe by His power. But someone said, and I thought
this was good, this can be applied to our Lord's resurrection. He said, you know, our Lord died,
buried, and then he says, I awake, for the Lord has revived me.
He raised out of that grave. He wasn't left in the grave.
Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell. That's what he said. But here's faith's confidence
in verse 6. And this has to be first applied
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now David said this with confidence.
Because when you really, if the Lord enables you by His Spirit
to set your mind on things above, to set your mind on the Lord
Jesus Christ, you have this kind of confidence. I will not be
afraid of ten thousands of people. Now first this applies to Christ
because He is the one who can say, I will. And it happened. He says, I will not be afraid
of ten thousands of people. What is ten thousands of people
if God be for us? It doesn't matter. It really
would not matter if I were the only person on this earth, or
seven billion people plus on this earth. It wouldn't matter
if I were the only person on this earth that believed God.
and every person on this earth and every devil was set against
me." What is that? That's nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Our Lord never walked in fear
of men, and we should never walk in fear of men. We should never
have a glimmer of fear of anyone. And if we really fear God right,
we won't. When I began to fear men, there's
a flaw in my fear of God. There's a flaw in my fear of
God. Who do we have to fear if we
fear God? No one. No one. And he said,
I will not be afraid of ten thousand of people that have set themselves,
sat, stood up, just like the kings of the earth in Psalm 2
have set themselves. They've taken a stand that have
set themselves against me round about. And David, everybody was
against him. All these people that at one
time were for him, they had all set themselves against him, most
of them. He only had a few that stood with him. Most of them
went with Absalom. You know, he's kissing everybody,
playing the politician, and suckered them right over. We're easy. We're easy. Give us a lollipop and we'll
follow you." They have set themselves against me round about. Men setting
themselves against God's anointing and God's people is absolutely
meaningless. There's nothing to it. And he says here in verse 7,
"'Arise, come to the scene,' that's what he's saying, "'Come
to the scene, O Lord, and save me.'" David never trusted his
army. He never trusted his generals,
his army, and he had a great army. He trusted God. He trusted
God. Our salvation is of God from
whatever or whomever. Because he says, he says, Oh
my God, I've learned this, fearlessness depends on who your God is. It
depends on who your God is. God, he said, oh my God, God
is my God, the God of creation, the God of providence, the God
and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is my God. And here's the reason, he says,
"...I don't need to fear, for thou hast smitten..." Past tense,
notice the past tense in it. "...for thou hast smitten all
my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly." All those who are hostile to God, you've broken
their teeth. Let me ask you something. Take the meanest, the meanest, the biggest dog
in the world. If he doesn't have any teeth,
are you afraid of him? What's there to be afraid of?
He has no teeth. That's why they say, you've broken their teeth.
They have no bite. They have no bite. A bark has
never hurt me. They have a bark, but they have
no bite. God has taken away their teeth. He's knocked them out. But it all comes down to this,
and I'll close. Salvation belongeth, and this is all comprehensive
here. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Salvation belongs to
the Lord. It's like David said, you all can say what you want
to say. I don't know if he said you all back then. But you all
can say what you want to say. But salvation is of the Lord.
He's going to save me out there. He's going to save me. He's going
to save me. Salvation is of the Lord. He
planned it. He executed it. He applies it.
He brings it to completion. I assure you, David is saying,
the Lord will save me. He doesn't know how deep it's
going to get. He knows. He ran from Saul. He was hiding
in a cave and running for his life. And the Lord saved him.
Put him on the throne. In closing here, listen. Thy
blessing. is upon thy people. The blessing
of love, everlasting love, is upon you. It's upon you. God has loved you with an everlasting
love. I can't explain why God would
love me with an everlasting love other than the fact that's who
He is. It pleased Him to do so. It pleased Him. Thy blessing
is upon thy people. God has chosen you. Give that some serious thought
again. We hear that a lot as Calvinists. We hear that a lot
of election, but listen, listen. Don't let that grow cold. Don't
let that go over your head. God chose you. He didn't choose everyone. God
chose you to make you his people. He set his love upon you. Thy blessing is upon thy people
in redemption. He purchased you. You are a purchased
people. Thy blessing is upon thy people.
He has sanctified you. He set you apart. Listen, we
don't feel it. By our experience, it just seems
like we sin every time as soon as we wake up in the morning.
It seems like it's just one sin after another. But you have been
made holy in Jesus Christ. You are a holy people. As it
says over in Peter, a holy nation. There is a holy nation on this
earth. It's the church of the living
God. Thy blessing is upon thy people.
and that He has made you wise. He is our wisdom. You know one
this world doesn't know. You know the one who is infinitely
wise. And thy blessing is upon thy people, in that His blood
was shed for you. You have the atonement. You have
the right blood, the right sacrifice, the right high priest, the right
prophet. You've got the right wand. The right wand. And then, Thy blessing is upon
Thy people. He said, I'll never leave Thee nor forsake Thee.
You have His protection. Now you can go home tonight.
If you take this seriously, you and I, you and I, take this seriously. You and I can go home tonight.
and go to sleep, knowing that salvation is of
the Lord and His blessing is upon us.