It's good to be here this morning.
My entire family, my wife, my parents, my grandparents, everybody
tells me to tell a whole lot of people hello, and started
giving me names to say, and I told them I would do my best. So I'm
just gonna tell everybody that they said hello. If you would,
open your Bibles this morning to Psalm 54. Psalms 54. We'll read this chapter, Psalm
54, starting in verse 1. Save me, O God, by thy name,
and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear
to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice
unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine
enemies." This morning, I want to look at this psalm and what
David is going through. I want to see his actions, his
attitude, his process as he faces this situation. As we look at
it, I want us to relate it to ourselves. What does David do
and what should we do? Now, I understand that as we
read this and read many accounts in the Scriptures, it can be
tough to identify with a specific situation that someone's going
through. We don't have to pick up a sword and march into battle. We aren't worried about being
thrown in a fiery furnace because we don't bow to a certain God.
But, we have many trials and all of the Word of God is here
to help us to get through them. And in actuality, we are much
closer to some of those Old Testament stories we read than we would
actually like to believe. So as we quickly go through this,
notice the process that David goes through. What David does
in this chapter can and it should be done with everything that
we do. If you are in trouble and you
need help, listen and do what David did. If today was great
and you are on top of the world, listen and do what David did.
And if you aren't sure where you are right now, you're not
suffering through a tough trial, but you're not really riding
high, you need to do the same thing that David does in this
chapter. For background of this situation,
to know the background of the story, let's turn to 1 Samuel
23. 1 Samuel 23, we'll read a couple
verses and this will tell us and help us to see exactly the
situation that David was in. 1 Samuel 23, look at verse 13. Then David and his men, which
were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and
went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that
David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbade to go forth. And
David abode in the wilderness, in strongholds, and remained
in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him
every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. And David
saw that Saul was come out to seek his life, and David was
in the wilderness of Ziph, in a wood." Now look on down to
verse 19. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth
not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood, in
the hill of Hethulah, which is on the south of Jishamun? Now
therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of
thy soul to come down, and our part shall be to deliver him
into the king's hand." Saul was looking for David to
kill him because Saul realized that David was going to be the
king. He was the chosen king and Saul was the current king.
And David was in this foreign land, holing out until he could
return home. Doesn't it feel like our enemies
are ever before us? I heard a man say one time that
we are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or heading right
into our next trial. as sinful creatures, this is
our plot in life. And we are basically like David,
we're holding out until we can go home. We make the mistake
of thinking what we see and what we have in this world, in this
place, that is the pinnacle of our lives. That's the highest
point of our existence. To a child of God, this place
and this life is but a mere blip in our life, as we will spend
eternity in heaven above with our Father. Now, David was betrayed
here. He was betrayed by these people
of Ziph for the simple reason that they just wanted to gain
a little favor with Saul. They hoped that he would look
upon them highly or maybe give them something. It is inevitable
that we all will be betrayed It may be at work, it may be
at home, it may be by somebody in this room right now. As we
see David in this moment, in this situation, we also are in
trouble. And before we go any further,
let me make one thing clear. It's important you know who I'm
talking to here. I'm talking to sinners. I'm talking
to people who no matter how hard they try, no matter what they
do, they can't seem to do anything right. I'm talking to anybody
in here who needs saving. Look at verse 1 of chapter 54.
Here are our texts. Save me. David needed saving. So why would he ask anything
else first? It seems obvious and it seems
silly for David to ask anything else before he simply says, save
me. We so often ask so many things
before we ask the Lord to save us. We ask things like, please,
I hope that so and so likes me or that we can get along. We
ask that maybe we can get a bonus at work. We ask that maybe things
will go well today. We ask for so many things. But
do we really need to be put in a life or death situation before
we are forced ourselves to ask the Lord to be saved? We need
to pray to the Lord about everything, but as it's written, one thing
is truly needful. We need the Lord, our God, to
save us. Now David is in a situation that
he can't escape without someone intervening. Without someone
else helping him, he will die. Saul is bringing his entire army
and is surrounding David. David has 600 men and knows that
those men are not enough for him to survive. Now if I'm being
honest with you, or with myself, I rarely think of myself in nearly
that bad of a situation. It's so foolish for me to think
that way, that my situation could be nearly as good as I often
think it is. I'm thankful to so many people
for the help they've given me throughout my life. I'm young
enough to be naive about it, but I'm old enough to realize
there are so many traps that I could have fallen into that
someone has helped me along the way. But I am really a fool if
I do anything before I cry out to my God. Before I ask anyone
else or think of anything else, we must approach our Lord. By
thy name, save me, O God, by thy name. David wants God to
get the glory here. It's important to note that God
will get the glory. Now, David wants God to get the
glory by the things he's saying here, but we must always realize
God will get the glory. Sometimes it may not seem that
way. But that's just because we can't see the big picture.
We see through a glass dimly, and I think that's a kind way
to put it for us. We just can't see anything outside
of ourselves or what's right in front of us. Even though God
will get the glory, it is important for us that we desire that He
gets the glory. There's a very fine line when
we try to take credit for anything that we pray about. We recently
had a wedding in our church, and I'm positive that the bride
especially was asking constantly for her outdoor wedding. I hope
that it doesn't rain. She was praying for it, I'm sure.
I had an outdoor wedding, and I know that my wife and I didn't
want it to rain. Now, there's nothing wrong with praying for
that, but what happens when that day comes and it's beautiful
outside? What do we say? Boy, honey, we
picked a good day, didn't we? Or even when we attempt to minimize
His glory. Someone is sick or someone's
going through something and a doctor performs a great surgery and
we tell ourselves, we picked the right hospital, didn't we?
I'm glad we came here. Somewhere else it might not have
worked. Anytime we give ourselves even just an ounce of credit,
what we're doing is we're feeding our self-righteousness. Ephesians
2.8.9, a very familiar passage says, ìFor by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast.î Itís not of works,
yet we still boast often about so many things. If the glory
of God is our first priority, you can take anything to Him
in prayer. If the glory of God is at the
forefront of your thought, you can pray anything. And we should
always pray. Pray constantly. And how should
we pray? Again, if we are not looking
for our own glory in it, the how will take care of itself.
It's unimportant that other people see us. We don't need other people
to hear us. We don't need other people to
know what we're praying for. What matters is that we take everything
to the Lord. In verse 1 it continues, Save
me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. David doesn't
dare lift his hand up against his enemy until he lifts his
hands up in supplication to his God. Don't ever try to fight
a battle. And I don't mean by the word
battle by literally a fight. Don't ever try anything without
God, without praying about it first. And if it's not important
enough for you to take it to the Lord in prayer, then it's
not important enough at all. Now look at verse two. Hear my
prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth. Why is it so important for God
to hear our prayers? Turn to Matthew chapter 7. Why is it so important for God
to hear our prayers? Matthew 7 verse 7. Ask and it
shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. and it
shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened." Why is it so important for God to hear our prayers?
Maybe I should give a better definition of that word here.
When we say it's important for God to hear our prayers, we're
not saying that He actually audibly hears it. This is not my wife
sitting next to me saying, ìHoney, did you hear me? Are you listening
to me?î This is not that, because He hears everything. He is aware
of everything that is going on and is in full control of it.
But hear our prayers, we're asking Him to hear our prayers, our
supplications, because we need Him. We want Him to act on our
behalf. Turn back to Psalms and look
at Psalm 27. Psalm 27, verse 7. Hear, O Lord,
when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me, and
answer me. When thou saidst, Seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not thy face far from me, put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O
God of my salvation. It is important for God to hear
our prayers. because we need to be praying. He hears our prayers. We must pray to Him. Now go back
to our text in Psalm 54 and look at verse 3. For strangers are
risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have
not set God before them. The problem David describes here
applies to anything and everything. In any occasion, in any problem,
your problem or my problem can be substituted in here. David
is in a dire situation in a cave getting ready to be attacked
by the king with all his men and he has no hope apart from
the Lord. Any problem we have can be substituted in here. There
is no such thing as a small problem except problems that another
person is going through. When you're going through a problem,
it's plenty big enough for you. We must come to God asking to
be saved, giving Him the glory, totally dependent on Him, begging
to be heard, knowing it's the only place that we will ever
find help. The reason the specific problem
or the specific request doesn't matter. The reason the request
doesn't matter is because who we're taking it to is God. It's who we're taking to that
matters. Anything we could ask of Him is within His power. Anything
we take to Him, He is able to perform. Now go back to Matthew
7 where we were just a few minutes ago. Matthew 7 verse 9. What man is there of you, whom
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask him?" We think so highly of ourselves, as I have two young
children, a three and a one year old, If I'm being honest, I think
of myself as a good father. Now, if you start questioning
me, I'll find a lot of chinks in my armor really quickly. But
we think of ourselves as such good parents. But if we would
do everything we can for our children, how much more then
would our holy God do everything for His children? Now, we may
not see it, we may not understand it, but everything is for His
children's good and His glory. Now, back in our text, We are
transitioning here from David finishing his prayer to God,
and his courage now breaks out. He's asked for the Lord to help
him. And then his courage here in
verse 4 and 5 breaks out like lightning. He doubts not of slaying
thousands of ten thousands if necessary. Look at verse 4 and
5 of our text. Behold, God is mine Helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth." If God be for us, who
can be against us? David's faith here boasts of
God being his Helper, that evil will be his enemies' reward and
they will be cut off. Now, David has something that
as a child, this especially bothered me. I would hear of examples,
and I would see things in the Scripture, especially of David,
the promised king, and I would think to myself, well, it's easy
having faith. He was told he was going to be
king. Well, he knows it's coming true, so he's got it. I don't
have anything like that. How can I be sure? We have a much greater promise
than David being king. A child of God has been promised
eternal life. And I can't begin to describe
my lack of faith when I pray, or my lack of faith at any point.
I don't think that my lack of faith is because I doubt God's
ability, but I want to stop worrying and fretting so much. I've heard
many people say before, and I've had it said to me, and I've heard
it said to many people, and I'm sure I've said it to people,
You need to just stop worrying. Just stop fretting over it. Don't
let it bother you. Now, if someone tells me that, I don't want to
hear it. But if I tell you that, I feel
like it's good advice. In my opinion, David has worried
an awful lot in this Psalm about these men coming after him. He
seems to be worrying about this situation. My goal is to spend
more time praying about things than worrying about them. I don't
want to be laying in bed at night and spend 30 minutes worrying
about whatever's coming or whatever's happening, and then quickly be
like, Lord, please help me. I want to spend 30 minutes praying
to Him, and then if it slips in, I worry about my problem.
Now, I don't know how good I'm going to do at that, but we need
to spend all our time praying and not worrying. Now, in verse
6, of our text, ìI will freely sacrifice unto thee. I will praise
thy name, O Lord, for it is good.î David knows from the promises
of God he will be victorious. A child of God has been made
promises. We should also celebrate and
praise his name. David makes a vow here to sacrifice
to God after his victory, before the battle has even taken place.
He is going to give thanks to God, as we should constantly. David called upon God in verse
1. He says, ìSave me, O God.î Now
he will praise His name. What actually happens in this
story is that as Saulís coming and surrounds him and is getting
ready to attack him, another army comes to the capital, comes
to Israel, and Saul and his men have to leave. David never has
to fight any of this battle. The Lord takes care of it. And
it's a great picture of salvation in that David is very confident
and he knows the Lord will deliver him, but yet his confidence seems
to be that he will be victorious. But he doesn't have to fight.
His sword never has to come out of its sheath. The Lord will
take care of everything. One writer notes No one can praise
the Lord so well as those who have tried and proved the preciousness
of His name in seasons of adversity. Those of His children who go
through severe trials, those are the ones who can understand
the preciousness of His name. I love and can recognize the
transition that David goes through in this chapter. He starts off
in trouble. He's pleading. He makes a request. He pleads the Lord. Then he gains
faith from this request. And by the end, he's not just
optimistic anymore, but he's excited about the Lord delivering
him. His victory is won before he
ever has to put on his armor. Now look at verse 7. For he hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye has seen his desire upon mine
enemies. No matter what kind of trouble
we feel like we're in, our Lord has delivered us from trouble.
When we're going through things here in this life, He is always
taking care of us, guiding us, and helping us. His children
are never out of His hand and out of His thought, always in
His bosom. Now, why can David say, for He hath delivered me
out of all trouble? Emphasis on the word, all trouble.
Why can you and I say this? We can say it because of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. David was sure, years and years
before the Lord came, because it was so sure, the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ was so sure, that years and years
before it even happened, David could act like it had already
happened. Now we are sure thousands of years after it's happened.
It's been recorded for us to see and we read about it. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior because no matter who and when,
the prayer is always the same. Save me, O God. I'm not asking
for it, but if God only answered one of my requests for myself,
As long as that request is, ìSave me, O God,î by the grace of God,
I will be absolutely ecstatic that he answered my one prayer.
And I remember as a kid always thinking, ìWe talk an awful lot
here in church about being saved. With all those things that youíve
told me that God can do, all those miracles and all that power
and everything, shouldnít we maybe ask for a lot of other
stuff too? Shouldnít we spend some more time on that?î The
truth of the matter is that we don't talk about salvation nearly
enough. We don't think about it, pray
about it nearly as much as we should. Let me give you a little
illustration. If I told you that you could
choose your life, you could choose anything you wanted about your
life and every part of it, you could give yourself as much money
as you want, power as you want, health as you want, anything
you want about your family, anything at all, earthly, you could have
that. And I said you could have it
for one year. Well, say you would live 70 years,
you could have it for one year, and the rest of your life would
be miserable. Every other year would be awful,
but you could have one year. Now I don't know if you thought
about it and if you even had to ponder that question. What
if I said you could have one day that was great and the rest
was awful? What about one hour, one minute,
or one second? The point of this illustration
is that what we have on this earth, our lives here, our We
have no knowledge of anything before us. I was born 37 years
ago and that's my experience and that's all I know. And for
how many ever years, days, or seconds I live the rest of my
life, all of those years, if I were to live to 900 like the
man of old and don't know his day, that amount of time would
be as a breath compared to eternity. What we spend so much time and
so much effort on in this life, accumulating and seeking everything
we can and worrying about, all of that is less than a millionth
of a second compared to eternity. And we will spend eternity in
one of two places. With that being said, We need
to spend our time on this earth praising our God, praying to
Him and requesting that He would save us, save our family, save
our children, save our friends. Now, in closing, a man, William
Hill Tucker, said this about this psalm. This is one of the
psalms in commemoration of the passion of Jesus. It is seen
with greatest effect as a simple prophecy of Christ. Read this
way. It is a perfect correspondence
with the life and feelings of the Messiah. So I'm going to
close with reading this chapter one more time. And as I read
it, read it as a simple prophecy of Christ, of our Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross. So listen to me and we'll close
with this. Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy
strength. Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear
to the words of my mouth, For strangers are risen up against
me, and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God
before them." Seele. Behold, God is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine
enemies, cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice
unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good. For He hath delivered me out
of all trouble, and mine eye has seen His desire upon mine
enemies. Let's offer thanks to our Lord. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we
give Thee thanks for Your Word. Lord, we pray that You would
teach us open our eyes and our hearts to understand, to believe,
and to love the gospel. Lord, we're so thankful that
you bring us together, that you put in us a desire to hear your
word. Lord, we pray that you would
be with us this morning, be with all those that gather this morning,
ready to fellowship and worship your name, Lord. Leave no man
to stand alone. Give them a message and give
them liberty that they would boldly preach the truth of the
Lord Jesus Christ crucified. Lord, we ask for your forgiveness
for our sins. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.