Psalm 18, I hope that you have
taken a look at this psalm. It's long, 50 verses, and we
went over it last week and tried to go over it in summary, and
I want to try to reflect on that just a bit again so that you'll
have that fresh in your mind. I know how it is. What we read
last week often escapes our memory and we forget at least a lot
of the details of it. So as we look in this, I want
to ask some questions. The first question that we tried
to answer last week is who is this psalm speaking of? Who is
the one it's written about? And not only that, who is the
one in the psalm that is speaking? It is a psalm, it is a song.
It says at the very beginning that it is the psalm of David,
after the Lord delivered him from all of his enemies, and
this account is given back in 2 Samuel chapter 22. The same
words of this psalm are found there with slight differences.
One of the things when you look back in 2 Samuel preceding chapter
22 is that God gave details how he delivered David through the
valiant courage and the strength that God gave to his men that
were his soldiers and servants, and how they overcame mighty
giants, much greater, much stronger than they, and God gave them
deliverance. So in reflecting upon these things,
from 2 Samuel and then in 2 Samuel 22 and here in Psalm 18, we see
that God has been pleased to show us something about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The reason I say that and can
draw that conclusion is that this psalm is about, was a psalm
of David, but David in his life by his words and by the circumstances
of his life was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know
this because Jesus is called the Son of David, and not only
that, but throughout the Old Testament and then in the New,
it's clear that the Bible is talking about Jesus Christ when
it speaks much of David. So, for example, in Ezekiel chapter
34 and Ezekiel chapter 37. If you're interested, you can
look at those two chapters. I have references in the notes
that I sent out. It mentions David will be king
over them and that his kingdom will be forever. Clearly, that
can't be talking about King David because at the time that prophecy
was written, he was dead and he was in the sepulcher that
they had laid him in and his body was still there. but it
was speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're going to see
this in several places in scripture. So, we came to the conclusion
last week that this psalm is speaking not only about the Lord
Jesus, but it is Him speaking in it. Now, that leads us to
another question here, which is, if this psalm is truly speaking
about the Lord Jesus Christ, then what is it speaking about
him? Well, we can see in the first three verses that it is
speaking about, first of all, his confidence, his trust in
God, his Savior. Notice in verses one and two,
it says, I will love the Lord, I'm sorry, I will love thee,
O Lord, my strength. There, he identifies God, the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the triune God, as his strength.
Specifically, his Father. I will love thee, O Lord, my
strength, the Lord, and then he lists all these things. My
rock, he's my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength,
in whom I trust, in whom I will trust, my buckler, or shield,
the horn of my salvation, or the power, the strength of my
salvation, and my high tower. So you can see that he's expressing
his complete dependence upon God in every way. He's trusting God, and we saw
that in Hebrews chapter 2, how Jesus Christ is said there to
be made one with his brethren, and he himself declared the name
of his God to his brethren, and he put his trust in him. So here
we see in the very opening part of the psalm, Jesus Christ is
the one speaking, it's about him, and it's about his confidence
and trust in God, his savior, his rock, his fortress, his deliverer,
his God, his strength, the one he trusts, his shield, the horn
of his salvation, and his high tower. No enemy can penetrate
these things because God himself is these things to him. Does
that make sense? So it's not that God is like
a rock, and I have a rock, and that rock is like God. It is
God himself is the rock. He is my fortress. He is my deliverer
and my strength, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my high
tower. He's the one I trust, my God.
That reminds us of The words in the New Testament
about the Lord Jesus Christ being our rock, the one, he says, if
a man builds his house on the sand, it will fall when the storm
comes. If he builds his house on the
rock, it will not fall. And Jesus told Peter in response
to his question to his disciples, who do men say that I am? Peter
said, thou art the Christ. And Jesus said, upon this rock,
I will build my church. And we know that rock is the
foundation and no other foundation can any man lay than Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And so, and not only that, but
in Genesis 15, chapter 15 and verse 1 of Genesis, God told
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. So
God is these things to us. If God himself is our salvation,
then no one can hurt us. Remember what Jesus said in John
chapter 10? He says, Those that the Father
has given me, my sheep, hear my voice, and they follow me,
and I know them, and no man is able to pluck them out of my
hand. And my Father is greater than
I, and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
So right there he's saying he's not only the shepherd, but he
himself is the one that the enemy has to overcome in order to get
to the sheep. It can't happen because he's
all these things, our God. And so, that's what we see here.
Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is expressing His complete dependence
upon God. Secondly, what else is this Psalm
about? Well, the bulk of it is about
what follows next. It's about His deliverance from
His enemies. So, Jesus Christ was delivered
from His enemies. Now, we know in Scripture it
talks about Him overcoming His enemies. But here we see that
he is expressing his dependence upon his God to deliver him from
his enemies. And this is important because
it teaches us two, I can see two very important lessons from
this. First of all, he was truly man.
And he was the man who truly trusted God perfectly, so that
all that he did was done in dependence upon God. And he gave God all
the glory for his ability to do his will. to speak the truth
as he was given to do, to carry that message, and to heal, and
to raise from the dead, and to do anything, to keep his disciples,
all that was by the power of God in his life. And so that's
the first lesson we learn, is that he as a man trusted God. And the second, lesson about
that is that not only did the Lord Jesus Christ trust God perfectly,
but when it says that God delivered him, it shows that he was the
object of, I mean, he was the one who overcame his enemies
by doing something, and in response to that, God himself delivered
him. And you see this throughout scripture
in type. For example, in 1 Samuel 17,
King David, when he was just a shepherd boy, went to battle
with Goliath. And you know that story and the
outcome of it. David said, I come to you in the name of the Lord. and the Lord is going to deliver
you into my hand, and he did, and obviously David overcame
Goliath. But it was by God's power. God
delivered David. God delivered Christ from his
enemies. Now, what did David do in order
to overcome Goliath? He went into the battle. He went
in the name of the Lord, and he trusted God. And so, in trusting
the Lord, in doing his will, David overcame. And so you see
this throughout scripture. For example, the book of Esther,
Mordecai and Esther and the entire nation of the Jews are delivered
from wicked Haman and those with Haman who determined to destroy
the Jews and Mordecai and Esther. and put themselves in the favor
of the king. But their design actually turned
against them and was their defeat. It's interesting that Haman's
design to exalt himself and destroy Mordecai was the very design
that became his defeat and was his destruction. And so this
pattern in scripture is told over and over again how God delivered
his people from their enemies when they trusted him and when
they submitted themselves to him in their confidence. But
this is preeminently so with the Lord Jesus Christ because
all of those deliverances of God, by God of His people, are
just a shadow of all of the deliverance of His people in the deliverance
of Christ. Now, I want to say that again
to be sure you get it, that the deliverance of God's people is
always in the deliverance of the Lord Jesus Christ. So his
deliverance from death, for example, his deliverance from the grave,
for example, or his deliverance from the power of Satan to overcome
him, or the Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews
who wanted to destroy him on the cross. All of his deliverance
in those things was a deliverance for him, but not for himself
alone, but for his people. And so this psalm then is about
the Lord Jesus Christ who trusted God as the Son of Man and was
delivered by God from his enemies. And that deliverance of Christ
from his enemies is to teach us that in His deliverance is
the deliverance, the salvation of all of His people. And that
raises the next question, which is, if this psalm is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ, then how does it apply to me? How can
I have any comfort in it? How can I find salvation in it?
And the answer we've already touched on, the reason we find
salvation and comfort and strength and know what to do is from this
psalm is that our deliverance is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I'm saying all that to help you understand this. And let
me ask another question. Why was it that since Jesus Christ
is the Son of Man and the Son of God, why didn't he just flex
his strength as Son of God and deliver himself with his own
power? Why did he have to, as man, trust
God? Well, here's something that I
think that we often miss, the beauty of it, in scripture, is
that the Lord Jesus Christ, in every way, was made like his
brethren, in every way, so that he took on our nature. He was
a partaker of flesh and blood, and remember what it says in
Hebrews chapter two, this was God's purpose for the foundation
of the world, that he would put all things under the feet or
in subjection to man. But since nothing, it doesn't
seem that all things are put under man, now we ask the question,
what does that mean that God's purpose was to put all things
under man? And the answer from Hebrews 2 is that the subjection
of all things under man was always intended to be the subjection
of all things under the son of man, which is Jesus Christ, and
as the captain of our salvation, therefore all things are under
our king and our captain, specifically our enemies. So the psalm is
of great comfort in our salvation because it's about Christ and
his deliverance, because in his deliverance as the son of man
is ours. But also we see this beautiful
thing here, is that the way God delivered him, the way God delivered
his son as the son of man, was in his obedience to God. Now,
you know what it's like in our natural reaction when someone
comes against us. What do we immediately do? Well,
we put up our fists. We're ready to defend ourselves,
don't we? When we run into confusion, what
do we do? We try to find the answer ourselves.
Or when we hear a command, we immediately try to fulfill the
command in our strength. Our natural reaction is always
to respond out of our own strength, our own wisdom. because of our
own goodness. But here Jesus Christ, he always
responded not in attacking his enemies. That's the maybe not
so obvious thing in scripture. He overcame his enemies and ours
by doing the will of God. In other words, his focus was
on the will of God, his Father. And as His God and His Father,
He trusted Him to deliver Him, and He submitted Himself in humility. Obviously, it was the greatest
stoop of humility in all of eternity that the Son of God would become
the Son of Man, and then become the servant of His people to
save them, and then as a servant to bear their sins, and then
in bearing their sins, so bear the judgment of God against their
sins that He would fully eradicate their sins from them before God. That was a huge, incomprehensible,
immeasurable stoop, and we continue to talk about it and marvel over
it, and it's right that we should. But notice that in this, that
Jesus Christ submitted Himself to His Father in submission of
obedience, in loving obedience and trust, and that trust and
obedience of submission to His Father's will, and it was an
active obedience. It was an act of obedience because
he laid his life down. He gave himself. It was that
giving of Christ, giving himself for his people in submission
to God for his sinful people because they were by nature his
enemies in their minds and by wicked works and were estranged
from God by their sins. Yet he, taking the case of sinners
and the enemies of God to save them from their sins in submission
to the will of God to do that, what happened? Well, God himself
took the cause. God himself took vengeance, and
in his avenging Christ against his enemies, he's taking vengeance
on Christ's enemies. This is the way we were saved.
So his deliverance was a deliverance from our enemies. They were his
because he took our case. He stooped in taking our nature,
taking our sins, taking obligation for our obedience, and taking
as our high priest our case in his intercession, in prayers,
sweating great drops of blood, all these things was bearing
his people and their case before God, and it was that obedience
and submission of himself, giving himself in his life and in his
sufferings and in his death. Even now, in his intercession,
giving himself for his people, God answered that by delivering
all of his enemies over to what he asked, which is a total overthrow. All right, so we see in Psalm
18 that it is a psalm about Christ, it's a psalm of Christ's words,
a psalm, first of all, of his confidence and trust in God in
verses one through three, his love for God, and then in verses
four through about 26 or so, it's about how God delivered
him from his enemies. You can see the avenging, of
Christ by God the Father when it speaks about Him coming. Look
at, listen to the language in verse four. Sorrows of death,
Jesus expresses this in his, in prophecy, verse four. even into his ears. Then, notice
what the reaction is to Christ's prayer under his distress as
he's submitting himself to do the will of God. Notice what
God does. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations
also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth. And it goes on, and you can see
the description here. All of creation as it were, is
opened up and everything is laid bare because God is coming in
as the refuge, the defense, the strength, the shield of his anointed
one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of David. Okay? All the promises of God
were given to him and he's fulfilling the obligations laid on him.
He is doing that in confidence and trust, looking to God to
do what only God can do. Notice in verse 17. Psalm 18,
verse 17. He delivered me from my strong
enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong
for me. The Son of God has no equal in
terms of men and angels. All of creation is nothing to
Him. So it wasn't the Son of God in
that nature here that's speaking, but the Son of Man who was made
like his brethren. He was made, as we read in Hebrews
chapter 2 verse 9, for a while lower than the angels. Lower
than the angels as the Son of Man, and as Son of Man submitting
himself to his father. His enemies were too strong for
him, so he trusted God, and God delivered him out of the strong
enemy's hand and from them which hated him." Remember I mentioned
last week in Zechariah chapter 3, where Joshua the high priest
was stood before the Lord, and he was clothed in filthy garments,
and Satan was there to accuse him. And what happened? The angel
of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, stood standing by and he said
to Satan, now this is Jesus Christ speaking to Satan, the Lord rebuke
thee, oh Satan. This one is a bran plucked from
the fire. And then he said, take away his
filthy garments and clothe him. And so here we see the salvation
of all of God's people and we see the Lord Jesus Christ deferring
as it were, to God's judgment over our enemies. Remember, the
scene we need to keep in view is a throne, and on that throne
is God the Father. And around that throne are all
of the Church of God and the angels. And in the midst of that
throne with the Father is the Lamb slain. And so Christ, as
man, is completing and fulfilling the will of God on behalf of
his people, and here he is as the Lamb slain. And what happens?
God judges. He appeals. He doesn't attack
his enemies as a man, but he appeals to his Father in righteousness
and in justice. He prays against his enemies. He prays for his people. His
prayer is answered, and God answers him because of his righteousness. And so, it says here, as we go
on, in verse 20, he says, verse 19, he brought me forth also
to a large place, great blessings here. He delivered me because
he delighted in me. Doesn't that ring a resonant
tone from the New Testament? This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. He delighted in me. He delivered
me because he delighted in me. A large place. In fact, all heavenly
blessings. Everything was given to him.
He says in verse 20, the Lord rewarded me. He rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands
hath he recompensed me." No man can deserve a reward from God,
but God rewarded the Lord Jesus Christ for his righteousness.
He rewarded him accordingly. And notice, we'll read on. He
says, For I have kept the ways of the Lord, I have not wickedly
departed from my God, for all of his judgments were before
me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also
upright before him and kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore
hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands and his eyesight." Notice
he's going to describe how God deals with men. He says, "...with
the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, If you're merciful,
God will be merciful. With the upright man, thou wilt
show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show
thyself pure. So he's describing how God has
dealt with him, hasn't he? He was merciful, he was upright,
he was pure. God dealt with him accordingly
and delivered him. and rewarded him." Notice, "...and
with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward." The froward
is the perverse. In their pride, men and devils
act perversely against God, and God says, if that's the way you
want it, then that's the way you'll have it. He will give
them according to the way they come to Him, the way they treat
Him. But that's the reason we as sinners, we're poor in spirit
and afflicted in spirit, and we say, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.
Remember the publican in Luke 18, God be merciful, look upon
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and accept his blood as
the propitiation that makes satisfaction for my sins and delivers me from
the wrath to come. That was his prayer in essence.
And then the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, 24, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? O wretched man that I am. And
the answer is, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's
what is saying here. We are not in ourselves merciful
or upright. or pure, but the Lord Jesus Christ
was, and so we appeal to God to consider Him and deliver us
for His sake." And that's the theme of this psalm, that's the
theme of the gospel, that's the theme of scripture. He says,
notice, in verse 27, "'For thou wilt save the afflicted people.'"
but will bring down high looks. Who are the afflicted people?
The ones God saves. Who are the ones God saves? They
are the afflicted people. How are they afflicted? They
are afflicted by their strong enemies. What are these enemies? Remember? Think about it now. Who are the enemies? Throughout
scripture, God identifies our enemies. That first enemy God
identified was who? It was Satan, wasn't it? In the
garden, Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman shall bruise the
head of the serpent, crush his head. Christ is the seed of the
woman. On the cross, his heel, as it
were, was bruised. But in his submission of obedience
and giving himself to God, God absolutely crushed the devil. And it was Christ doing. By his
obedience, God did it on his behalf. And so the Son of God,
He came into the world to deliver us from the power of Satan, and
He actually destroyed the works of the devil. That's why He came,
1 John 3, verse 8. He not only came to destroy the
works of the devil, He came to destroy the world. He overcame
the world, didn't He? He says in John 16, 33, I have
overcome the world. Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. The world, what is it? Well,
the world is the kingdom of Satan under his control, who live without
Christ, without God, in their own philosophies, which are just
the religion of men. They oppose God, they put themselves
in their mind, they put themselves on the throne, they boast in
their righteousness, which is unrighteousness, and they care
not for God's righteousness, and so they delight in wickedness. That's the world. The lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, all these
things are of the world. And so Christ came to overcome
the world, and he did so. Look at Galatians chapter 1,
for example. Galatians 1. How did the Lord
Jesus Christ overcome the world, you might ask? That's what we're
dealing with here in this psalm. What is this psalm about? It's
about Christ. What does it say about him? It
says that he trusted God and that God delivered him from his
enemies. He took vengeance on Christ's enemies. Here in Galatians
1.4, we see how he overcame the world. Notice, who gave himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ, from verse three, who gave himself for our
sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our Father. How did Jesus
Christ overcome the world for His people? He gave Himself for
our sins. That doesn't seem like a direct,
you know, if you want to hit that nail on the head, why don't
you pick up a hammer and just smash the nail down? Well, He
did. He did it the way that was right.
He went to the highest court. He appealed in the Supreme Court
of Heaven. He gave Himself for His people. He took up as our surety. He
took up our cause to obtain our deliverance from our sins. And having delivered us from
our sins, He delivered us from this present evil world. He gave
Himself. He didn't give creation. He didn't
give angels. He didn't give devils. He didn't
give men. He gave himself. He didn't give
some of his property. He gave everything. He gave himself. He gave his blood. Nothing higher,
nothing could measure the gift of himself. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ gave everything for the unworthy and the ill-deserving.
This is mercy beyond description, mercy beyond equal, beyond measure. And this is why it says, with
the merciful thou wilt show thyself mercy. Talk about grace. You
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty
might be made rich. He did it and we are the beneficiaries
of it. He gave himself for our sins
and he delivered us from this present evil world, from the
religion of this world, from the philosophies of this world.
All of them are man-centered. All of them are God-hating. All
of them want to strip God of His rule and His glory. All of
them want to exalt man and unseat Christ. But that's who he delivered
us from by yielding himself to God in obedience and submission
of faith and trust. And so he did so. He perfectly
obeyed God. And having done so, he removed
our sins and he delivered us out of the hand of Satan and
his kingdom. And he freed us from this. Remember
what he told Pilate? He said, are you a king then?
Pilate asked Jesus in John 18, 37, are you a king then? Because he heard them say that
he was a king and they tried, his enemies tried to get Pilate
to put him to death because he said he was a king. And so Pilate
asked him, are you a king then? And notice the answer in John
18, 37 here, he says, Jesus answered, thou sayest that
I am a king. In other words, you're right
when you say I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
hears my voice. A king, how is he a king? He proclaimed the truth. He's
the one through whom grace and truth is revealed. God overcame
his enemies and he did so in Christ declaring the truth. God's
word had the power. Turn to Acts chapter 4. I want
you to notice this because the theme of Christ submitting himself
in obedience to God and being delivered and that deliverance
being our deliverance is repeated here In another way, you can
see this here, and so you see the pattern fulfilled throughout
scripture. In Acts chapter four, in verse
24, it says, when they heard that, these, let me go to verse
23. He says, being let go, Peter
and John being let go, they went to their own company and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So John
and Peter were kept and were examined and were even beaten
by the elders and the chief priests. But then they let them go. And
so when, it says in verse 24, when they had heard that, the
people that John and Peter told this to, their own company, when
they heard that, that they had let them go, they lifted up their
voice to God And with one accord said, Lord, thou art God, which
has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them,
all that in them is. So here, they're thanking God
for being sovereign and almighty over all the events of men and
letting John and Peter go from the hands of the chief priests.
Notice verse 25. You are the one who made heaven
and earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth
of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen rage and
the people imagine vain things? He's quoting from Psalm 2. The
kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ. So that's what they
did. And notice, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were
gathered together. Pilate, Herod, Gentiles, Jews,
soldiers, the Sanhedrin, the chief priests, the elders, all
the people, all gathered together against the Lord and against
his Christ. Verse 28, for to do whatsoever thy hand in counsel
determined before to be done. And notice the prayer here. This
is the same way of submission that Christ submitted when he
overcame our enemies. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings.
You look upon their threatenings. They're praying against their
enemies, right? And grant unto thy servants that with all boldness
they may do what? Speak the truth, speak thy word
by stretching out. Let me read that again. He says,
may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy
child Jesus." So because Christ overcame in his death, this is
what's going to happen. God's going to act on his behalf
in answer to their prayer. And when they had prayed, notice,
Remember Psalm 18 verses 4 and following of the avenging of
God against Christ's enemies and the enemies of his people?
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they
were assembled together, and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and this was the result, they spake the word of
God with boldness. And the multitude, it goes on
verse 33, with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. So God's
vengeance upon his enemies was the exaltation, the deliverance
of his son, the exaltation of Christ to the throne, and answering
the prayers of his people, his poor, afflicted people, because
Christ was rewarded and exalted, and given all power, and that
power is exerted through the preaching of the gospel to bring
his captives out of their captivity into the kingdom of God. We think
in physical terms. God sees things in the real way,
the spiritual terms. Look at Ephesians chapter four. The same thing is spoken of there. The deliverance of Christ with
his people and their subsequent, the subsequent building up of
the church and their deliverance from the hand of Satan and this
world. Delivering them from the religion of this world, the deception,
the darkness of this world. Ephesians chapter four, verse
seven. Unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So each
member of Christ's body is given grace according to what he seems
fit to give. Verse 8, wherefore he saith,
when he ascended on high, that's the ascension of Christ, he led
captivity captive. In other words, he brought his
people who were captives under the deception of this world's
philosophies, which are just religion, And Satan and the darkness
of his kingdom, he has the strong man keeping his goods inside
of his castle in peace and Christ overcomes the strong man in his
death by appealing to the high court of heaven and God delivering
his people because the blood of Christ was offered in satisfaction
to his justice and his submission of obedience in fulfillment of
his righteousness and therefore God highly exalted him and delivered
him from all of his enemies. He says, Wherefore, when he ascended,
he led captivity captive. All of his people were delivered
with him when he ascended. And he gave gifts to men. On
his throne from on high, Christ dispenses gifts to men. Now,
therefore, that he ascended, that was the victory. What is
it? But that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. In other words, he had to come
down as man, bear our sins, and suffer for them too, and be delivered
unto death. His body went into the grave,
and then he rose. The lower parts of the earth,
that's his burial. Verse 10, he that descended That
great stoop of Christ coming in our nature, bearing our sins
and suffering and dying is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens that he might fill all things. Okay, so that's
the picture. The Son of Man, turn to John
chapter 3 while we're closing this part down and we're going
to go back to Psalm 18. Look at John chapter 3. John
chapter three, Jesus talking to Nicodemus, he gives the same
picture, but there we see it in the context of the new birth
and his crucifixion. John chapter three, look at this,
verse 13. Jesus said, no man has ascended. Isn't that what we just read
about in Ephesians four? No man has ascended up to heaven because
that's the victory and the exaltation, but he that came down from heaven,
who? The Son of Man, which is in heaven. He speaks of the work that he
would do in coming down from heaven, in his sin atoning death,
and his reward, who is in heaven, reigning as Son of God and Son
of Man. Speaking as if it's already fulfilled.
Verse 14. He gives a description of coming
down from heaven. He says, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, lifted up in suffering on the cross, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. There
it is. The deliverance of Christ from
death, ascending up to heaven, giving gifts to men, is the deliverance
of the Son of Man because He submitted in obedience and submission
to His Father, giving Himself for our sins, that He might deliver
us from this present evil world, from Satan, from death, the grave,
from hell, from the curse of the law, from everything that
held us. to redeem us, to release us in liberty, to go back to
our Father with our brethren, like Judah pleaded with Joseph
for Benjamin and his brothers, giving himself assured. Can you
see it? The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
is seen here in Psalm 18, and our salvation is seen in him.
When we read this Psalm, we want to take these words first through
to ourselves, but when we start reading them aloud, we have to
be honest. We find out, well, I read the
words, but I can't really say it in truth that it applies to
me. Don't you feel that? Even in the first words, I will
love thee, O Lord. Well, I want to, but here he
says, I will. or many other things like that,
where we just read, with the merciful, thou wilt show thyself
merciful, where we say, well, that seems true, that's no doubt
true, but how will God be merciful to me, because I know even though
I wanna be merciful to others, I'm not nearly as merciful as
I ought to be, okay? All about the Lord Jesus Christ,
all about his salvation from his enemies, because he took
our place as our captain, Now we are in Psalm 18, verse 27
again. He says, For thou wilt save the
afflicted people, thou wilt bring down high looks. For thou wilt
light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
He will bring me forth, this is speaking about Christ's resurrection. He's going to bring him forth
from the grave to light. For by thee I have run through
a troop, by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his
way is perfect, the word of the Lord is tried." Notice, he speaks
now to the comfort of the church. He is a buckler to all those,
a shield to all those that trust him. For who is God? Save the Lord. The one Christ
trusted is the only God. And who is a rock? Save our God. Isn't that amazing? The one who
is our rock is our God, and we know that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the foundation on which
the entire church rests. He's the cornerstone that is
the head of the corner of the entire building of the church
of God. and they're all built on him,
therefore it can't fall. Verse 32, it is God that girdeth
me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet
like hind's feet and sets me upon my high places. In other
words, God is exalting his son here, the son of man and son
of God, because he finished the work. Remember the prayer Jesus
prayed in John 17? He says, I have finished the
work you gave me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Here's that prayer fulfilled.
He makes my feet like hind's feet. He sets me upon my high
places. He teaches my hands to war, so
that a bow of steel is broken by mine arm. Get the picture. When we draw a bow to shoot an
arrow, You know what it's like? It takes a lot of strength. And
that bow might be made of wood or some kind of fiberglass or
some other material that allows it to flex
and still retain strength and to spring back. But here, The
picture is a bow of steel drawn back with the full strength of
the Lord Jesus Christ because he's going to shoot. He's going
to release that arrow that will be unstoppable in his enemies. So he teaches, my hands to war
so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. And how did he
do that? Again, how did he overcome all
of these enemies With a single blow, the bow of the cross, he
shot the arrow from the cross by his obedience and sacrifice
to God for our sins. Verse 35, thou hast also given
me the shield of thy salvation, thy right hand hath holden me
up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. God's lowliness, his
gentleness, his condescension, his humility has made him great. He was pleased, God the Father
was pleased to be merciful to sinners. and he was merciful
to sinners in giving his son. Christ gave himself, God gave
his only begotten son. His gentleness has made me great. It made Christ great for the
salvation of his people, and every one of his people are given
that greatness that the Lord Jesus Christ was given, the greatness
of that salvation, the reward of his righteousness, heaven,
and eternal life, and eternal glory, and eternal inheritance.
Verse 36, "...now hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet
did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies,
and overtaken them, neither did I turn again, till they were
consumed, absolutely destroyed, not one left. I have wounded
them, that they were not able to rise, they are fallen under
my feet. For thou has girded me with strength
unto battle. Thou has subdued under me those
that rose up against me." Notice he's giving credit to God for
the deliverance here. He's the one who brought his
enemies under his feet. He entered into the fight, but
he didn't take up the fight as a direct fight against even Satan
and the world. He didn't pull out a bomb. or a sword, he was absolutely
mute against them. He didn't revile them again.
He trusted God to deliver him and he was delivered. all their
mockings, he absorbed it, all their beatings, their spitting,
the crown of thorns, the sword in the side, the nails in his
hands, in his feet, everything, he endured it. He gave himself
to it, because he knew that in submitting himself to God, giving
himself for our sins, he would overcome them. He drew back that
bow of steel, and he let it go. Verse 40, thou hast also given
me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that
hate me, They cried, but there was none to save them, even to
the Lord, but he answered them not." Remember in John chapter
8, the Pharisees brought a woman, taking an adultery to Jesus,
and they said, what are you going to do? Moses said, stoner, what
do you say? He did not answer them, did he?
He didn't say a word to them. He stooped down as though he
heard them not and wrote on the ground. He rose up and he said,
whoever is without sin, cast the first stone. He stooped down
again. That's the only word he said.
Stooped down to them again and they all left. They didn't return
asking for mercy. They were sent away in shame.
They did not know mercy, they did not receive mercy, and they
were exposed for their own sin because their own conscience
convicted them. And here it says, they cried
to the Lord, but he did not answer them. Remember in Matthew 7,
those people appearing before Christ, Lord, haven't we done
this? Haven't we done that? We've cast out devils in your
name. We've done many wonderful works. We've prophesied in your
name. He says, I never knew you because
they never took, they never came as thirsty, hungry sinners, depending
and drawing salvation from him alone and giving him glory for
it. They didn't know that. And so he said, I didn't know
you. You trusted your works. Verse 42. Then did I beat them
small as the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as
the dirt in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the
strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of
the heathen, a people whom I have not known shall serve me. They
were the Gentiles, a people who were not His people as Jews. They were His people only spiritually
given to Him by God the Father. They did not know Him, but He
knew them, and so they served Him. It seemed like it was a
complete surprise. All of time led up to this point
where the Gentiles flocked to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they bowed themselves to Him. Remember in John chapter 12?
Let me just refresh your memory. In John chapter 12, it says in
verse 20, there were certain Greeks, obviously those are Gentiles,
they're Greeks. There were certain Greeks among
them that came up to worship at the feast, and the same came
therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and
desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh
and telleth Andrew, and Andrew, again Andrew and Philip tell
Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, notice,
that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I
say to you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, speaking of himself, it abides alone. But if it die,
if he dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. That fruit is the
Gentiles, the salvation of his people. And so back in Psalm
18, a people I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they
hear of me, they shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves
to me, strangers, people who didn't know the Lord, who were
alienated from the life, from the commonwealth of Israel, as
it says in Ephesians 2. They were alienated from the
life of God. They were without God, without
Christ in the world, and yet those strangers heard of Christ
through the gospel and believed Him, submitting themselves to
Him, unlike the self-righteous, proud Jews who would not submit
themselves to the righteousness of God because they trusted their
works. Verse 45, the stranger shall fade away and be afraid
out of their close places. The Lord liveth, notice this
is a praise now, the Lord liveth and blessed be my rock and let
the God of my salvation be exalted. Here Christ gives all honor,
he returns all honor to God his Father. He says, it is God, here's
the theme of the Psalm, it is God that avengeth me. and subdueth
the people under me." Not only his enemies, but his people came
and bowed themselves to him and submitted themselves to him.
Notice verse 48. He delivered me from my enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above
those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the
violent man. Who's that? That's Satan. Satan
and his kingdom. The violent man, the strong man.
Christ was delivered from him. Verse 49. Therefore will I give
thanks unto thee. Here's the psalm, the theme of
the psalm. I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the heathen. among the elect believing Gentiles,
and sing praises unto thy name, quoted again in Hebrews 2. Here's the conclusion. Great
deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his
anointed, that's Christ, and he calls him David, to David
and to his seed forevermore. There you go, there you have
it. The Lord Jesus Christ filling this prophecy about His own deliverance
as the Son of Man and the salvation He gave to His people because
He was exalted and blessed with all these things and blessing
them. What a Savior, huh? What a Savior. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your mercy
to us that you would find one so strong and so willing to give
himself, so wise to know how to overcome our enemies by worshipping
by serving our God as we could never do in obedience, by worshipping
and serving Him in a sacrifice of Himself for our sins as we
could never do by any tears or sorrows or commitments or resolve
or remorse or anything from us. But everything was accomplished
by him. And we see it in this psalm. And we hear his cry of
victory and his praise to God of his deliverance to his people. In the midst of the church, he
sings praises to our God and to our Father. And so let us
have grace, dear Lord, that we might join in chorus around the
throne, in heaven, and even now by faith, and see our Savior,
the Lamb slain, and the Lord our God sitting on the throne
doing all His will, bringing even those who crucified our
Savior into subjection, even the wrath of man, praising Thee. Thank you, Lord, for Your grace.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.