David’s Deliverer

Our text is in 2 Samuel chapter 22. This is actually a Psalm of David that's inserted here into the historical record of David. And it's mostly what we know to be Psalm 18. It's very, very similar. It's almost exact to Psalm 18 with some differences. And that leads many to think that what's recorded here in 2 Samuel is actually the first copy.

It's the first draft of it or some form of an early draft of when he wrote this. And that would mean that he probably sung it privately. This was something that he sung in private worship to the Lord, something he wrote, and eventually he would polish it up and finish it off and hand it to the chief musician. That's what it says.

Psalm 18 says, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David. It doesn't say that here in chapter 22 of 2 Samuel. So at some point, he added a few things and then finished it off and gave it to the chief musician to be sung publicly in public worship there.

Now, there's two thoughts about this psalm. One thought is that David wrote this psalm when he was old, around this time now, and that he's reflecting back on all the many deliverances that the Lord had done for him throughout his life, and bringing him out of all the hand of his enemies that wanted to destroy him. There was some, what we would say, many close calls in David's life. that the Lord brought him through and delivered him from and spared him from dying or being destroyed at that time. Then the other thought is that David wrote this much earlier and that he would sing it with each new deliverance that the Lord gave him. He would go back to this psalm and sing it because it's really, it's a song of thankfulness. It's a song of thanking the Lord for his deliverances and for all that he's done for us. And so this psalm, is capturing the thankful heart that David had for his God.

He was able to reflect on and think of all the kindnesses of the Lord for him and all his provision and all his care and all his being there when he needed him most. He was there and he provided for him. And so he has a very thankful heart. And a thankful heart really is a fruit of the Spirit. Isn't it?

It's a fruit of the Spirit to be thankful to the Lord, to be mindful of what the Lord has done for you, what the Lord has done for me. It's good to be in that mindset, in that frame of mind. thinking on the Lord, being mindful of the Lord. That's why many people start the day with reading a daily devotional or reading a few scriptures, because it gets our heart on the Lord in the beginning, and then you're watching for Him, and you're looking for Him, and you're noticing Him when He appears. Otherwise, a lot of things just go unnoticed that He does, even though we don't notice Him or think of Him.

And so, This is a psalm of thankfulness. David wrote in another psalm, in Psalm 139, it says it's a psalm of David, and he says, how precious also are thy thoughts of me, right? We think of him, how precious are his thoughts of me, oh God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.

And so it's good, it's good to set your heart on thankfulness. It's good to go to the Lord in thankfulness, in prayer, to remember to be thankful to Him and to be patient in that when you go to the Lord in prayer because sometimes we go in cold, sometimes we go in neglectful and we don't even know what to say and it feels mechanical but Just begin to thank Him with simple little things, and you'll find that oftentimes your heart will remember things, and you'll just remember little mercies, things that you prayed and forgot about, and then reflect, and the Lord answered it. The Lord did that, and it just brings it back to your mind, and it's just good to be thankful because it makes us to know He is God, and He's my God, and He's the God who hears my prayers, and He's the God who answers my prayers. And that's a precious thing, to be in this world and to have the true and living God as your God. and that he should call you his child, his son or his daughter. That's a precious, precious thing.

And so, just looking at verse one, we see that David is recounting God's deliverances of him. It says, David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day, and that's why it could be a repeated thing in each and every day, that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. Now, if you think about it, from the day that David was a shepherd, a little boy as a shepherd, he tells us that there were times when he would fight off bears and lions that would attack his father's sheep. He was in battle from the time he was a youth, just guarding and watching over the sheep of his father. And then we read of him, especially, he comes on the scene and battles the giant Goliath, who is defying the God of Israel. He takes on this man of war, and by God's power and grace and spirit, he defeats him.

And then, because he's being honored for that and loved by the people, his king, Saul, hates him and begins to hunt for David's life. And so then David spent many years, many tiresome years in the wilderness evading Saul's sword that was hunting him to put him to death. And he experienced many close calls during that time, both from Saul and from other enemies that appeared. And David went through many difficulties, many trials as it were, that tried his faith during that time while he was fleeing from Saul.

And then eventually the Lord did deliver him from Saul. He put Saul down. David, not by David's sword, David could have taken his life and David trusted the Lord. And then the Lord put Saul down. But even after that, we know that sufferings, these same trials and difficulties continued for David. Because we're told that after Saul died, there was long war in Israel. It was a long time before Israel united under David's rule. And then David fell in that grievous sin with Bathsheba. I didn't slew Uriah.

And then that led to the rise of Absalom, who swung the heart of the people over to him. and he took the heart of Israel with him, with Absalom, and they rebelled against David, and David had to flee, but the Lord delivered him from that, too. But that still had to sting, that the people that you served and loved and labored for, that they would turn against you. Those were hard days for David. Those were very difficult days, no doubt.

And just many other things, many other troubles that we read of that keep coming up, including, war after war after war with the Philistines that just kept coming and so all these these enemies picture our enemies the enemy of the accuser of the brethren right the devil the enemy of sin the enemy of death in the grave these are all our enemies our own you know our own sin and and troubles and so these are these are pictures of of enemies now if your life as a believer, if your life as a believer is one of constant battles, just one thing after another thing after another, right?

You just, every time something stops, another thing's right there to take its place, if not a couple other things, right? Just things just keep on coming. Well, if that's your life going from one battle to another, don't despair. Take heart that you're in the company of David. They're in David's company with that.

It shows us that the believer's life is one of adversity. One man said, a believer is made for adversity. It's what comes to us. It's what we were made for. This world hates us. There's going to be adversity. Paul told the churches saying that we must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of God. Through much tribulation. We're going to go through tribulations that are stripping us of the strength and power and ability of this flesh because we would trust in this flesh. We would depend on this flesh. We would look to this flesh if it was always coming through for us. but it fails us. It doesn't come through for us.

And that's a good thing because that's right where the Lord is putting his child that we might find our all in the Lord, that he would be our constant stay. And that's what brings out that thankfulness in our heart to the one who delivers us, to the one who cares for us and provides for us and sustains us and keeps us. We praise and thank the Lord. rather than ourselves and our own wisdom and our own abilities and our own riches and strength, we get stripped of those that we might find our all in Him, who is truly our all. Because everything, every blessing we have, it's given to us of His hand. And by weakening us, we're made to know it's by His hand. that it's of his grace. And going beyond David as a brother, our sufferings also put us in the company and fellowship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He said to his disciples in John 15, verses 18 through 21, if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

And so it is in the battle, it is in the warfare, it is in the struggles and the difficulties and the sufferings and the sorrows that we meet our Lord most deeply. That's where the truth of these words is proven, is in the dark times, in the difficult times when all you're doing is walking by faith. and walking by the Spirit. Because you can't feel it or rest on anything natural because it isn't there. But the Lord is. And that's what it does. It's to bring you right to the Lord.

Turn over to Hebrews 2. Look at Hebrews 2 on this. Hebrews 2 and go to verse 9. Hebrews 2 verse 9, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. through sufferings, for both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren."

Brethren, right? And so many of our battles that we're going through all serve to slay this old man. That's what they do. They're weakening, they're putting down this old man of flesh, keeping him down lest he puff up and rise up thinking he's something when he's nothing. It's to keep us humble before the Lord. because that's where you wanna be, believer. That's where you wanna be, is at the feet of Christ. That's a good, precious place to be.

And so he strips the old man while he's preserving the new man and growing us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the new man, in the new man. And then look at what follows there in Hebrews 2, verse 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And so through his sufferings, he's teaching us and revealing to us the Father. and he's making known the Father. And again, verse 13, I will put my trust in him. Now that's actually quoting from the third verse of this Psalm in 2 Samuel 22. I will put my trust in him. The way it says it in 2 Samuel is in him will I trust. And again, behold I and the children which God hath given me.

And so this is how the Lord brings us to glory in himself, in him, the glory in him, to come with thankful hearts, to come knowing these things, as the apostles wrote, right? And we know. Well, how do we know? Because the Lord reveals it to us, and he reveals it to us in practice. He makes this word to be very true, very real to us. We're gonna know it. The world doesn't know it, but you do because the Lord has given it to you. And he's put you in a place in this world where you're gonna know the truth of these things. And that's a good thing.

That's a precious thing that the Lord should do this for us. And so he's given us joyful, thankful hearts in it. Now tonight, we're just gonna look at the first three verses of this Psalm. That's recorded here, as it's recorded here in 2 Samuel 22. And we'll see here that the strength and the salvation of the believer through every trial and difficulty is of the Lord. It's to make us to know that our God through the Lord Jesus Christ is all our support, he's all our deliverance for our enemies, and for you to know, he's all that you need.

He'll give you what you need. He will provide for you. And you can rest and trust in him in that. All right. So what the believer knows by the things he's taught is that all our enemies, that's how all our enemies are defeated, by the Lord. That's what we're gonna know. In Zechariah 4, 6, it says it's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. It's not gonna be us doing it by the strength of this flesh, it's gonna be the Lord coming through and providing for us and making us to know it's of him. I know that the popular religion of the day emphasizes what man must and can be doing.

It's a very flesh-centric, Doctrine that they teach right well you need to be doing this and if you do these things right in this step Methodists for example right if you do these methods and go about it this way You're gonna be blessed and you're gonna have greater blessings if you do these things right it becomes very Legalistic and very fleshly and flesh-centric And so, you know, they'll do it either by the law and threats, or they'll guilt you into it, right?

Make you feel ashamed for not doing certain things and getting you to do things in that way. Some organizations and churches, you know, so-called churches are so large that they can take a convert and sort of put them into tailor-made groups and focus groups with people that, you know, are all the same age and do have the same things so that they can you know, not be aware of the trials and the troubles because they have such a great support group, you know, to just carry them through that thing. So you don't even realize the difficulties a lot of times, but they just occupy you with so much of their programs that you don't even go out into the world at all and have any exposure to it whatsoever. And having, A lot of brethren is a great blessing, and it is.

I wouldn't turn it away. I wouldn't turn it away if we could have it, but it is a great source of help, and I think there's a lot of good things, but there is a use for brethren, for Christians to go through fiery trials and difficult trials and to feel it. and to feel them in their heart, to feel them in their soul, to feel them in their closet at night when they're alone, and to go to the Lord with their cares and concerns because the Lord gives these things to his children to go through those difficulties, to prepare us, to strengthen us in the warfare. for the purpose that he has for us in the battle, in our day.

And so, if we look at Paul, for example, when Paul was given an infirmity in his flesh, which he couldn't be delivered from, he called it a thorn in the flesh. And he spoke of, he called it a messenger of Satan that was given to him to buffet his flesh. to keep him humble, lest he should be exalted above measure.

And he goes on in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, he tells us that God said to me, my grace is sufficient for thee, meaning God gave him that infirmity. God put him in that place, in that position, and provided everything that Paul needed. Whatever he was struggling with or suffering from physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever it was, God had put him there saying, my grace is sufficient for thee, and I'll provide for you, but you're here for a purpose. And Paul was made to know it was a good purpose. The Lord telling him, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul goes on to say, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I mean, I can have all kinds of faults and I do.

And yet anything that is good to the people of God is all to the glory of God. It's all because of him. It's all what he has done and is doing for you, brethren. For your good, for your strength, for your comfort, for your provision to bring you to eternity with your Lord in glory forever.

It's for our good. Therefore, Paul said, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. And that is true. That's when the knees bend and that soul prays, is when they're going through necessities and persecutions and trials and troubles. That's what puts us before our Lord.

Because generally when everything's going well, you just don't think of the Lord the way I ought to, right? Or we ought to. It just doesn't happen the same way, or it's more mechanical. But when you're weak, you're there on purpose, right? And you know it. And you need the Lord. And it's good, it translates to being a blessing to the brethren. It always works for the good of the body. And so we find David acknowledging what he learned that the Lord is his strength in verse two. And he said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

And we can identify with the strength of a large rock, right? A large mountainous type rock jetting out of the landscape there. It's not soft, it's hard, it's not weak, it's strong. And it provides a safe haven to hide in. And it provides some kind of protection, some kind of deliverance. If the sun's out and shining and you can get in the shade of that thing and it's 100 something degrees out there, that rock is wonderful. Or if it's raining and storm and there's a little overhang and you can get under it, it's wonderful. It's protecting and it's strong and it's powerful and it's steady and not going anywhere. And so that's what the Lord is. He provides us with a safe haven when the enemy would assault us and harm us. So that he can come only up to the point that the Lord allows him and no further. And can touch you no further.

Look over at Psalm 61. Look at Psalm 61 and we'll go to verse two. David writes there in Psalm 61, verse 2, he says, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. And that has the sense, well, there's a couple senses there, but in one sense there, it speaks of the whosoever will.

Whosoever you are, even if you're a Gentile in a far-off land, there is one God over all the earth, and he hears them who call upon him, who cry out to him for grace and mercy, whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life, whosoever you are, right? Crying from the end of the earth. And then in another sense, from the end of the earth, while I cry unto thee, it suggests that no matter how far away I find myself to be, in the hour of my need, no matter where I am, even if I'm like Adam, hiding out in the trees, and I know the Lord's calling me, the Lord's calling me, I may call upon him. no matter how far away I am. No matter how far away. And David, there were times when David was made to know when Nathan came to him and told him his sin, how he displeased the Lord. And David knew, I am far, far, far away from the Lord. But he called upon the Lord and the Lord heard him.

That's how merciful, how gracious our God is. And he continues, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. That's where we need to be. That's where sheep are brought to our great God and Savior, who is our rock, our all, our forgiveness, our salvation, our mighty God. He does it all. And so, because sin and that trouble, that overwhelming grief is too much for us to bear. Where can we go? if we can't go to the Lord.

Nothing else will drown it away or take it away, but the Lord is able, he's able to put it away. Verse three of this Psalm 61, for thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. And so he makes us to know that Christ is the strong tower, that he defeats all our foes, that he protects us, that he provides for us, And this is exactly why the Father sent him to save us from our sins, to deliver us from our enemies, to provide for us a safe haven of rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not an abuse to go back to God for his grace time and time again, because that's exactly why he sent his son. Not for us to abuse sin, but when we sin, where else are we gonna go?

Go to him. Go to him. Don't, don't, don't try to keep it more on yourself by staying away. Go to him humbly and confess your sins and ask him for grace and mercy. And so, that's what he tells us. Isaiah 32, 2 tells us, And so, This is our rest. This is the one to whom we are to go when the tempest whips up and the winds whip up and the trouble comes. It's to the Lord. He is that haven of rest for us. He's the hiding place from the wind.

And what that looks like in Christ, you can see in 1 John 2. 1 John 2 and verses one and two, He says, the apostle says, they're my little children, these things, right eye unto you, that ye sin not. We're not encouraging anyone to sin, but we're telling you that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. This is the Savior. He's the one who put away the sin of his people.

This is the one to whom we are to go, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he said, I don't say these things to encourage you to sin, but, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our defense attorney. As it were, he's the one who stands up and shows that his blood pleads for us. He paid for that sin. That sin was put away by our Lord on the cross. And the accuser of the brethren has nothing more to say. Acquitted. Case closed, there's nothing more.

He is the propitiation for our sins, the one who paid the debt for our sins in full, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles scattered throughout the world. He is the one God and Savior whom the Father has sent to save his people from their sins. And so the gospel of Jesus Christ is as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. He's the hiding place. He's the hiding place, brethren.

Now, back in our text there, 2 Samuel 22, verse three. David says, the God of my rock, in him will I trust. That phrase there, in him will I trust. The prophet tells us in Isaiah 26, verse three and four, thou wilt keep him. and perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.

And that's precious, right? When you're a little child, grandbaby, or your child, when they're leaning wholly on you, they're precious to you, you love them, you're gonna do for them all that you can do, because they trust you. They're not gonna hurt him or harm him. That's how God is to us. As a mother is tender toward her child, and cares for her child, and that child is trusting wholly on that mother to do all that he needs. You're not gonna hurt that child. That's a picture for us of the Father and his love for us. because he trusteth in thee. The Lord is going to provide for his people.

He is our peace in every trial and trouble. And a man won't believe it or experience it until he loses everything and is forced to cast it all on the Lord. And then we see the truth of it. We see how he provides and comes through for us. Verse 4 there, Isaiah 26, verse 4, trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And so, it's not just for this life only, but everything we need for eternal life is all given to us abundantly, freely, sovereignly, wondrously in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything.

And the Lord will take his servants through a way that's very contrary to this flesh to bring us to see that and to prepare us for his grace in that day and for his glory. He brings us through a way that we wouldn't voluntarily or even think to go or want to go through, but it is the way of life in him. Because it's not this flesh that bears fruit. It's not this flesh that profits us. in eternal things, it is the spirit. It is the spirit. And so he's gonna bring us into a way where we are walking by the spirit, walking by faith, trusting the Lord, trusting in him.

And that's where he meets his people and blesses his people and makes the truth of his word known to his people through the trial and through the warfare. And so by this grace and power of God, a man will lose his life for Christ's sake. And that's right where he's going to find life, is in Christ and by Christ. Job said he discovered this truth and he said in Job 13, 15, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Because that stripping of the flesh, that crucifying of the flesh is where our Lord brings us for our good, to meet us there. And by the gracious, wondrous leading of our Savior, we die to this world and this world dies to us.

In Mark 8, verse 34 and 35, it says, when our Lord had called the people unto him with his disciples, Also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

And so the Lord is showing us, he's making the case, don't turn to Moses and the law to try and accomplish this crucifying of your flesh. It's not, the law is not gonna profit you. That's not what it was given to do. It's not gonna build you up or make you stronger. I mean, it'll slay, but it won't profit you in the way that you're seeking there. Life is not by the works of the flesh.

Our Lord's words are spirit. They are spiritual words and they are to lead us by the spirit, to follow Christ, to follow Him, to stay upon Him, to trust Him through it, into death itself, living upon the Lord. That when we are tempted, when we are tried, when we are struggling, call upon the Lord, for he that called upon the Lord shall be saved.

Not call upon Moses. Call upon the law and go back to the law. And with threatening yourself and beating yourself with the law, that's not gonna fix this flesh at all. Christ saves. Your Lord saves. He that calleth upon the Lord shall be saved. That's what we do in the day of trouble.

Paul tells us on this point in Galatians 6, 13-15, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision of health, anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And what that brings us to see goes right back to what our Lord tells us, you must be born again. The only way we're gonna hear this, the only way we're going to follow Christ, the only way we're gonna grow in Christ and meet Christ in the trial is by his regenerating grace and power. And we don't make ourselves born again. We don't get ourselves saved.

It's the Lord's work that blesses his people. that meets with his people in their hour of need, in their day of trial and difficulty, and he shows himself, that he is your God. And he brings forth that, he gives you that need, he brings forth the cry, he makes you to look to him in faith, having no other hope but his grace, but his salvation, but his love, but his mercy to save you.

And so David goes on to say, he's my shield, he's the horn of my salvation, right? And meaning he's my power, he's everything, everything that I need. He's my keeper and my sustainer, right? For though he was crucified, I like what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13, four, for though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. So, that's how we live, by the power and grace of God, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Call upon him, look to him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

And he's everything. He's my high tower, David said. He's my refuge, my savior. Christ is the one to whom we must turn to and run to when the enemy attacks because Christ is the savior and he saves to the uttermost. Trust not your religion, don't trust your form of religion, don't trust outward carnal things of this flesh, that's not gonna save you. Christ is your savior. Christ has put you in the spot he's put you in for your good. because that's where Christ meets you, is in that trouble. Go to him in thankfulness, go to him in confessing your sin, trust him in it, believe him in it, ask him for grace to believe him in it. And he delights to show you these things. Amen.

David’s Deliverer

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David’s Deliverer

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