The third of the Psalms, Psalm
3, is the first of the Psalms which is specifically attributed
to David, that great Psalmist, that great writer of many of
these Psalms. It opens the Psalm of David when
he fled from Absalom, his son. Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me. Many there be which say of my
soul, there is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me, my glory and a lifter up of mine head. I cried unto
the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.
Selah. I laid me down and slept. I awaked,
for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands
of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise,
O Lord, save me, O my God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies
upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Say La. The psalm is divided into three
sections, each ending with that pause, say La. Verses one and
two, where David cries out to his God because of the multitude
of his enemies. And verses three and four, where
he rejoices in his God as a shield. And he declares that when he
cried unto God, the Lord heard him. Great declaration of his
faith in his God. And then verses five to eight,
where David speaks of laying down and sleeping, awaking and
then seeing. the salvation that God has wrought
in smiting all his enemies. And he concludes with that great
cry, salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon
thy people. Three clear divisions. And a
psalm which David was moved to write at a time in his life of
great personal tragedy. when his own son had risen up
against him, and he fled, and when many were his enemies, and
when he knew what it was like to be alone, and to be hated,
and to have no help from man, and to be cast upon his God alone,
but when he knew in such a state that he needed no help from man
and that to have God alone as his help was to have the greatest
of help was to know a sure and a certain salvation. Great was
David's faith in his God and greatly rewarded was that faith
for his God was mighty in battle. His God wrought a wondrous victory. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. David knew this. He knew this
in experience. He wrote this psalm, not in his
study as it were, not as something which was theoretical. But this
flowed forth as the words of a man who knew what it was to
be hated, who knew what it was to be cast out, who knew what
it was to suffer, who knew what tragedy and crisis were, and
knew what faith in God meant. He was thrown upon his God. He had no one else to go to. And he knew what it was. to have
that faith rewarded, to have that trust, to have that knowledge
of a sovereign God who saves to the uttermost. Now these cries
of David, both for help and of trust and of victory, are cries
which many of the Lord's people will enter into at some point
or other. You and I may be brought to cry
out unto God, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many
are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of
my soul, there is no help for him in God. At times we may be
brought to that state, and we may know the same experience
that David knew, and we, by God's grace, may be brought to cry
out by faith. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. We may cry unto
the Lord with our voice and may know that he has heard us out
of his holy hill. And we may know the victory of
a God who awakes us, a God who is with us when we sleep, A God
who lifts us up. A God who will go against ten
thousands of our enemies and smite them and take them away. A God who is our salvation. A God whose blessing is upon
us. We may know that, we may be brought to know that. Do you
know it? Can you say out of your experience,
salvation belongeth unto the Lord? He's heard me, I've cried
unto him. I've cried unto him in desperate
straits when many rise up and persecute me and hate me and
despise me for my faith in Christ. I've cried unto him and he's
helped me and heard me and sustained me. Have you that faith that
David had? Well if you have, you will have
it for the very same reason that David had it. Because David knew
the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps as one that lived before
his coming, not by name in that sense, but he knew Christ. He
looked by faith down through the ages to the coming of Messiah,
the coming of the Lord's Anointed, the coming of the Son of God.
He knew that God was his salvation and he knew that his Messiah,
his Saviour, would deliver him. He knew that his sins would be
washed away. He would be delivered not just
from his physical enemies in this world, but he'd be delivered
from those enemies that would destroy his soul. He'd be delivered
from his own sin, his own corruption. He'd be delivered from the condemnation
of the law. He'd be delivered from the attacks
of the evil one, the devil and Satan. He'd be delivered. from all that kept him away from
God, from all his enemies. He'd be delivered from his sins,
forgiven, washed clean, made to be righteous. He knew that
deliverance was in God alone. Salvation was in God alone. And he knew that that was because
of God's Son, his Saviour, his Deliverer. He looked unto Him. And if you know David's experience
and you have David's faith, it's because you look unto Christ
alone. And you know the hope and the
faith and the trust that you have in Christ. And you know
the reward of that and the great victory that Christ has wrought.
Because the reason that God goes forth to destroy ten thousands
of people and smites off David's enemies is because they are Christ's
enemies. And any who raises up their voice
against the Lord Jesus Christ and despises and hates him, sets
himself against Almighty God. When men raise up their voice
against you, believer, When they rose up against David, it's not
you that they hate and it's not David that they hated, it's Christ. And when man raises up his fist
and his voice against God's anointed, God the Father is jealous for
him. He will avenge his anointed,
he will defend him, he will destroy his enemies. He will save him. Yes, it's Christ that David looked
unto. It's Christ that you and I must
look unto. And ultimately, as with all the
Psalms, as with the other two Psalms we've looked at recently,
as with the whole book of Psalms, ultimately this Psalm is the
cry, not so much of David, not so much of you and I, but the
cry of the Son of God. It's Christ who cries out, Lord,
how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up
against me. Many there be which say of my
soul, there is no help for him in God. It's Christ who says that the
Lord is his shield, his glory. the lifter up of his head it's
Christ who cries unto his Father with his voice and the Father
heard him out of his holy hill it's Christ who laid himself
down and slept and then awaked for the Lord sustained him I
laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me. It's
Christ who would not be afraid of ten thousands of people that
have set themselves against him round about. It's Christ who
cries out in victory and faith. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my
God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. It's Christ who cries out, Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon Thy people. Oh, what a salvation! Oh, what
faith! Oh, what victory! If you're brought
into such trouble as David was brought in here to cry out unto
God, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? It's trouble
that Christ has been in before you. And however many hate you,
it's not as many as hated Christ. And however many hate you, they
hate you because of Christ. But when we're in trouble, when
we're persecuted, when we're hated, what hope there is in
this psalm, what hope there is in the Gospel, because of the
One who's gone before us. Looking unto Jesus, the offerer
and finisher of our faith, the One who's gone before us, the
One who's gone into the grave before us. The One who's gone
through the waters of death before us. The One who's been despised
and rejected and hated of all men before us. The One who was
cast out by all men before they cast out us. The One who suffered
before ever we suffered. The One who awaked before we
awake. The One who rose again victorious. before ever we rose, in Him victorious. The One who cried out, Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord, that we might cry out, Salvation belongeth
unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people. Oh, what a picture
of the Gospel there is in this psalm. and oh what hope and comfort
for the child of God to look into this psalm and to look into
the sufferings of their saviour and to look into the victory
of their saviour's salvation what he accomplished when he
laid down his life what he accomplished when he laid down and slept that
they in him might rise again. What hope there is. Things could hardly have got
worse for David when he penned this psalm. And no matter how
bad things might get for you, child of God, no matter what
trouble you may be brought into one day, no matter what trouble
you may be in this day, it will never be as great as the Saviour's
trouble. It will never be as great as
the Saviour's suffering. And yet even out of the depths,
the very depths into which He was cast, the very depths of
the pit into which He fell, the very depths of death which He
plummeted in, even cast out of God because of the sins which
He bore and the sin which He was made to be. He arose. He returned. He came back from the battlefield. Back from the warfare. Back from
the killing fields. Back from the slaughter. He returned
as it were as a knight riding upon a horse. A mighty conqueror. He returned victorious. And whatever sufferings and trials
you will go through, you in Christ will be victorious. He will,
as it were, come riding past you in your dire straits, desperate,
and He will pick you up upon His steed, He will pick you up
upon His horse, and He will carry you forth to victory. There is
no suffering that you can be brought to pass through. which
can be likened under his suffering. Whose suffering is like unto
my suffering? Is it nothing to you or ye that
pass by? He went where no man could go.
He suffered like no other man could suffer. He felt pain like
no man or woman could ever feel pain. and he felt it to deliver
his people from their sins. Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me. Many. Do you feel that there
are many that trouble you? Do you feel like enemies multiply? Do you feel alone at times? Well
you will never have as many enemies and as much trouble as the Lord
Jesus had. For all men rejected Him. He came unto His own. The Jews, the very ones who should
have received Him, the very ones who should have known Him, the
very ones who should have loved Him and they rejected Him. They handed him over to the Romans
to be crucified, and the Romans crucified him. And all men and
women walked past the cross when he was nailed unto it, and scoffed
and mocked. Even his disciples held their
tongue when he needed them. Even they were scattered in his
hour of need. All men rejected Him. And though
there are those throughout history who are brought to love Him,
though He has a people, though you may be brought to love Him,
there is a time in all of our hearts when we have hated and
rejected Him. All men have hated Him. You were
born hating Him. You were born rejecting Him. You were born despising Him. Don't go to your grave doing
the same. Don't go to your grave continuing
to hate him. For if you do, you will be amongst
those people, his enemies, whom he will smite upon the cheekbone,
whose teeth he will break. whose destruction will be everlasting
oh you may be born telling lies you may be born hating God but
don't go to your grave in the same state how are they increased
that trouble me? many are they that rise up against
me Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for
him in God. Oh, how man mocks. Oh, how we
mock the Saviour. Oh, how when they nailed him
to that tree and lifted him up, how pitiful they considered him
to be. How weak they thought he was. Oh, we'd silenced him then. This one who said he was the
son of God, this one who came doing miracles, this one who
came preaching a message which man does not like. Oh, he was
in a place of weakness then. Oh, they mocked and they scorned
and they taunted him and said to call a legion of angels down
to help him, to prove that he was God. and when he didn't oh
how they laughed and said it's because he can't when in reality it was because
he wouldn't he could but he couldn't if he was going to suffer God's
wrath against the sin of his people and deliver them from
their sins he could have escaped at any moment should he wish
but he didn't come to escape He didn't come to take an easy
path. He didn't come to escape this
hard way. He came to save his people from
their sins. He came to enter the battle. He didn't come to escape the
battle. He came to enter the battle.
He came to defeat his enemies. He came to defeat his foes. He
came to defeat the enemies and the foes of his people. He came
to conquer sin. He came to conquer death. He
came to deliver his people for salvation. Belongeth unto the
Lord. Many there be which say of my
soul there is no help for him in God. What a lie! There was every help for him
in God. and there was every help for
David in God and child of God there is every help for you in
God no matter what the hour might seem to be no matter how desperate
the state might seem to be Christ hung on the cross in darkness
the wrath of God poured down as fires upon his head his father
turned his face away from him The world was dark and every
voice was raised against him and he suffered for hours upon
the cross and yet there was every help for him in God. I laid me
down and slept. I died. I awaked for the Lord
sustained me. There was every help for him
in God. Every help. Selah. How did he know? Because of the
faith of Jesus Christ. Because of that wondrous faith
which he had in his Father, that wondrous trust, that wondrous
hope. He knew his God would hear him,
even in the hardest hour, even in the darkest hour. He knew
his God would hear him. And David had that same faith
given to him of God, given to him by Jesus Christ. David had
the faith of Jesus Christ and with that faith he cried unto
the Lord with his voice. And the Lord heard him out of
his holy hill. And Christ cried unto the Father
with His voice and God heard Him out of His holy hill. Christ, by faith, could look
up unto God and say, Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory
and a lifter up of mine head. He knew even though the storms
were around him, even though his God sent the storms upon
him, even though he was bearing the sins of his people and God
was judging him for those sins, he knew that his God, his Father,
was his shield. He knew that his God, his Father,
was his glory and the lifter up of his head. He knew his Father
would deliver him. He knew that in the end all that
was promised would be done. He knew that his suffering would
not be in vain. He knew that this suffering was
not in vain. He knew the sovereign will of
God. He knew that God ruled. And he
knew that this was a pathway he must follow. He knew that
when he laid down his life he would rise again. He would take
away the sins of his people. He would blot them out. He would
deliver them. He knew. And David knew. David knew. Though Absalom sought his life,
though many were his enemies, though he was in desperate straits,
he knew that his God was a shield, even though it may have felt
that the hand of God himself had gone out against him. Because
David believed that God was sovereign, David believed that God was all-powerful,
David knew that God could save him at any moment and yet here
he was and everyone was against him and death awaited him. Why was God putting him through
these things? Because he knew that God's purpose
would be brought to pass. However low he must sink, he
knew that in the end all things work together for the good of
those who are called. All things. He knew that there
were bad things he must enter into, that there were trials,
that there were difficulties. He knew that he must walk through
the valley of the shadow of death and yet the Lord would be near
him. And yet the Lord would be his
shield, and yet the Lord would be his glory, and yet the Lord
would lift up his head, even in the darkest hour. And he didn't
turn around to God and curse God that he was brought to this
place. Like Job of old, when Job was brought to suffer unimaginable
sufferance. the loss of almost all his family,
the loss of all his wealth, and the loss of his health, and the
hatred and despising of those around him. When Job was brought
into terrible suffering, Job didn't turn around and curse
God, even though there were others, even though his wife taunted
him too. Even though others said, look
where God has placed you, there's no help for you from God. He's
brought this upon you, why do you trust in him? Job said no
even should he slay me yet will I trust him and David said no
even if the Lord slays me I will trust him for I know that when
I lay me down and sleep or when I lay down and die I will awake
For the Lord is my shield, my glory, and the lifter up of mine
head. And believer, should you be brought
in such a state that all enemies are risen up against you and
you feel like you're even brought to the point of death, and you
know that God is sovereign and you know His hand is upon you,
do you have that faith that says, this is of the Lord, blessed
be His name? Though He slay me, yet will I
praise Him. He is my shield, my glory, and
the lifter up of my head. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. For this is the
cry and the faith of Christ in His darkest hour. As He died,
He trusted in the Father. He wasn't just on the brink of
death. He wasn't just at the point of
fear in death. He wasn't just in desperate straits
of suffering through great illness but Christ was nailed to a cross
and suffered unto death and trusted His God. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice and He heard me. out of His holy hill, Selah. So we see the great calamity
in the first two verses, Selah. We see the wondrous faith of
the Lord's servant in the next two verses, Selah. Pause, consider, take it in. And then in the latter half of
the psalm from verse 5 through to verse 8, We see the salvation
of the Lord. We see the victory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 5, I laid me down and slept. I awaked, for the Lord sustained
me. Verse 8, salvation belongeth
unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people. Salah. How did the Lord accomplish salvation? And by what means did his blessing
come upon his people? How did God bless David in the
end? How did God cause Job from the
depths of his suffering to be raised up to a place, a position
greater than he was in in the beginning? How did God deliver
Job? How did he deliver David? And
how does he deliver his people? Child of God, how has he delivered
you? Through the one who laid himself
down. and slept. I laid me down and slept. I awaked,
but the Lord sustained me. David Wrighton, in this crisis
in his life, was in a position where everyone hated him, where
he fled. And he, as it were, went to a place where he laid
down his head and he knew not whether he'd see the morning
again he knew not whether someone would come and take his life
he knew not what a day awaited what a day should bring and when
he slept it was like he went into the darkness of death and
then he awoke and he saw how the Lord had sustained him every
day he laid down his head to sleep was as it were entering death
And every morning when he awoke again, and the hand of his enemy
had been kept away, and the Lord had watched over him, was a day
in which he could cry out, the Lord has sustained him. He knew
on a daily basis the salvation of the Lord. Paul later on, the
apostle Paul writes of these things, where he speaks of his
experience as an apostle, as a preacher of the gospel. of
how every day he knew persecution, every day he knew suffering,
every day he knew the hatred of man, and every day for the
sake of the children of God, for the sake of the elected church,
he said that he as it were dies daily. that they should live. Every day he was feeling like
he was being crucified, feeling like he was being slain, feeling
like he was giving himself for others. Every day he knew what
it was to die and to be lifted up in resurrection power. Every
day he knew what it was for the flesh to be reckoned dead through
the death of Jesus Christ. and for the Spirit to raise him
up in newness of everlasting life. Every day there is for
the believer this experience of death and resurrection, death
and resurrection. We reckon ourselves dead in the
old man, crucified, slain. I am crucified with Christ, yet
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ the Son of God
liveth in me. death and resurrection and we
have that experience we have that knowledge we have that faith
because of the one who went before us who truly died that we might
live the one who could say from his own experience I laid me
down and slept and I awaked for the Lord sustained me. Christ went to the cross and
in those hours of darkness he suffered and at the end he'd
taken away the sins of all his people and he looked up to his
father and said it is finished and cried with a great voice
and gave up the goat. Verse 4, I cried unto the Lord
with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid
me down and slept. Christ, as it were, having accomplished
the salvation of his people, looked up unto his father in
glory and cried out with his voice. He cried out with a great
voice. He cried out, it is finished. it is finished and he gave up
the ghost he laid himself down he laid himself down and slept it is finished and he died and
he was laid in the grave and on the third day the women came
to the tomb and found him not there because he had risen I
laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me Oh
have you looked to Christ upon the cross as he laid down his
life for sinners such as you and I Oh have you looked at the
grave in which the crucified Saviour was laying in which he
slept Oh, have you seen that that Saviour is risen again? He awoke, for salvation was accomplished. It is finished. For the sins
of His people had all been judged, every one. For sin had been taken
away and righteousness had been brought in by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Oh have you looked, have you
beheld, that in his death he destroyed all his enemies and
all the enemies of all his people throughout all time. I laid me
down and slept. I await, for the Lord sustained
me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands
of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise,
O Lord, save me, O my God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies
upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. O have you seen it? Have you
beheld him? Do you behold him? Where are
you looking this day? Has he given you that faith?
In whatever state you're in, whatever circumstance you're
in, whatever tragedy you're in, whatever suffering you're in,
this day Tomorrow, this week, in whatever state you're in,
has He given you that faith to look out from yourself and out
from the circumstances and away from those that cry against you
and to look up unto your God who hears your voice, who is
your shield, your glory to lift her up of your head and to look
up and see a Saviour. who laid himself down and slept
to deliver you and awoke victorious having accomplished salvation
forevermore who brought in the righteousness of God for his
people through his death that wondrous act of his faith I cried
unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. Have you seen? Have you seen? Where are you looking? All these psalms will point you
to this saviour. What a wondrous collection they
are. For in whatever state you're
in, you will find comfort and hope within them. You'll come
to these psalms, like these first few, like Psalm 3 and Psalm 4,
and you'll come to them in desperate state. In a desperate state,
you'll come to them feeling like you need help, feeling your poverty,
feeling your weakness, feeling like you're sinking, feeling
like you cannot stand, feeling like you are losing. And you
relate to the cry of David, you relate to the cry of the psalmist
and say that's me! Lord how are they increasing
trouble me! Many are they that rise up against
me. Many there be which say of my
soul there is no help for him in God. You'll feel like they're
right. You'll feel like you're sinking.
You'll feel like God is away from you and you'll cry. But
you'll come to the psalm and see this cry and say there's
someone suffering like me. And then as you read on, you
will realize by faith that this isn't just the words of a man
not just the words of David this is the words of the Saviour and
He sunk deeper than you're ever sinking He suffered greater than
you're ever suffering and His faith rose up to the heavens
like an eagle flying upwards to His Father crying with His
voice to the one who hears Him and He laid down His head and
he laid down and slept and he awaked oh his faith oh his victory
and you'll see and behold by faith this savior who's accomplished
salvation for you and you'll be lifted up with him lifted
up on the wings of faith lifted up on the wings of the eagle
to soar upwards no longer will your arms be weary no longer
will your knees be weary but you will run and you will run
that race looking unto Jesus and crying out with Him Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord thy blessing is upon thy people have you seen
him? Do you know him? Have you seen
the one who said, I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the
Lord sustained me. Amen.