Psalm 57. And read a few verses. Psalm 57, beginning in verse
one. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. For my soul
trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up,
Selah. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. My soul is among lions and I
lie even among them that are set on fire. Even the sons of
men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp
sword, Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory
be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have
digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen
themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed, O God,
My heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. That's reading down through verse
seven, Psalm 57. Let's bow for just another moment
of prayer. Our father, we pause in thy presence
again to thank you, Lord, for this time together for your mercy
and your goodness. We come to thank you, Lord, for
thy precious word and for the way you've helped us and touched
our hearts in the Bible study hour concerning thy prophet Elijah. And now, Lord, as we wait before
you again with thy word open to Psalm 57, we confess that in ourselves
and of ourselves, we can do nothing with any lasting value. We confess, Lord, as fallen creatures
that these stammering lips could do nothing to put a message
in another's heart or even our own heart. Lord, we're not interested in
this going from audibly from mouth to ears. But Lord, if you
could be pleased to take that precious word and planted in
some heart, that's our great need this morning, that you would work, oh Lord. In ourselves, we're nothing but
sin, polluted with it, plagued by it, every moment we live. But we're glad, oh Lord, that
thou art great, holy and righteous, Merciful. Thank you, Lord, that
you're merciful. And we ask that you would move
upon us just now. And that you would touch our
hearts today. That your word would have free
course and Lord, that it would accomplish that as you said it
would were unto its scent. Help us, Lord, not to complain
or whine. That it does not do what we thought
it ought to do. But we know Lord, that it's going
to accomplish what you've designed it to do. And you've sent it
to do. Help us, Lord, to cry to you for a word as individuals,
knowing how greatly we need you in this dark hour. And Lord,
what you do, we'll thank and we'll praise you for it in Jesus
precious name. Amen. Psalm 57, this Psalm was
written. While David was a young man fleeing
from King Saul, who in a rage of jealousy wanted to kill David.
He saw that the hearts of the people were being turned to David. And this thing we call envy,
jealousy was eating him alive. We all have a Saul living in
us, by the way. But I trust we all have a David
living in us as well. David and his men had caught
Saul and his men sleeping in a cave. And David's men said
to him, kill him. Now's your chance. What they didn't know was that
David wasn't operating by chance. He was operating by what thus
saith the Lord. But David said, no, I'll just
cut off the skirt of his robe, a little piece of his garment,
let him know I've been here and let him know that I could have
killed him, but didn't. So that's what David did. You
can read all about that in first Samuel 24. David was a young man so God
conscious. Knowing that mean as Saul was,
he was God's anointed and David wouldn't kill him. Matter of
fact, the Bible says just for cutting off the skirt of Saul's
robe, David's heart was smitten that he'd even done that. That
is very, very precious. You and I live in a time when
there's no respect, not only for God's anointed, but there's
no respect for God's church and God's word and for God himself. He's just some sideline in our
busy and important lives that we can afford to give him an
hour on Sunday. Maybe if nothing else better
comes up. Whoa. Shame, shame on us. We've much to learn from David.
And I'm going to give you this this morning. I hope you all
wake up now and stay with me. The Bible opened to Psalm 57. We've much, much to learn from
David. The big difference is that he
truly had a heart for God and all that is God. And I sometimes wonder if any
of us really do. Notice with me a progression
in these verses. David progresses from the soul's
condition to the heart's conviction. Wonderful progression. And by
the soul, I mean a personality, individuality, desires, longings,
and fears. In the first few verses, David
is stuck in that realm of the soul's condition. And this is
something we need to consider. We need to think about it. Three
times we find it mentioned verse one. He said, my soul trusted
in the trying to get a hold here. Verse four. He says, my soul
is among lions. Those that would destroy me and
kill me. In number 6, or verse 6, he says,
my soul is bowed down. I'm in a low place. The soul is in a mess. But in
verse 7, he progresses from the soul's condition to the heart's
conviction. That's what he says in verse
7. My heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. I will sing
and give praise. And our thought, our subject
is from verse seven. And I want to speak to us about
this thing of a fixed heart. Twice David said it, my heart
is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. Now question, what is it to have
a fixed heart? Wouldn't you like to know that?
Sure we would. Well, it does not mean a heart
that cannot be broken or is never broken. Don't mean that. It does not mean a heart that
does not ache or a heart that's not crushed
at times, putting you in a low valley. David got down there. A fixed heart does not mean to
have a life without trouble. That's what we'd like. But that's
not a fixed heart. David had lots of troubles. Yet he said, my heart is fixed.
What did he mean? Well, the Hebrew word used here
for fixed means established. Stable. Settle. Steadfast, prepared. A fixed heart is a set heart.
Settle on some things, fixed convictions, established, steadfast,
prepared by God for whatever's coming at us in life. You say, well, I don't feel like
I'm prepared for such and such. You're no judge of what you're
prepared for. If your heart is fixed, God will
take care of the preparing. So I have a few thoughts, about
five, from this passage in Psalm 57. I'd like to give us in describing
the fixed heart, and then ask the all-important question, is
your heart fixed? Number one, we would consider
a fixed heart and self. A fixed heart and self. A fixed
heart is a heart that is fixed concerning self. To come to grips
with the ongoing conflict between the spirit and the flesh. to know that our flesh is our
enemy as God's child. It's your friend in the world.
It's a friend if you want to live like the devil. It's a friend
if you don't want to go against the grain. But it's an enemy. The flesh
is our enemy. And in conflict, with the Spirit
of God in our lives all the time. And to know that the flesh is
our enemy, and by flesh I do not mean flesh and blood. I'm
not talking about the physical you can see in the mirror. I
mean that flesh that wants to be pampered and bragged on and
exalted and made to feel good about itself. That which religious entertainment
will do for the flesh that's directly opposed to the words
of Paul, O wretched man that I am. Do you ever feel like that? The flesh that's opposed to the
words of Job, behold, I am vile. The flesh opposed to the words
of Abraham, I am but dust and ashes. There ain't absolutely
nothing worth anything to me. Except what God does. Talk about
the flesh opposed to the words of Jacob. I am not worthy of
the least of thy mercies, O Lord. Well, that's what a fixed heart
concerning self is about. And David's life from his youth
was so full of trouble and abuse and heartache and heartbreaks
He's way beyond all the little responses that we give nowadays. Well, I didn't deserve that.
Yeah, well, what did you deserve? Or I don't have to put up with
that. I believe David would say to us, better be careful talking
about what you don't have to put up with. We say, well, I can just get
out. That's proud flesh talking. Our ability to get out of anything
pretty much consists of getting out of the frying pan and into
the fire. That's about all we can do is make things worse. And I want to say to you this
morning, everybody that I know, I know you all have religious
heroes and that's fine. But I want to tell you something,
everybody I know that's in their right mind has some regrets. Some things they'd like to be
able to undo. Some things, some words they'd
like to be able to unsay. Some actions they'd like to be
able to take back. Lord deliver us from the making it crowd. The fixed heart says after the
mess I've made, I have it better than I deserve. The old self says you've had
it so bad. You deserve something better.
You sure deserve to feel sorry for yourself. You don't deserve
to be mistreated. You don't deserve to be ignored
like you are. You don't deserve to be unappreciated
like you are. You get to thinking along that
line and your own mind and thoughts becomes your enemy. Flesh moves us to compliment
ourselves for all that's right and blame somebody else for all
that's wrong. So I'm telling you the flesh
is our enemy. So a fixed heart concerning self
is a wonderful thing, is a wonderful thing. The old army slogan that used
to be on TV, be all that you can be, that's what you're doing.
That's what you're doing. Self, sinful, rotten, lying,
deceiving self is being all it can be except God intervene. But a fixed heart concerning
self is a wonderful thing. Secondly, I want to see something
in this text, a fixed heart And seeking, seeking what we're to
do. Proverbs 4.23 says, keep thy
heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Seeking. A fixed heart is a heart
fixed on seeking God's mercy continually. The only other religious activity
than seeking God's mercy is to seek God's justice and say, Lord,
I'm measuring up. I don't need your mercy. I just
need what's coming to me. I'm a good person. That's a sad,
sad mess to be in. But a fixed heart is a heart
fixed on seeking continually God's mercy. Look at the first
verse. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. Not only
is this the first plea in the psalm, but it's repeated a second
time. Says it twice. Now on the surface,
in light of how Saul is treating David, David could have cried
out, be just unto me, oh God, be just. I don't deserve this
treatment. But you see, a fixed heart in
time of trouble don't look out, it looks in. If you don't have a fixed heart,
you look out and you get mad. and cuss and
fight and rant and rave. But David knew in his heart,
apart from grace, he'd be just like Saul. And David knew, as should we,
my concern is not how others treat me, but it's how I respond
to that treatment. I know by nature it's not in
me to respond any differently than they do. So I need your
mercy, Lord. Mercy. To see inside my own heart. A fixed heart seeks mercy. Then a fixed heart seeks shelter
in God's majestic person. His power. David He's not hung
up on his own ability to protect himself. You ask somebody how they're
doing nowadays, well, I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing all right. But tomorrow they get that pink
slip or the baby has to go to the
hospital. Oh, I don't know. You pray, pray for me, pray for
me. But when everything's all right,
oh, I've been doing all right, what's God doing? You're not doing all right when
things are all right. That's probably when you're doing
the worst. It's when your world falls apart that you even start in the right
direction, crying to God. He's seeking shelter in God. Still in verse one, he says,
for my soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge. The scripture likens God to the
majestic eagle in flight with its broad outstretched wings. That's the implication here,
soaring high above the earth. with its eagle eye on all that's
going on below. In Deuteronomy 32, the Lord describes
his care for Jacob and his seed like this. As an eagle stirreth
up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, So the Lord alone
did lead him. And there was no strange God
with him. In the very next chapter, Deuteronomy
33, a similar description, the eternal God is that refuge and
underneath. are the everlasting arms, the
outstretched wings to uphold and care for his little ones. David says, I'll seek shelter,
refuge in the Almighty. He is my hiding place. He was
hiding in the cave of Adullam at this time on the run from
Saul. And I believe David would say
to us here, this cave I'm hiding in is secondary. And I want to
tell you something, all that we do physically and think that
we do on our own better be secondary. That job I'm on, that discipline
I try to enforce, I try to raise my children right, I try to make
a living, I try to do this, I try to do, all of your trying better
be secondary. That's what David is saying.
This cave I'm hiding in is secondary. God is my real refuge. Then a fixed heart seeks and
finds comfort in the Lord's control. I'll tell you, it's blessed just
to read the Bible one line at a time and think about it. Notice
the last statement in verse one. Until. These calamities be overpassed. Oh, he seeks and finds comfort
in the Lord's control. He's saying this situation will
change in God's time. That's how we ought to look at
things. That's how we ought to honor our God. Instead of going
all peace, he said, oh, will it ever get any better? Oh, will
things ever change? That's the old flesh whining,
saying, please nurture me back to health when the spirit is
crucified all the time. He says, until these calamities
be overpassed, the situation will change in God's time. The
psalmist David, he senses and he is sure of The master's control. My trouble will not end before
he says for it to. Neither will it continue longer
than he permits it to. His control. Then a third thought. A fixed heart and satisfaction. Satisfaction. Look at verse two. I will cry unto God most high.
Unto God that performeth all things. For me, this is David's
victory. It's not that his trouble is
gone, no. But he trusts God with it. He
is satisfied with God's wisdom and God's measure of intervention
whenever and however. He could have killed Saul on
various occasions. But he says, I'll wait for God
that performeth All things for me. If you'll notice there in
your Bible, those two words, all things, are in italics. Not in the Hebrew text. Omitting
those two words momentarily, David is saying, I will cry unto
God that performeth for me. Who performs on my behalf. Who
brings to pass His purposes for me. Wow. Are any of us anywhere
near being satisfied with what God is doing in all areas of
our life? Oh me, oh me. Fourthly, a fixed
heart and soul. We'll be done here in a few minutes.
Stay with us. A fixed heart and soul. Not only is there the self
issue, the seeking issue, the satisfaction issue, there's the
Saul issue. A fixed heart and Saul. In the next few verses, David
talks about Saul. But he doesn't do it apart from
knowing that God will deal with Saul. And this is a precious thing.
Important thing don't ever talk about your enemies or your problems
Apart from the predominant thought that God will handle it Especially to an unbeliever not
even with a believer All of us are in enough of a ditch without
getting Pushed on down any further Don't talk about enemies, don't
talk about problems, don't talk about troubles as if there's
no answer and no hope and no end to it. David here is talking
about it but not apart, not apart from the predominant thought
that God will handle it. Notice in verse 3, he refers
to Saul as one who would swallow me up. But he doesn't say that until
he's already said that the Lord shall send from heaven and save
me from the reproach. He puts God first, see. He's saying that Saul's desire
is nothing beside my fixed heart toward God. Saul is determined,
verse 4, like a lion. to tear me apart. He's desirous
to destroy me. He's determined to destroy me.
But he's defeated by God and he can't destroy me. Notice verse
6. They have prepared a net for
my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have
digged a pit before me into the midst, whereof they are fallen
themselves, Selah." Well, what about that? Saul can't win. Satan can't win. He'll perish
in his own trap when God gets ready to turn the realm. I will
tell you that this is something we really need, folks. I don't
think you're listening to me. This is something we really need.
It seems like today the devil has the upper hand in the world,
in the country, in the county, in the city, in the home, in
the church, in your life. Seems like the devil has the
upper hand and circumstances seem to have him in the winner's
circle. But the race is not over. I can't trust my eyes. I can't
trust my ears. I can't trust my lips. I can't
trust my mind. And I can't trust my heart, except
it be fixed on God and fixed by God. Fixed concerning the destiny
of Saul. He's going down. He's going down. It's a fact.
It's a fact. Fifthly and finally, a fixed
heart and the sovereign to recognize, and this is the greatest of all,
that God is champion in it all. He is. You say, well, you just
don't know what's going on in my life, and you don't know what's
going on in mine. But God is the champion. in it all. These things we've talked about,
you and I can't handle self by myself. I can't seek in myself. I can't
be satisfied of myself. I can't conquer soul by myself.
It's all about my heart being fixed concerning the sovereign. Where is God at? Is He doing
everything? Is He doing anything? Why does
He seem so distant? Why is He so slow in our lives
when we need so much help now? See David's emphasis. Verse 1,
he addresses God. the great Creator. In verse 2,
He addresses God Most High above all others. He's in a class all
by Himself. In verse 3, He it is that shall
send from heaven and save me. He's my sure and sovereign Savior. If I go under, it'll not be because
of what the devil or anybody else has done. It'll be because
my Savior didn't deliver me. But He delivers. He delivers. And verse 5, He's to be exalted,
O God above the heavens, His glory above all the earth. In
Himself, His decrees are unchanging. To his enemies, his destruction
is unavoidable. And for his elect, his deliverance
is unfailing. Count on it. So if our hearts
are fixed, these five things now, if our hearts are fixed
concerning self, honest about what we are, and concerning seeking,
what we ought to be doing, crying for mercy. And concerning satisfaction,
that I really can't afford to trust God, He didn't lie to me. And fourth, concerning Saul,
that he is going down. And five, concerning the sovereign,
God will have the last word. And I must praise Him now. Is
your heart fixed today? That's the question. My heart
is fixed, oh God. My heart is fixed, fixed on you. Fixed on you. Stand, sing with
me together. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him, all creatures, here
below. Praise Him above ye heavenly
hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. One more time. Praise God from
whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here
below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly
host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. What are you praising Him for?
I'm praising Him because He's fixed my heart. He's fixed my
heart. And I can say with a psalmist,
and I'm glad I can, my heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is
fixed. Bless His holy name. I can't
re-fix it, because I didn't fix it to start with. He did. Amen. All right. Thank you for
your attention.