Psalms chapter 3 and verse 5. I read the whole chapter in a
devotional reading this morning. This is a psalm of David by the
inspiration of God when his son was after his life. He wanted to
kill his father and take over the kingdom of Israel. David feared for his life, and
he wrote this song. And this trial and this testing
of David, he found help and strength, of course, in the Lord, but also
he learned some things about himself. And that's the two things
that always transpire in a believer's life when we go through trials
is that we learn that our help, our only help and strength is
in the Lord. And we learn of our weakness and our need for
Him. He said, Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me in verse one. His troubles were multiplied.
There was many of the nation of Israel that sympathized with
Absalom, and he had a great following. They said, there is no help for
David. God's not going to help him. There's no help from God
for David now. We're great in number, great
in strength. And David's life, his position
is over. But he said in verse 3, Thou, O Lord, art a shield for
me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. The only reason
that David continued, even as he fled from his son, was because
of God's sustaining grace. God preserved him. God protected him. He provided for him. David failed
in many ways. Made many mistakes. And this is a matter of fact,
this is a prophecy of Nathan being played out in David's life. You remember David, prior to
this, had Uriah killed, took Bathsheba. And the sword never
left his family, never left his life. And this was one of the
swords. His son, Absalom, sought his
life and to take the kingdom from him. Now, I don't know. I don't have David's heart. I
didn't live in that time and know David. But I know this was
a great distress to David. When those of your own family
turn against you, especially when it comes to the things of
God and the position God has put you in, the faith that He
has given you, this is a great distress. It hurts. And David, although we esteem
him, and sometimes we esteem him more highly than I'm sure
he deserves to be esteemed, David was a mere man. He was the son
of Jesse. He was a little shepherd boy
when God called him and anointed him, made him king of Israel. He was a man. He had passions
just like we do. He was given faith in God just
like God gives us faith. God's heart was after David.
He's a man after God's own heart. God's heart's after us, for He
is. And God sets His heart on you,
His affection on you. If it's set on you, He's going
to take care of you. He's going to sustain you. I
don't know what I'll have to go through. I don't know what
you'll have to go through. But I'm here to tell you this
morning that He's going to take care of it, whatever it is. If
your family turns against you, if your friends turn against
you, whatever happens, God's going to take care of you. It
might get bad, but it won't get so bad that God can't handle
it. And He's given us this story, this account to encourage us. And that's what I want to do
this morning. I want to be an encouragement. The words that I speak, I want
them to be an encouragement to you. David said, because of this,
in verse 4, I cried unto the Lord with my voice. Not just
his audible voice, but he cried unto the Lord from the voice
of his heart. He cried with the voice of faith. He cried unto
the Lord and he heard me out of his holy hill. Here is faith
and confidence in God. Not in his prayer, but in the
God to whom he prayed. We should never have faith in
our prayers or confidence in our prayers, but our confidence
and faith should be in Him to whom we pray. Faith's object
is not faith itself, but faith's object is the Lord Jesus Christ,
true faith. He said, He heard me. He heard
my cry. He heard my prayer. I cried unto
Him. And in the midst of David's affliction,
his trouble, Distress, he said, I laid me
down and slept. I laid down and went to sleep. And I woke up. I laid down. Absalom was after me. The armies
of Israel was after me. But I laid down and went to sleep. The previous verse that I cried
to the Lord, He heard me. confidence in God, I lay down.
You might as well lay down and go to sleep. Do you understand what he's saying
here? Not just because you're disengaged or unconcerned or
taking things lightly, but because God's on His throne and He hears
the cry of His people. He heard their cry and their
distress and their fears and their doubts. He hears. But there's one thing
that David didn't doubt. He didn't know if Absalom was
going to overtake him and kill him and destroy him. He didn't
know what the outcome of this would be. But he said, God heard
me. Things are going to be all right.
I trust Him. He heard me out of His holy hill.
And this alludes to the truth that God is holy and He's sovereign. He's holy, healed. He's above
all. He's healed. He's sovereign.
And He's holy. And He's going to do what's right. And He's sovereign. will and
power toward me, he's going to do what's right. I laid me down
to sleep, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me." This was then
his thoughts to God were. He said, 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 my enemies from the cheekbone.
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." This is his conclusion
in verse 8. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessing is upon Thy people.
So this was David's conclusion that whatever happens, that whatever happens, God is
going to be faithful to Himself and He's going to be faithful
to me. He's faithful to Himself. He's faithful to His people.
And there's a larger picture here. This really happened. But
there's a larger spiritual picture here. And I think this is the
real meat of this story and this Scripture. is that this is the
Lord Jesus Christ. David is a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And as the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he became flesh and dwelt on this earth, men were against
him. All men were against him. And
even his friends, he said, they're against me. Judas Iscariot, the
one that ate with him and called him friend, he was against him. And even though they crucified
the Lord of Glory by God's determinate counsel, men actually did the
deed. But in this, the Lord Jesus Christ
was victorious. He prayed unto His Father, and
He said, Not my will, but Your will be done. He said, I know
You always hear me. And He always do that which is
right. He prayed as a man of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ
was a man of faith. His foes, His enemies, came against
Him with hatred, cruelty, desiring to bring Him to an end. But they
were unsuccessful. What they did, they thought,
would bring Him to His end and His eternal demise, really brought
Him into eternal glory with His people. You see, no one can defeat
God. No one can defeat the Lord Jesus
Christ. And believers, let me tell you
this, no one can defeat us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God is for me, No one can
be against me and be victorious. It may look like it. It may feel
like it. And in all appearances to everyone
around me, they may say, as the children of Israel said of David,
there's no way that he can escape. There's no way. We're many. We're thousands. He's one. But God knows no numbers. Somebody
said, me and God are undefeatable. No. No, not you and God. God is undefeatable. The Lord
Jesus Christ is undefeatable. There can be no enemy, no foe,
no adversary come against Him and win. Never has, never will. He's our God and He's for us. God's care for His people is
revealed throughout the Scriptures. This is one of His covenant promises,
that He'll sustain His people. He'll keep us unto eternal glory. We're kept by the fire of God
through faith. We're kept physically in this
world. As unbelievable and as unreal
as it may seem, To you who know Christ, He has us hedged about,
and nothing is going to break down the door, nothing is going
to overtake us, pursue us, and defeat us. It may look like it. It may feel
like it. It may appear like it's so to
us and to the world, but let me assure you, even providentially,
all things are for His people's good and His glory. In Hebrews 13, 5, let your conversation,
not your walk, not just how you talk, but your conversation,
Be without covetousness. Why? There's no need to covet. We don't have no need for it.
Because He said, be content with such things as you have. Well,
that's a tall order, isn't it? Be content with such things as
you have. Why should we be content with the things we have and not
be covetous? Because He has said. Because
God has said something. This makes all the difference
in the world. It's not just that it's against God's law to be
covetous and to not be content, but this is the reason we shouldn't
covet and we should be content. For God has said, I will never
leave you and I will never forsake you.
So why should we covet? Or why should we be discontent? Why? There's no reason, is there?
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll be right there with you.
I'll sustain you. I'll take care of you. I'll keep
you. I won't forsake you. This is a covenant promise that
He'll sustain us. In verse 5, He said, I laid me
down and slept. I awaked. Look how that's written. I laid me down to sleep, and
I woke up. I'm still here. Absalom's after me. My son's
going to kill me. But he said, I have the promise
of God. If he does, that's all right. If he don't, that's all
right. I laid down and went to sleep. And I woke. Why? For the Lord sustained me. It was His will. He kept Absalom
at bay. He kept the thousands and ten
thousands at bay. He kept everything off of me
and away from me. He gave me peace. He gave me
what I needed. He sustained me. Covenant promise in Ezekiel 37,
27. This is a covenant promise to
you and me, God's people. He said, My tabernacle also shall
be with them. A tabernacle is where we dwell.
That's a house. This body in the Scriptures sometimes
is called a tabernacle. In the Old Testament Scriptures,
the place where God met man was a tabernacle in the wilderness.
The house of God. And he said, I'm going to tabernacle,
I'm going to live with my people. Yea, I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. I'll sustain them." Now, this
is saying more than just, I'll be off somewhere and be their
God. They'll be on the earth and I'll
be off somewhere, I'm their God. They'll be my people and I'll
be their God. It's saying more than that. What He's really saying
here is this, I will be with them. I'll be their God with
them. Not off somewhere else, but I'll
be their God with them. And the reason I know that is
in Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 8, another covenant promise,
really it's the same one, it just reveals more of this one.
He said, I will bring them They shall dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth
and in righteousness. I'll tabernacle with them. I'll
be their God. I'll dwell with them in truth
and in righteousness. He said, I'll sustain. David. David said, He sustained
me. He said, I cried to the Lord
and He heard me and He helped me. I laid down and went to sleep. I woke up because, only because
you sustained me. Do you ever feel like you're
going down for the last time? You just can't take no more going
down. Faith's gone. Hope's gone. Everything's
gone. Then He, according to His promise, He makes us cry unto Him. He
calls us to cry unto Him. We only cry unto Him because
He gives us a heart to cry unto Him. We cry unto Him and He hears
us. And we lay down and go to sleep,
but we awake because He sustains us. The Lord Jesus Christ is
portrayed here as our great provision, our only provision. You see,
He provides everything for us spiritually. We understand that. He provides everything for us
spiritually. Redemption, atonement, justification,
everything is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness. And He
also provides for us providentially. We're real people in a real world
that God created and that is a fallen world, a sinful world.
And we're in the middle of it as believers. Enemies all around
us, adversity all around us, even our own selves. We're our
enemies. But He provides for us. He keeps
us in all of this mess. All this mess, we're in a mess.
We're a mess in the middle of a mess. And He sustains us. He keeps us. The reason you've
not lost faith, the reason you've not given up, the reason you
have not cursed God, as Joel's wife wanted him to do. The reason
you've not done it is because He sustains you. He's our only
hope. He's our last hope. And that's
sad that we should look at it that way, but it's the flesh
and its nature to pursue every other avenue than Christ. And He branches, He eliminates
all those things. Here is David's son Absalom. set out to kill him. What could be worse than that? But he sustained him and he kept
him. Enemies on every side, but he sustained him and kept him.
The Lord Jesus Christ, every enemy, every foe was against
him. But God His Father preserved
Him and kept Him. And we in Him, He preserves and
keeps us. In 2 Corinthians 6.16, And what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the
temple of the living God. And God said, I will dwell in
them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall
be My people. I'll dwell in Him and walk in
Him. Why? Because we need Him. We couldn't walk and live without
Him. We couldn't keep ourselves did
He not walk in us and dwell in us and live in us. Let me give
you some examples. What about the tree in the midst
of the garden? Isn't this a picture of Christ and His people amongst
His church? What about Noah in the ark? Abraham, as he journeyed by faith,
God was with him and sustained him. What about Moses in his
birth? He was putting a little ark out
on the water, a little baby. God kept him. And then on the
mount, on Sinai, Moses went up and talked with God. In the very
presence of deity, God kept him. And then in his
death, remember, God buried him. All pictures of God's preservation.
And he's sustaining his people. and the children of Israel in
the wilderness. He was with them in a pillar of fire by night
and a cloud by day. And then that great example,
that great picture of Christ in His life and death. Many times,
men devised ways and a time to kill the Lord Jesus Christ and
do away with Him. But they couldn't. His hour had
not yet come. And then when His hour did come,
He laid down His life. He laid down His life for us.
And out of His death, look what happened. Out of His death, we
were justified, we were redeemed, we were glorified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He arose and ascended back
to glory and sits on the throne of His glory, ruling and reigning. This is our hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ sustains us and keeps us. David wrote this psalm by
the inspiration of God. Absalom had stolen away the hearts
of the children of Israel and entered into a conspiracy to
dethrone his father and place himself as king. And the people
of Israel, the children of Israel, increased continually with Absalom. And David thought, all I can
do now is flee. I must go. And at the time of his flight
or during his flight, after his flight, he penned this psalm. And it's very suitable that he
did. And I believe that he wrote it
right in the middle of his flight, right in the middle of his trial,
right in the middle of his great adversity and trouble. You know, it seems like God reveals
himself more to His people in the darkest hour than He does
any other time. I've learned more by experience in some of the darkest times
in my life. And I know your times are just
as dark as mine, but my times are mine and yours are yours. And don't think for a moment
Don't let it enter your mind that things just happen. Things do not happen just perchance. Things, everything, is determined in a believer's life by God's
infinite, sovereign, everlasting love for you. Let me say that again. Everything
that comes to pass in your life as a believer is designed by
the wisdom of Almighty God because of His love for His people. You know, sometimes we chastise
our children. We tell them, I'm doing this
because I love you. And he does that because he loves
us. He that is without chastisement
is a bastard and not a son. He loves his children. David,
oh, I can look at the life of David and I'm just amazed. I'm amazed. David was a mean,
ungodly man. He was. God don't save good folks. He
saves sinners. David does some things that I
just dare say If you and I had a conversation
without really considering what we were saying, he'd done some
things you say, I would never have done that. He had a man
plotted, planned, premeditatedly had him killed so that he could
take his wife. How mean, how horrible could
you be? Nathan said, you're going to pay for
this. God did to Nathan. Not be punished for it, but you're
going to be chastised for it. The sword will never leave your
house. But see, the thing about it is, all of these things, in
infinite wisdom was arranged by God and without charging God
with sin. So don't be amazed at me and
don't be amazed at yourself if you can't understand all the
things. But those things that we know that's revealed in the
Scriptures that God does everything, orders everything, And somebody
said, there's a permissive will and a perfect will. What's the
difference? Tell me what's the difference.
I used to say, what's the difference? If God permits something, did
He not purpose it? He's God and He does it. He sustains
His people and what He's showing us here, This I do understand,
by God's grace, that He's showing us here that in the life of David
that He preserved him through all of these things. You see,
David was going through this because of what had happened
previously, and God is being faithful to
His Word. He's being faithful to David
because He loves him. And right in the middle of this
trial, he penned these words. In Psalms 4 and verse 8, I'm
just going to read you some scriptures. Would that be alright? What God
said. I did some cross-references here
with Psalms 3 and 5. In Psalms 4 and 8 he said, I
will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety. Only you make me dwell in safety. I'll lay me down and sleep. You
know what? There ain't a thing I can do
about my sin. I can't change what I've already done. I can't
change what I am. So what must I do? What can I
do? That shuts me up to Christ, doesn't
it? I can't change. I can't do anything about what
I've done. I can't. What's done is done. Can't change
it. If you kill somebody, you can't
un-kill them. What must I do? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. He died for sin. He became sin. God killed Him for sin. He was offering up a sacrifice
for sin. Look to Christ. I can't help
myself. He said, I cried in my trouble, I cried unto God. Everything's
against me. I'm against myself, I sinned
against God, against thee, and only have I sinned, David said,
and done this evil in thy sight." But now he's saying, I laid me
down to sleep, I woke because you sustained me. Trust Christ. Have you sinned and come short
of the glory of God? Have you sinned? Are you a sinner? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. He's our only help. In Psalms
127 verse 2, it is vain for you to rise up early and to set up
late to eat the bread of sorrow, for so He giveth His beloved
sleep. What does that say? What does
that say? You're not going to accomplish
anything if you rise up early and sit up late. You're just going to eat the
bread of sorrow. He gives us rest. He gives us
sleep. There's no rest. There's no peace for a sinner outside of Christ. In Leviticus 26 and 26 He said,
I will give peace in the land. In your land. In my land. I'll give peace in the land. And you shall lie down and none
shall make you afraid. Don't be afraid. What was it
Christ said to His disciples just before His crucifixion?
He said, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. Don't let your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. I'm your God. I'll sustain you. I'll keep you. I'll provide for
you. None shall make you afraid, and
I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword
go through your land. There's nothing going to happen
to you that I don't ordain. And if it happens to you, it'll
be a good thing. If somebody drives down the street,
2013 Talladega Highway, and lets off a .45 through my window into
my heart, there ain't going to be no accident.
And if I'm his, that'll be a good thing. Although it looks like a bad
thing, it's going to be a good thing. In Job 11, 18, and thou shalt
be secure. You'll be secure. Oh, that's
a good feeling of security. Security is a good feeling. When you're wondering how you're
going to pay the next bill, When your health is questionable,
when relationships become unstable, insecurity, that's a bad feeling,
ain't it? But he said, my people shall
be secure because there is hope. Where is there hope? It's in
Christ. Yea, thou shalt dig about thee,
and thou shalt take thy rest in safety." What does that mean,
thou shalt dig about thee and take thy rest in safety? What
that means is this. One of the things it means is
this, that we're looking. To dig about, we're looking for
something. We're going to dig into the Word of God. We're going
to look for Christ. We're going to look for our hope
in Him. We're going to look outside ourselves. Because there's no
hope in ourself. There's no hope in this world.
There's only hope in Christ. He'll sustain us. Thou shalt
take thy rest in safety. And another thing that means
this, that all our digging and all our looking elsewhere didn't
give us any rest and any peace. It's only when we saw Christ.
and arresting him. That's when we had peace and
safety. Job 11, 19, And thou shalt lie
down, and none shall make thee afraid, yea, many shall make
suit unto thee. Proverbs 3, 24, When thou liest
down, thou shalt not be afraid, yea, thou shalt lie down. and
thy sleep shall be sweet." You know, to rest spiritually, to rest inwardly, I don't know
how else to say it, but to have spiritual rest and
peace is the sweetest rest you can have. I know sometimes I
doubt, sometimes I fear, sometimes I
wonder, do I really know Christ? Or is this just a facade? Am
I just hoping I do, trying to convince
myself I do, just going through some kind of form? There's not much security in
that, not much peace in that. Matter of fact, it's the opposite. But oh, when the Lord Jesus Christ calls
us to lay down in green pastures and restores our soul, then our sleep will be sweet
and our rest will be sweet. And I just feel like not to be
pessimistic. As a matter of fact, I think
this is being optimistic. But the remainder of our lives
on this earth as believers are going to be ups and downs.
There's going to be times that we fear for our very life, fear
for our very souls. And then the Lord is going to
come again. He's going to take us are going
to reveal to us that He has us by the hand, that He has us in
His arms. And He's going to make our sleep
sweet, and our rest sweet, and our peace sweet. I laid me down to sleep, and
I woke because Thou sustained me. And this reminds me of Peter in Acts chapter 12. Herod would have brought him
forth. Herod would have killed him. And the same night, Peter laid down and went to sleep
between two soldiers. I don't believe it. It don't
seem like I could have went to sleep. Went down, laid down, went to
sleep. I remember one time the Lord Jesus Christ, there was
a great storm. The ship was just about to break
up. The Lord Jesus Christ went down
to the bottom of that ship, went to sleep. I'll tell you, our ship is tossed
to and fro, troubles and trials, but we can lay down and go to
sleep. If we don't wake up, that'll be all right, because
He sustained us. He said, Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, You comfort me. You provide for
me. You feed me. He sustains us. He holdeth our soul. In Psalm
66, 9, He holds our soul in life and suffers not our feet to be
moved. Now when I look at myself, I
just don't believe that. Now stay with me, bear with me
a minute. When I look at myself, that's not me. I believe what
the scriptures say, but that's not my feet all over the place. When he showed me Christ, he said my feet is not going
to be moved. because He planted my feet right
where He wants them to be, and they're not going to be moved.
He holds my soul in life. Proverbs 14, 26, and the fear
of the Lord is strong confidence. And His children shall have a
place of refuge. We've got a place to go, a city
of refuge. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We run to Him. He's our refuge. A refuge is a place of safety.
Proverbs 18 and 10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it, and
it's safe. Let's run into it this morning.
By God's grace, let's run into that strong tower, that city
of refuge. But ain't nothing out here but
enemies, adversity. Let's run into it. There's nothing wrong with me
saying let's run into it. Come with me and I'll do you
good. I'm telling you where to go. Go to Christ. Isn't that
right? Go to Christ. Run to Him. Flee to Him. You say, well, I'm
already a believer. That's who it's for. That's who
it's for, for believers. It's children. Run to it. When
trouble assails, when enemies are hot on our heels like Absalom
was with David, flee to Christ. When doubts and fears come, flee
to Christ. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. because He trusted thee. He will experience peace whose
mind is stayed on Christ because we trust Him. Because we trust
Him. In Isaiah 43, 1 through 7, and
I'll close with this. This is the last passage that
I have to read to you. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and not you, if you are one of his, O
Israel. He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. The sustaining grace of God,
fear not. For I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by name, thou art mine. You're his. You belong
to him. He's not going to let anything
happen to you, it shouldn't happen to you, and whatever does happen
to you, it's going to be good. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with you. Sure, you're going to pass through
the waters. But most assuredly, He's going to be with you. Him
being with you is even more sure than you passing through the
waters. And through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. Yes, we'll go through rivers.
But they won't overflow, you won't be drowned. When you walk
through fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the
flame kindle upon thee. Why? For I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. He said, I gave Egypt for thy
ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious
in my sight, thou hast been honorable. and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
Give up to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far,
my daughters from the end of the earth, even every one that
is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him. David said, I laid down much
sleep. I awoke. Why? Because thou sustained me. Through all of my troubles, my
enemies, my adversaries, he kept me. I wish that I could have a greater
sense of this all the time. It saved me a lot of worrying
and a lot of being anxious. Oh, I'm a mess. By God's grace, I'm looking to
one that ain't no mess. He's got it all figured out.
Got my path laid out before me. And sometimes I hesitate to take
a step, but there's no reason to. No reason. May we grow in His grace and
in the knowledge of Him and be more sensible to His nearness, His love for us. Let's bow our
heads.