I had the rare blessed privilege
Wednesday night visiting with a friend of mine who will soon
leave us, Brother Jim Sly. Some of you know him. I met Jim
when he was about 40, maybe 45 years old. I read to you this
morning what he gave to me. concerning his life's experience. As I sat in the house of God
and heard a dying man read the 57th Psalm, as he read it, I
tried to read it as he was reading it, tried to enter into what
he was reading as he read the Psalm. And I was blessed then,
and how I have been blessed the last several days meditating
on these 11 verses. So tonight I want you to hold
your Bibles open at Psalm 57. I've titled this message, A Dying
Man's Psalm. Let's begin with the title. To
the Chief Musician. This psalm was appointed by David
to be sung and led in singing by the chief musician. In the
worship of God, in the house of God, nothing was done frivolously. Nothing was done without preparation.
Nothing was done without care. This psalm was to be led. It's
the people of Israel saying the praise of God by the chief musician
with preparation, with purpose. And then the word outtasketh. Word means destroy not. This
word is used to describe four of the psalms, these destroy
not psalms, Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, and Psalm 75. But there's something interesting
in each of these four psalms. Each of these four psalms that
are called destroy not psalms, plainly and distinctly declare
that the wicked shall be destroyed. no matter how strong they and
others think they are. And the righteous are given assurance. God's people are assured that
they can never be destroyed, no matter how weak they and others
imagine they are. And then the psalmist has this
title for the psalm, Mactam of David. The word means golden. This is
one of those few psalms that's distinguished by David as a golden
composition. It's called a golden psalm of
David because it deals with the golden treasures of God's grace.
And then he tells us when the psalm was written, when he fled
from Saul in the cave. David was in the cave of Adullam,
hiding like a hunted rabbit, hiding from a fierce, hating,
vengeful, spiteful man who was determined to kill him. David
was hiding from Saul, and as he did, he went through the same
experiences that others would go through in such times. He
feared for his life. On one occasion, he said to his
friend, his bosom friend, Saul's son, Jonathan, surely as the
Lord lives, as thy soul lives, there is but a step between me
and death. Just a step. He said, Jonathan,
I may leave here any time. And so this psalm was written
by this man, David, as he anticipated death in the immediate prospect. Let's look at verse one now.
And we'll look at each verse line by line. God be our teacher. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. There's no pretense here. There's
no show here, no concern for somebody else as far as their
opinion about things are concerned. David's intense. He's earnest. He's sincere. You see, when our
souls are heavy, when we simply don't know how to pray, when
we simply don't know what we need or even what we want, when
we come to our God in utter helplessness, And I sometimes think the only
time we ever really pray is when God brings us to know our utter
helplessness. Then our prayer is, be merciful
unto me. Oh God, be merciful unto me. You see, what we want, what we
need, what we must have at all times from our God is mercy. And oh, how I thank God for mercy. His mercy is indescribable. His mercy is everlasting, eternal,
covenant mercy. His mercy is that by which He
saves us. His mercy is that by which our
sins are pardoned through the blood of His Son. We live upon
God's daily mercy, His daily mercy. Mercy we're most of the
time totally unaware of, but mercy that continually follows
us and pursues us. God's mercy is immutable. having had mercy on us from eternity. He has mercy on us in time, and
he will have mercy on us to eternity, and there will never be any change
to his mercy, neither in its objects nor in its purpose. And
the scripture tells us, he delighteth in mercy. Oh, my. How can we question whether
or not God is merciful at any time. He delights in it. He delights
in it. Turn to Lamentations 3. Hold
your hands here in Psalm 57. In Lamentations 3, this very
familiar passage, when Jeremiah the prophet was in utter helplessness,
when he was cast down, when the Lord had chastened him sore,
when his heart was broken, when his soul was heavy, when he was
just ready to faint. He says in verse 21, this I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. When your soul is cast down,
my brother, when your heart is heavy, when you're in utter helplessness,
when you're ready to faint, recall to mind, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. because His compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great
is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good to them that wait for Him, to the soul that
seeketh Him. It is good for a man that he
should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. All right, now back here in Psalm 57. David cries, Be
merciful unto me, O God, Be merciful unto me. And then he gives a
reason. He urges a cause why God should
be merciful to him. He presses the issue. He knows
he must have mercy. And so he comes to God seeking
mercy and gives him a reason for giving mercy. For my soul
trusteth in thee. What an argument for mercy. My
soul trusteth in thee. I can't say much else. about which I have absolute confidence. But I can say this, my soul trusteth
in thee. I have no other hope. I have
no other refuge. I have nothing else upon which
to lean. I have nowhere else. Lord, to whom shall we go? My
soul trusteth in thee. There's no stronger argument
with the Almighty who delights in mercy than for us to call
on him and say, my soul trusteth in thee. And the fact is that
person who cries out to God for mercy, trusting Christ, already
has it. I can but perish if I go. I am
resolved to try, for if I stay away, I know I must forever die. But if I die, with mercy sought
when I, the king, have tried. Ah, this were to die a delightful
thought, a sinner never died." So David here cast himself upon
the mercy of God. And he argues for God's mercy
on this basis. I trust you. I look to you. I lean on you. Standing back
there this morning, that little boy grabbing my britches and
pulling on me. Kind of hard to say no. Kind
of hard to ignore him. He's tugging hard because he
wants Papa to grab him in his arms. That's David's position.
Be merciful to me. I look to you. Turn me not away. And God won't. Look at the next
line. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge. What a familiar, delightful,
suggestive picture he gives us here. We've had the spring in
the fork of the tree right up from our patio next to Robin's. She laid her eggs back there
in the hatched out and did take all the grace out there and show
her the robin's eggs and show her feeding the baby birds. Notice
something about that robin. Every time the wind would get
to bustling pretty good. Every time something would start
to seem to disturb things around her, she would just sit down
and spread her wings over those little chicks. And they took
refuge under her wings, not because they were so smart. Not because
they had some conscious self-defense. Not at all. But because she spread
them over. She just spreads her wings over
them and they're safe and secure. We take refuge under the shadow
of His wings because He spreads His wings over us. And spreading
His wings over us, nestling up to our God, we find refuge for
our souls. Now listen to this. You can't
always See His face. Sometimes He hides His face.
You can't always know His presence. He often hides Himself. You can't
always know the manifestation of His grace. It would not be
good for us to always know it. In fact, if those little birds
could see Mama's face, they couldn't be hiding under the shadow of
her wings. But you can always hide under the shadow of His
wings. You can always take refuge under
Him, calling on Him for mercy and grace. Now look at the next
line. He says, until these calamities,
oh, now watch these next two words, be overpassed. As my brother read those words
the other night, I thought, Jim, I believe I understand a little
bit about what those calamities are that are pressing so heavy
on your soul. His wife is not well. She's going
to need care. Concern for children and grandchildren,
concern for the church of God that he loves, he's devoted to. And then apprehensions and fears. So I don't believe believers
have those things. You're blowing smoke. Oh, yeah. David said, what time
I'm afraid, I'll trust in thee. Yeah, believers have their apprehensions.
Believers have their fears. Believers have their doubts.
Honest men face them. But blessed be God, these calamities
will soon be overpassed. Evil will soon flee away, and
the wings of the Almighty will abide over us until the evil
is clean, gone forever. Our calamities are matters of
time. Our security is a matter of eternity. When we're under the shadow of
the omnipotent God, the passing over of trouble may terrify,
but it can't hurt. The hulk of hell may fly over
us continually, but he can do us no harm. We're under the shadow
of the wings of God Almighty. Listen to what our Lord says.
Come, my people, enter into thy chambers and shut thy doors about
thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment until the indignation be past. And be past it will. The psalmist says, keep me as
the apple of thine eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. He says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I
will trust in the cover of thy wings. And the Lord tells us
plainly in Revelation 12 of his church that there is a place
prepared for her, for her refuge. And that place of refuge is in
Christ our God and our Savior. Look at verse 22, or verse 2,
rather. Our Lord said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would
not. If you find no refuge under the
shadow of his wings, it's your fault. It's your fault. David said, I'll hide like my
refuge, the shadow of your wings. And in verse 2 he says, I will
cry unto God, what a name for our God now, Most High. Unto God that performeth all
things for me. Our God is God Most High. Whatever the trouble is, passes
over me. God's higher than that. Whatever
my thoughts of God are, God's higher than that. Infinitely
higher than you ever imagined. God most high. And this God,
who is most high, performeth all things specifically for me. Now those words can be accurately
translated three ways. And I say can be accurately translated
three ways because I mean they can be accurately translated
three ways. And none of them is a superior
translation. So actually, this phrase here
ought to be translated in each of these three ways to give it
its full meaning. I will cry unto God most high, unto God
first who performs all things for me. In providence and in
grace, everything that has been, is now, or shall hereafter be,
God has done specifically for me. And Bob B. Estes, that's true of you. That's
true of you. I was talking to your sister
the other night about God's providence. Why this? Why that? Because this
is what it takes to save our souls. Everything. Everything. What does it take
to save one of God's people? Everything that has been. Everything
that shall be. God doesn't do anything without
a reason. And He performs all things for the saving of His
people. All the work of His grace, He performs it for me. But this
phrase might also be translated I will cry unto God most high,
unto God who perfecteth all things for me. The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. God perfects that which concerns
me. In other words, he which has
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. He will not give up on you. He
will not give up on me. He will bring to perfection His
work of grace in me in everlasting glory. And the phrase could just
as accurately be translated, fulfilleth all things for me.
He made a covenant, ordering all things and sure. David spoke
about it on his dying bed. God's going to fulfill it. He
made promises to me. In His Son, in His Word, He'll
fulfill them. The Lord God has a purpose concerning
me, and He will fulfill His purpose. And I will fulfill the days of
my life. You remember in the Old Testament,
how often they talk about one of God's saints said, when he
had fulfilled his days, when the number of his years were
fulfilled? That's exactly what happens. We will fulfill our
days. We will fulfill the appointed
time God has set for us on this earth. The Lord God will fulfill
it. That means nothing shall happen
to take one of God's own out of this world except God bring
it to pass. And he will bring it to pass
at the fulfilling of our days. Well, how can you be sure of
this? How can you be confident that God performs everything
for you, that God perfects everything concerning you, that God will
fulfill everything? Verse 3, He shall send from heaven. How did He save us, Ron? He sent
from heaven, sent His Son. How did He save us? He sent His
Spirit from heaven. He called us by His grace. He
sends His Word from Heaven into our hearts to fetch us to Himself.
But that's not all. God doesn't dwell at you under
somewhere outside space and sort of look down here on this world
and hope things are going to turn out the way He wants it
to. But God Almighty sends from Heaven innumerable hosts of angels to
care for us all. And He sends from heaven to save
me. Look at it. He shall send from
heaven and save me. Deliver me. He has saved me. He saved me at Calvary. He saved
me back yonder in eternity. Saved me when He called me by
His grace. But He is still saving me. I am being saved by the power
of His grace. Being saved by the work of His
providence. Being saved by His omnipotent
arm. And He shall save me. He shall
send from heaven and save me. Save me, and look at this, from
the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Saul, like the fiend of hell
himself, would have swallowed up David's life as Satan would
swallow up ours. But that shall not be. God, who
performs all things for me, he will send from heaven and save
me from the very reproach of him who would swallow me up.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He rather
that's risen again. Who's going to lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now then,
look at the next line, next word. Selah. I've told you this many
times, but bear repetition. When I am reading the Psalms
in public, I really don't know whether to read this word or
just pause for a minute. To read it would be like getting
to the end of a sentence and reading dot or reading period. You see, a period at the end
of a sentence, that means this is where you stop this subject and move to the
next subject of the next sentence. This word selah is really a,
it is a, grammatical pause. But it means, start now, don't
rush over. Roll this over a little bit.
Be sure you get this. God performs all things for me. He will send from heaven and
save me. He'll do it. And He'll save me
from the reproach of Him that would swallow me up. The next
line, God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. Do your soul good, sit down sometime,
take a concordance, and see how these words mercy and truth are
used together. By mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged. Mercy and truth met together
at Calvary. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other. There is no way for God to save
sinners but by mercy and truth. Unlike what men consider mercy,
God's mercy is based upon, arises from, and must be because of
truth. Because God will not bend. His
justice being satisfied, His mercy flows freely. His justice
being forever satisfied, His mercy comes to His people on
the basis of truth. He has declared that the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. And we died in His Son 2,000
years ago. Now mercy flows freely. He has
declared, I will be merciful and His truth will not fall to
the ground to whom I will be merciful. And so His mercy flows
freely to us through Christ the Lord. Look at verse 4. My soul is among lions. What do you reckon you'd do if
suddenly you're walking alone in the field and you heard the
roaring, not of a lion, but of lions, and you saw them snarling,
roaring against you? You'd be terrified. You'd be
terrified. Our Lord, when He was in the
wilderness, was among lions. Why should we expect to be any
different? He speaks of lions, plural. Satan, yes. Our sins, yes. Wicked, ungodly
men, yes. Men who would devour if they
could. David says, my soul is among
lions. But the lions are chained. They have neither fangs nor claws. And all they can do is howl. My soul is among lions, but I'll
come out of their den alive, unhurt, unharmed, and honored. How can you be certain, pastor?
Because the Lion of Judah's with me. And he's prevailed over all
his enemies. Soon, though I'm among lions
now, I'll be among angels with the saints of God in glory. And
look what David says. My soul is among lions, and I
lie even among them that are set on fire. Troubles, calamities,
lions. David, what are you going to
do? I'm going to lay down and rest. Where? Under the shadow of His wings.
What do you do in the midst of the trouble and calamity when
beasts are against you that you cannot handle? I'll lay me down
and rest, rest in the shadow of His wings. I'll lay me down
in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell
in safety." And then it speaks of these lions, he says, even
the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and the tongue
a sharp sword. David was reviled as a wicked
man, reviled as a man who was a promoter of wickedness, reviled
as a licentious rebel, reviled and reproached. Everywhere his
name was thrown through the mud. And here, by the spirit of inspiration,
he speaks of such gossip and slander as being horrid form
of cannibalism, and that's what it is. It's devouring men, devouring
another with your teeth, sharp swords, spears that cut and pierce
and hurt. And David felt it. Somebody,
you know, we learn those little ditty sticks and stones may break
my bones, but words will never hurt me. You're joking. They
hurt a lot. They hurt a lot. Look at verse
5. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. What a prayer! While I'm among
lions and men would devour me, while I'm in calamity and trouble
and heartache and fear, while my soul is pressed down, while
I have so many things troubling me, Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above the earth. God's glory is that which sets
him apart from and above all. God's glory is his Son. And David
is praying for God's honor as he's revealed in his Lord. Let
Saul do what he will. Do what you will in your providence.
Do what you will with these calamities. Do what you will with these lions.
Only be thou exalted. That's what I want. You be exalted. Let the name of the Lord be magnified.
Verse 6. They prepared a net for my steps.
My soul bowed down. They digged a pit for me into
the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Now stop and think about what
I'm saying. I thought about old brother Mordecai. Can't you imagine that, old boy?
While Haman is building his gallows, and Mordecai knows Haman is set
for him. And he hears the thumping of
the nails. And he hears the boards clanging
together. And he shakes, and he's fearful. Fearful because
this mighty prince, this mighty man, this man who has such influence
and power is determined to hang him by the neck until he's dead.
Hang on, Brother Mordecai. Haman's going to find out what
his gallows were made for. Hear me, my friends. None in
earth or in hell spreading a net for you will entrap you, not
ultimately, but rather they shall themselves be snared by it. David
says, Saul, he may take my life, but that's all he can do. I'm
pressed down. Yes, I'm pressed down like a
bird caught in a snare. But this pit that he's dug, it
will be for his own destruction. And it was. Look at verse 7. My heart is faint. That's how it ought to read,
isn't it? If I were writing it, I guarantee that's how it would
read. My heart's shaking. My heart's wavering. Oh, no.
My heart is fixed. My heart is fixed. Calm, firm,
resolute, established. David was in the stormy sea,
but he was in the good ship Grace, and his anchor was in the Rock
of Ages. My heart is fixed because you fixed it. Oh God, my heart
is fixed. I'm resolved to trust you, to
serve you, and to praise you. He says this twice, declaring
this as he does to give glory to God, who comforts the souls
of his own in the midst of trouble. Once let the heart be fixed upon
God, And it's fixed. It's fixed. Let it be fixed by
God, and it's fixed. My heart is fixed on you. Your son, your will, your glory,
your purpose, my heart is fixed. And then he says, I will sing
and give praise. My heart is fixed upon your praise. And men may think it's unreasonable.
Men may think it's insanity. Men may think I've lost my mind.
But I'm going to praise you. In the midst of these storms,
in the midst of these calamities, as I anticipate what Saul may
do, I will praise you. I'll celebrate your worship with
lip and with heart. I'll ascribe honor to my God.
Neither Saul nor the Philistines nor Satan can stop me. I'll sing
praise to God in my dark cave of trouble, in the valley of
woe, or on the mountaintop at the base of His holy hill Zion,
I will sing praise to Him. Sing, though sense and carnal
reason fain would stop the joyful song. Sing and count it highest
treason for my mouth to hold its tongue. Look at verse 8.
Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself
will awake earlier." I looked at that and I thought,
what's David talking about here? What's he talking about? Now,
I'm certain he is referring to the harp, the lyre. He's referring
to those musical instruments. But he's not talking about the
difference between sitting in a funeral home and playing those... and just getting some rhythm.
That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about something
else. The awaking of His glory, I doubt
not, was prophetic of the resurrection glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the glory of His people. The awaking of the heart refers
to the awaking of all his manhood in the praise and honor of God.
And then he says, I myself will awake early. And I read all the
commentaries I have on that last week. And I think they were all
wrong. I'm pretty sure of it. It could
be because I'm prejudiced. He said, well, it's so good to
get up before the sun rises and worship and praise God. You know,
I get up after sunrise about every day and still worship and
praise him. I don't think that's what he's
talking about. What's he talking about? He says, I must sleep for a little
while, but not for long. And when I sleep, I'll sleep
lightly, because I'm going to awake soon. He's talking about
resurrection. I myself, in the totality of
my being, shall rise like Job and see my Redeemer for myself
and awake to His praise forever. Verse 9, I will praise Thee,
O Lord, among the people. I will sing praise among the
nations. What could be more appropriate
than the praise of our God? Children of God, when you have
your heaviest troubles, when you have your heaviest troubles,
don't abandon God's praise. Put yourself right here singing
His praise. Oh, I just didn't, things are
going so bad, I just didn't feel like going to God's house. My
soul, that's one place I feel like going. When you're in trouble,
I'll praise Him in His house. I'll praise Him among His people
by openly professing Him. But David's speaking about more
than that. He's talking about that everlasting praise. When
this is done, when these calamities are over past, I'm going to praise
God among His people forever. And I'm going to praise Him to
all nations. The nations of the redeemed and
the nations of the damned, the nations of the chosen, the nations
of the reprobate, I will praise Him among His people in heaven
and in hell. His praise shall be heard. Verse
10. For thy mercy is great. Great unto the heavens, thy truth
unto the clouds. God's mercy. reaches into the
heavens. His throne is the mercy seat. That's the throne on which God
sits. He's described that way throughout the Old Testament
times. His throne is the throne of grace. His mercy reaches like
a ladder to heaven so that mercy descends to us and mercy carries
us back up to God. His mercy reaches like a rainbow
surrounding the throne of God. His mercy, like a mountain, rises
up into the clouds and is infinitely beyond our apprehension. How
I rejoice in the height of His mercy. But the psalmist says
here, His mercy is great unto the heavens. Great. It reaches down to the lowest
depths of gaping hell to fallen, ruined wretches such as we are
and lifts us up to the throne of glory as the sons of God. It reaches wide extending to
the four corners of the earth unto the men of fallen race,
chosen of God out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, people
of all class and all conditions, His mercy reaches to the heavens. Around the earth, His mercy is
wider than the sky and deeper than hell itself. His mercy is
as deep as the infinite wisdom of God. Without question, mercy
and truth here. Again, referring to our Lord
Jesus and the accomplishment of redemption by Him. The prophet
Isaiah says, I'm sorry, the prophet in Psalm 85 says, mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. Our Lord springs out of the earth
and righteousness looks down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good. because righteousness and truth
set upon His throne, and mercy flows to us. Verse 11. Be thou exalted, O Lord, O God,
above the heavens. Let thy glory be above the earth. Someone wrote greater words of
prayer than these, never came from human lips. Heaven and earth
have, as they imply, a mutually interwoven history. And the blessed,
glorious end of this is the sunrise of the divine glory over heaven
and earth. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above the earth. So it is. So it shall be. Let me tell you the fabric of
my life. Here's the fabric of my life,
my whole history. Mercy and truth and glory. God has dealt with me in mercy. in truth for His glory and He
shall. Now let me tell you the fabric
of this world's history. Mercy and truth and glory. And God shall show forth His
mercy, His truth, and His glory in everything. And with that,
I'm prepared to live and I'm prepared to die. That's enough. Goodness and mercy have followed
me all the days of my life. And in no question about it,
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.