I'll ask you, if you will, to
turn to Psalm 56 as we read this psalm and look at it this evening. Psalm 56. Be merciful unto me, O God. For man would swallow me up,
he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily
swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me, O thou
most high. What time I am afraid, I will
trust in thee. In God I will praise his word,
in God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me, Every day they rest my words. All their thoughts
are against me for evil. They gather themselves together.
They hide themselves. They mark my steps when they
wait for my soul. Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger cast down the
people, O God. Thou tellest my wanderings. Put
thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? When
I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know,
for God is for me. In God will I praise his word,
in the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render praises unto thee,
for thou hast delivered my soul from death. Wilt not thou deliver
my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light
of the living? Looking at this psalm this past
week, it helped me to look at the title The title of the psalm. If you notice, before the psalm
is written, it says, to the chief musician upon, and here's the
title, Jonath, Elam, Rechukim. Those are three words, three
Hebrew words put together. And as John Gill said, our translators
did not translate them. But as I looked at it and looked
at the meaning of these three words, as I said, I was helped
in reading the psalm. The first of these three words
is the word jonath, which means a dove. A dove. The second word, elam, means
silence. And retrohymn, distance or remote. One of the writers translated
it like this, concerning the mute dove among them that are
afar off. A dove, silence, and remote. I want us to look at the psalm
tonight as it speaks first of all to us of Christ and then
of David. the author, the human author
of the psalm, David and his experience, and then to all of God's children,
all true believers. First, there are words that point
to Christ. And I would just remind us of
our Lord's words in Luke 24, that he spoke to his disciples
after his resurrection when he opened their understandings that
they might understand the scripture. He said, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses
and the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. That's the way
the Hebrews, the Israelites, the Jews, that's the way they
divided the Old Testament into those three sections, the law,
the prophets, and the Psalms, and the Lord Jesus Christ said
that they all spoke of him. In John chapter five, he told
the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, search the
scriptures. And remember when he said this
to the Pharisees, that was their job, that's what they did. They
spent their time, the scribes, searching the scriptures. And
yet he said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. But they are they which testify
of me. They thought they had eternal
life for various reasons. One reason, they thought they
had eternal life because they were the physical descendants
of Abraham. Abraham was their father. They
thought they had eternal life because of the prophet Moses
who had given his law unto them. They thought they had eternal
life because they had the scriptures. And it is true that they had
the scriptures of all the various nations in the world. God committed
the oracles, the word of God, unto them. And that was the chief
blessing that God bestowed upon the nation of Israel. But my
point is all the scripture. There is no eternal life in any
other one or any other place except in Jesus Christ. He is
eternal life. To know Him, to believe and trust
in Him is eternal life. He said this is eternal life
that you might know Him, that is God the Father and He whom
He has sent. But when I think of the title
of the psalm, first of all, a dove. That may serve to remind us of
Christ who, like a dove, was harmless and innocent. One of the psalms says, blessed
is the man in whose spirit there is no guile. The word guile means
artful deception, crafty. Blessed is the man in whom, in
whose spirit there is no God. Now that doesn't refer to you.
That doesn't refer to me. Blessed is the man in whose spirit
there is no God. Have we never used any duplicity
when we speak in our words? Any deception, any craftiness
in our words? Of course we have, all of us
have, all of us are guilty, except Christ. Except the Lord Jesus
Christ, blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no God. And we know that he was godless
as a dove is thought of as being harmless and innocent. The writer of Hebrews said, for
our high priest became us. who is holy and harmless. All of the high priests under
the law, they had a plate of gold on their forehead which
said holiness to the Lord, but that was outward holiness, wasn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, he didn't
need a plate of gold. His person, he is holy, the holy
one of God, but not only holy, But like a dove, harmless. No
one's afraid of a dove. A dove is like a lamb. A lamb is harmless. Not only the fact that this title
speaks of him as a dove, but a silent dove. A silent dove. And this reminds us of the silence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two occasions at least, his silence
is remarkable. A silent dove. When he stood
before Pilate, Pilate the Roman governor, his judge, if you please,
Pilate asked him, hearst thou not how many things they witness
against thee? He asked the Lord, don't you
hear? Don't you hear what these men, these priests, these Pharisees
and scribes and Sadducees, what they're saying about you, what
they're witnessing about you? Hearest thou not how many things
they witness against thee? And he, that is Christ, answered
him to never a word. And so much the governor Pilate
marveled greatly. He'd never had a man come before
him before as he was a judge who did not speak, trying to
defend himself, trying to justify himself against whatever charges
were brought. But here's a man who doesn't
speak. Here's a man who does not answer. And then, you know, Pilate sent
him to Herod. And the same thing took place
there. The scripture says, and he questioned
with him. Herod did. He questioned with
him in many words, but he answered him nothing. Do you know, the
thought just came to me, if the Lord doesn't speak to a person,
what more awful thing could happen. He has that right. And he doesn't
speak to everyone. He passes by many. He passed by Herod. He answered
him, not a word. What an awful thought. A silent
dove. And then the distance. A silent dove from a distance. And I, in my mind, I use this
to remind myself at least of the great distance between God,
between the Lord, the eternal son of God and all the glory
and majesty that was his in heaven. And yet he laid that aside and
came down to where we are. I'm not talking about distance
in miles, because He's everywhere present. I'm not present as God,
but in character, a silent dove from a distance. He came to us,
if you look back to chapter 50, Psalm 53, and here we are, you
and I, an all man. Here we are described, God looked down from heaven,
verse two, upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand. Now God doesn't need to look. God doesn't need to investigate. God knows everything. But to
show us, there can be no question, there can be no doubt about what
we're going to read here. God didn't just hear that man
was fallen, that man was sinful. No, God investigated so that
man has no excuse, no alibi. God looked down from heaven upon
the children of men to see if there were any that did understand,
that did seek God. Every one of them has gone back. They're altogether become filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. No exceptions. No, not one. But let's look in this psalm
at a few things that point us to Christ. First of all, the man. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man. And this is speaking of a particular
man. And we're not going to think
of it as a man, but as Satan, as Satan himself. For Satan would
swallow me up. He would, if he could. allowed Satan to tempt him those
three times in the wilderness, didn't he? But each time the
Lord Jesus Christ came off victorious. Victorious. But man, he had that
arch enemy, Satan. And then in verse two, we read,
my enemies would daily swallow me up. My Bible has a marginal
reading there before the word enemies, and I look in the margin,
and it is observers. Mine observers. You know, as
we read through the gospel, we find that the Pharisees came
trying to take the Lord in his words. The Sadducees, they did
the same thing. The Herodians, each one of them
observed him, just trying to catch on one word, some one word
that might be spoken mistakenly. And I tell you, it's difficult. Those of you who teach, I know
you can identify with this, but it's hard, isn't it, to speak,
to teach. And not every once in a while,
one word at least slips out of your mouth and you wish I hadn't
have said that. I could have said that better.
But he had enemies, observers always looking at him, watching
him to try to catch him in some way. Remember when they asked,
is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? What were they doing?
They were observing him to see how he would answer. So they
would have that which with they could accuse him to seizure or
either to accuse him as having broken the law of Moses, mine
enemies. And then if you notice in verse
five, every day, they rest my words, they twist my words. This they often did. We have
one example at the very beginning of his ministry. This is recorded
in John chapter one when he said, destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up. Now they knew what he meant.
They knew what he meant. They knew that he was speaking
of the temple of his body. Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up. But they twisted his scripture.
Well, listen, this temple of 40 years was in building. They
were talking about Herod's temple there in Jerusalem that had been
Solomon's temple rebuilt. He wasn't speaking about that
physical temple, and they know he wasn't. You say, how do you
know that they knew he wasn't talking about that temple? Because
after his death and after his resurrection, after his death
rather than his burial, you remember they came to Pilate and they
said, we'd like you to fix a guard there. We'd like you to put a
guard there at his tomb because we remember that he said that
he would rise from the dead. Now they didn't believe he would
rise from the dead, but what they were afraid of evidently
was that his disciples would come and steal away his body
and say that he had risen from the dead. But they twisted his
words. In verse six we read, they gather
themselves together. They gather themselves together.
I want us to keep our places here, but turn with me to a couple
of verses in the New Testament. First in Matthew. Matthew chapter
26. Matthew chapter 26 and beginning
with verse 3. Then assembled together the chief
priest and the scribes and the elders of the people. They gathered
themselves together. unto the palace of the high priest
who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take
Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, not on the feast
day, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the
people. They wanted to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ, but not on the day of the Passover. Because
at Passover time, Jerusalem would be filled with people. And they
knew there would be some kind of a tumult among the people.
But the point is they gathered themselves together. And then
another scripture, if you will, in Acts. I believe we looked
at this for just a moment this morning, Acts chapter four. And this is part of the prayer.
of the disciples. In Acts chapter 4, beginning
with verse 25, Who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people
imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. So, verse six tells
us here in our psalm tonight, they gathered themselves together. And then I want you to look in
verse 11 back in the Psalm. In God have I put my trust. Trust is a part of faith, isn't
it? Trust is a part of faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. What is faith? Faith is first
of all hearing, knowing. hearing the message of Christ.
God's son came into this world. God's son was made to be sin
in the place of his people. The sins of his people were charged
to his account. And he suffered and died, satisfying
the justice of God. Man has to hear the gospel, first
of all. That's part of faith, hearing,
and then believing. Believe in the message. I believe
that's true. I believe that Jesus is the son
of God. But then also included not only
knowledge, believing, but trusting. Trusting him as my savior. Trusting him. I heard this illustration many
years ago. Maybe it's still something that
I can remember. There was a man who put a tightrope
across Niagara Falls. And first he walked across that
rope. And then I believe he rode a
bicycle across that rope. But every time he did something,
he asked the crowd, do you believe I can walk across this rope? Oh, yes. Clapping, yes, yes,
sure you can, you know. Egging him on. And he walked
across. Do you believe I can ride this
bicycle across? Oh, yes, yes. Everybody was enthusiastic. You can do it. And he rode the
bicycle across. And then he asked, do you believe
I can ride this bicycle across the fall on this tight rope with
you on my shoulders? Now, that's different. That's
a little different. In other words, do you trust
me? Do you trust me? And I tell you, faith in Christ,
believing in Christ, is trusting Him. Trusting His blood to put
away, to wash away our sins. Trusting His righteousness to
justify us with God. Let's look on in the psalm. These
words in the psalm also point us to David, who was a human
author of the psalm, at a particular time in his life. I want you
to look at this time back in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 21. And verses 10 through 12. Let me find it. Verse 10, David arose and fled
that day for fear of Saul. He fled out of the land of Israel. He fled from Saul because of
fear. And he went to Achish, the king
of Gath. And the servants of Achish said
unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not
sing one to another of hymn and dances, saying Saul has slain
his thousands and David his ten thousands? And David laid up
these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achis, the
king of Gath. Now look back in the psalm. The man, in verse one, be merciful
unto me, O God, for man, the man, who was the man who would
swallow David up. It was Saul. It was Saul who
hunted him day and night upon the mountains and through in
the caves. David said, like a partridge,
he was hunted by this man, Saul, who would swallow him up. And
then his enemies, in verse two, mine enemies, His observers was,
of course, the king of Gath, Ahab, and his servants. His servants
told the king, Ahab, well, listen, you're going to allow this man
to seek refuge here in our country? This man, David? Don't you remember? Don't you realize that this is
the man they used to sing, David has slain his ten thousands and
saw the king only thousands? He had his enemies, his observers. And not only that, but think
about this. He went to Ahab, who was the
lord of the city of Gath. Who was from Gath? Goliath. In other words, he's in the hometown
of the giant that he had slain. And the giant still had a brother
living, another giant in this town, mine enemies, mine observers. He admits to times when he was
afraid. What time I am afraid, but he
purposes in his heart. When fear comes upon me, what
time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord. Because in him there
is strength immeasurable. And him, I will trust in him
who is faithful to his word. He's faithful to his word. He's
faithful to his promises. And then in verse four, you notice
David praises God for his word. In God, I will praise his word. I will praise the Lord for his
word. It contains so many promises
that enabled David not to fear what man could do unto him. In
God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust.
I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. And think about the
promises there in Romans chapter eight, the apostle Paul mentioned,
seeing that God spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. Shall he not also with him give
us all things? Those many promises there that
Paul writes to us. David, he didn't have those promises
in the portion of the word of God he had, but he had enough
to cause him to trust in the Lord. And then in verse eight,
thou tellest my wonderings. David took comfort in knowing
that God knew his wanderings, as he wandered in caves and was
sought by Saul, hunted, he knew that God knew his wanderings.
And not only did God know his wanderings, but God knew his
tears. His tears. Thou tellest my wanderings,
put thou my tears into thy bottle. His tears, that is his afflictions,
His afflictions, are they not in thy book? Let me read you a quote by one
of the old writers. Look at that verse again. Thou
tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears into thy bottle. My afflictions, are they not
in thy book? They are in his book of purposes. God's book. They are in His book
of purposes. They're all appointed by Him. We're talking about the believer's
afflictions. They are all appointed by Him. Their kind and their nature,
their measure and their duration, their quality and their quantity,
what they shall be and how long they shall last, and their end
and use, they're all in God's book of purposes. Also, he goes
on to say, they are in his book of providence. And they are all overruled and
caused to work for their good. And they are in his book of remembrance. They are taken notice of and
numbered by him and shall be finished This too shall pass,
whatever the affliction is that God brings his children into. This too shall pass, shall be
finished. And listen to this, they shall
not, whatever affliction it is, they shall not exceed its bounds. Just like God spoke to the sea,
to the ocean and said, hitherto shalt thou come and no farther. So God says concerning the afflictions
of his children, God knows the bounds. These tears will be turned
into joy and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his
people. Notice three times David praises
God for his word. In verse four, and God, I will
praise his word. And then in verse 10, two times,
in God will I praise his word, in the Lord will I praise his
word. Thy word, David wrote this in
Psalm 119, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
my path. Now, thirdly, there are words
here which point us to all true believers. Remember, our Lord told his disciples
to be harmless as doves. Verse one speaks of mercy. Be
merciful to me. Be merciful to me, O God. Every child of God has experienced
God's mercy. His mercy. It is of his mercies
we read in Lamentation that we are not consumed. because his
compassions fail not. You know, the scripture says
God, that judgment is a strange work to God, but his mercies
he delighteth in mercy. Oh, every sinner, every lost
sinner, if you could only somehow understand how merciful God is,
You would flee, you would flee tonight to him and beg for mercy. Beg for mercy. Every child of
God has. Every child of God in this building
tonight, we have begged for mercy. And we found it, haven't we?
We found it. Hallelujah. We found it. He delighteth in mercy. We didn't
deserve it. Wouldn't be mercy if we did. Be merciful to me, oh God. Every child of God has experienced
his mercy. Verse two speaks of enemies in
the plural. Every true believer, we have
our enemies as we go through this world. We know that Satan
is our enemy, the prince of this world. We know the world itself
is an enemy. And we know the flesh, that part
of us that remains, that fallen part of us that still remains,
even though we have a new man, a new nature, that which is born
of the spirit, we still have the flesh that lusteth against
the spirit. And verse three speaks of being
afraid. what time I am afraid. Salvation
doesn't save you from fear. It doesn't save you, let me put
it like this, it doesn't save a person from never having any
fear. Because as believers we do sometimes
have fear, and like David said here, what time I am afraid. Sometimes we fear that our sins
are not forgiven. We do. Sometimes we fear that
we're going to fall and bring reproach upon Christ, upon our
profession of Christ. We're going to be overtaken one
day by some temptation and fall into sin. We have our fears. But as David said, what time
I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord. And verse four speaks of something
that every true child of God should do. Every one of us who
know him tonight, we should praise him for his word, his word that
contains these great, exceeding great and precious promises.
And verse eight speaks of afflictions that every true child of God
is sure to meet while we wander through this world. But we know
that they are all appointed by our heavenly father and that
they all somehow will work together for our good. And then notice
in closing verse 13. It speaks of what God has done
and what he will do for each of us who know him tonight. For
thou hast delivered my soul from death. We were dead, spiritually
dead. You know, you could have a corpse
here, a dead body here tonight, and you could lay weight, weight,
weight on top of it, and you know that body wouldn't feel
a thing. Dead. Think about Christian and Pilgrim's
Progress. He had a burden on his back.
Others didn't have it. Plabel didn't have that burden.
Obstinate didn't have that burden. And at first, his wife didn't
have that burden, but he had that burden. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, and God quickened us and made us alive. And we felt our
sin, our need of Christ. He has Past tense, look what
he has done for us. He's delivered my soul from death,
from spiritual death, and yes, thank God, from eternal death. And what he will do for every
child of God, he will deliver my feet from falling. We may
fall, but he's gonna pick us up. He's placed us in the hand
of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one is able to pluck one
of his sheep out of his hand. He will keep our feet from falling.