Sermon Book: Psalms

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The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth, and the Lord laughs at them, because he sees their day coming. The little that the righteous man has is better than the abundance of many wicked, and the Lord upholds the righteous. When the righteous man falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord holds his hand. In Christ, God’s justice and mercy meet, so his people need not live in shame, and they wait for him with confidence.

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Sermon transcript

This evening we continue our consideration of this lengthy psalm, Psalm 37, and my sermon text this evening from Psalm 37 is Psalm 37, 12 through 26. So please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 37. I’ll read verses 12 through 26. Dear friends, hear God’s inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him for he sees his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow to cast down the afflicted and the needy to slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart and their bows will be broken. Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord sustains the righteous.

The Lord knows the days of the blameless and their inheritance will be forever. They will not be ashamed in the time of evil in the day and in the days of famine. They will have abundance, but the wicked will perish and the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures. They vanish like smoke. They vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not pay back. but the righteous is gracious and gives. For those blessed by him will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be cut off. The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and he delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.

All day long he is gracious and lends, and his descendants are a blessing. Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Dear Lord and Father in heaven, how awesome it is that you speak to us, that you’ve given us your word. We do ask that by your spirit, once again, you would open our minds and our hearts to embrace the word, to hear with the hearing of faith. We ask, Lord, that the seed of your word would take deep root in our hearts and bear spiritual fruit on the sanctification and holiness in our lives. Grant unto me, Lord God, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and proclaim your word with power, with accuracy, with clarity.

For the glory of your holy name, the edification of the saints and the salvation of the lost. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is Do Not Fret, Part Two. And if you find it helpful to follow along with keywords, there’s quite a number of words to be listening for tonight. Wicked, righteous, inheritance, judgment, blessing, curse, hope, and trust. Well, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on the last Lord’s Day evening, we began to consider this lengthy psalm that is known as Psalm 37. It’s a powerful portion of God’s Word, and it really brings to the surface issues that are pressing upon God’s people, especially God’s people who suffer at the hands of the wicked. In this portion of God’s Holy Word, King David, to whom this psalm is ascribed, under the inspiration of the Spirit, David brings to our attention an age-old problem for believers, and that is the problem of evil.

To put it simply, the problem of evil is that given that we believers confess faith in an all-powerful, all-good, loving, and absolutely sovereign God, how do we account as believers for the presence and indeed the prevalence of evil, wickedness, and suffering in the world? Now, in the Bible, this problem of evil is thankfully not expressed in technical philosophical lingo that only academic philosophical eggheads with advanced degrees can understand and appreciate. The Bible is a book for the plain man and speaks in the language of the plain man. As I mentioned on the last Lord’s Day, this problem of evil is instead in Scripture often expressed, especially in the Old Testament, by means of asking questions, questions that all believers, academic or otherwise, can relate to. Namely, questions such as, why do the wicked so often prosper while the upright so often suffer at the hands of the wicked?

Why do the wicked, that is those who hate the true and living God and hate God’s people, why is it that they so often seem to prosper and be at ease and seem to prevail in their plottings and schemings while those who trust in and love the Lord so often seem to suffer at the hands of the wicked. David himself knew from personal and painful experience what it was like to be pursued and persecuted by wicked and godless men and to suffer at their hands, especially as you read the biblical historical narrative of David’s rise to the kingship. David encountered a great deal of suffering in his life and opposition from the wicked. who sought to prevent him, the anointed one, from rising to the theocratic kingship of Israel. And it’s interesting that we are to remember, friends, that in David’s sufferings at the hands of the wicked, he was actually a picture, a type, a shadow, if you will, of the sufferings experienced by the ultimate anointed king.

That ultimate anointed one, the Messiah, is King Jesus. the one who is the Messianic King, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would suffer at the hands of wicked men, but he would suffer at the hands of wicked men in order to overcome sin and death and the devil. He did so by his death on the cross, followed by his victorious resurrection from the dead. Now, while Psalm 37 recognizes the reality and the problem of evil, it also offers strong encouragement, comfort, and hope to believers who suffer at the hands of the wicked. For in this psalm, the Holy Spirit through David assures us that God will never forsake his own and that justice will be done in the end. Beloved, Psalm 37 assures us as believers that in his perfect timing, Our faithful covenant Lord and Savior will indeed right all wrongs, bring upon the unrepentant wicked the punishment that they deserve, and vindicate his suffering and oppressed people.

And so this is a psalm that, yes, it is a long psalm, and it is filled with many details, but it is a psalm that is well worth our time to get acquainted with, for it offers to us as God’s people much comfort, much hope, and much strengthening to our faith. Now, in terms of what kind of a psalm this is, you know, as we’ve been making our way through select psalms in the Psalter, in the Book of Psalms, we’ve noticed that there are different types of psalms. And again, as I mentioned on the last Lord’s Day, Psalm 37 may be classified as a wisdom psalm. It is classified often by scholars as such because it displays some of the emphases that we find in the wisdom literature of the Bible. literature such as what you find in the book of Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes, sort of a New Testament epistle of wisdom would be the book of James and so forth.

Now, in the Hebrew, this psalm has been arranged in an alphabetical acrostic, and what that means is that every two verses or so, every two verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s not a perfect acrostic. Most of the acrostic Psalms are not perfect acrostics, but there’s, you know, the first two verses start off with a word in the Hebrew that starts with Aleph, and then there’s Beth, and Hemel, and so forth, as you go down through the Hebrew alphabet. And what that means to us as English readers is that, from our point of view, as we’re reading a translation of the Hebrew, the English reader may read through this Psalm and and the psalm may come across as a bit disjointed and difficult to follow for the English reader in terms of logical progression of thoughts and so forth.

But it’s interesting that for the ancient Hebrews, this acrostic pattern was actually a helpful aid in memorization. I think that’s interesting that many of the psalms and many of the passages of God’s word are arranged in such a way that would aid in the memorization of Scripture. Perhaps that is an indication, the Holy Spirit is perhaps indicating to us, that it’s a good idea to memorize Scripture, to hide God’s Word in our heart. But issues of literary type and literary structure aside, the main thrust of this psalm appears to be quite clear. That is to say, the main thrust is that there is a great difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who by sovereign grace through faith and faith alone are rightly related to God and thus live out the implications of that right relationship and the wicked who are unbelieving and impenitent and disobedient.

And even though the ungodly may prosper for a time, the godly can be assured that they will be the ones who in the end will inherit the land, or the earth as it could be translated, but here I believe the land in focus is the promised land. Remember how I talked on the last Lord’s Day about how the promised land in Israel was a type, a picture of the ultimate promised land, the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. So this is pointing us to the fact that our ultimate inheritance The New Heavens and the New Earth is secured for us by our sovereign, faithful, covenant Lord and Savior. Now, in the last Lord’s Day, we considered the first section of this psalm, verses 1 through 11, which urges us as God’s people not to fret because of evildoers, but instead to hope and trust in the Lord’s promised deliverance and also to be comforted by the promise of divine retribution against the unrepentant wicked.

But now we come to this second section of Psalm 37, verses 12 through 29. And first of all, as we focus in on verses 12 through 15, notice, beloved, we have a revelation here of the attitudes and the actions of the wicked. We see here that David focuses in this section of Psalm 37 on the attitudes and the actions of the wicked. That is to say, attitudes and actions that the unbelieving and unrepentant wicked are characterized by. Verse 12, the wicked does what? What’s the activity of the wicked here? The wicked plots against the righteous. Notice that there is a difference. Humanity is divided into two categories of people. You either belong to the seed of the serpent or the seed of the woman. You are either in Adam or in Christ. You’re either unregenerate or regenerate.

You’re either converted or lost. And here he is speaking of the wicked, in particular, the wicked who are hostile against the righteous. Now, there’s always hostility in the hearts of of unbelievers towards true believers, but oftentimes that hostility is buried underneath the surface and it only comes to the surface when the claims of the Lord are discussed or brought to bear. But notice how the wicked plots against the righteous and does what? Gnashes at him with his teeth. What is the significance of the gnashing of teeth? Do they gnash their teeth because they are in pain? Well, no, friends, this imagery of gnashing of teeth indicates rage. It seems to be an indication of bitter anger. There is a bitterness in the hearts of of the unregenerate towards God’s people. And they plot against the righteous and gnash at him with his teeth.

But what is the Lord’s reaction to the plotting and the rage of the wicked against his people? It says in verse 13, the Lord laughs at him, for he sees his day is coming. This is a personification. The Lord is personified as Having a good chuckle, a laughing at the plotting and scheming of the wicked. Why does the Lord laugh at them? Because he knows that though they plot and scheme, and in many cases seem to get away with murder, this side of the judgment, the Lord knows their end. This reminds us of what the psalmist writes back in Psalm 2, verse 4. one of these opening Psalms here, where it talks about the nations raging against Yahweh, the Lord, and His anointed one, His Messiah. Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords.

In Psalm 2, verse 4, the psalmist says, He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. That’s not a very common picture of the Lord. that is in our church culture today. It’s not a very popular view of the Lord in our popular culture. The idea that the Lord would actually laugh at and even scoff at a puny sinful man plotting against him and his people. The Lord knows that he’s in control. And we should rest in his sovereign Lordship. As we see the raging and raving of the wicked against the righteous, against the church, we know that the Lord is still on his throne and the Lord sees that his day, that the day of the wicked is coming. And then verse 14, it goes on to say, the wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow.

This is an act of hostility. This is a picture of an act of hostility, this military imagery here of drawing the sword and bending the bow. And indeed, the Israelites, in their history, experienced many occasions when the Gentile nations would come against them in acts of hostility. The Israelites knew what it was like to face the drawn sword and the bent bow, and they draw the sword and bend their bow, whether literally or figuratively, to do what? To cast down the afflicted and the needy, God’s people, God’s faith filled people are often in this life, needy and afflicted to slay those who are upright in conduct. But what is going to happen here? The wicked unjustly aimed their hostility toward the upright, but in verse 15, we learned that the hostile actions and plottings of the wicked will return onto their own heads.

God, in his sovereignty, often causes the raging and the sins of the wicked against the righteous to return on their own heads. It says their sword will enter their own heart and their bows will be broken. Again, notice, beloved, how the Lord distinguishes here between the hostile wicked and those who, by grace, are right with God, who are upright in heart and conduct. take instruction from this. By their fruits, you shall know them. We shall know those who are in the category of the wicked by their attitudes and their actions, especially their attitudes and actions towards those who confess the name of Christ as the only Savior of sinners. Now, in this next section, beginning at verse 16 and going through verse 22, we see next the destiny of the wicked and the deliverance of the righteous being brought to our attention.

We see in this section the destiny of the wicked and the deliverance of the righteous. Look at verse 16. It says, better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. Now, oftentimes the righteous, the believers, the faithful who confess the name of the Lord, oftentimes they possess little because they are oppressed and downcast by the wicked. But David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, helps to bring this current material situation into its bigger perspective. Because, yes, you may have little in this present life, but better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. The wicked may often be wealthy beyond the level of the righteous. But nevertheless, the amount of material assets and possessions that one has is not a measure of blessing. God’s blessing, His grace and mercy and blessing rests upon the godly, the righteous.

And then verse 17, for the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord sustains the righteous. Oftentimes in the scriptures we read this imagery of God breaking the arms of the wicked. What is that imagery meant to convey? What’s the truth that’s being conveyed there? Well, the arms represent the strength. And oftentimes in this present age, the godless, those who reject Christ and reject his gospel, reject the truth, oftentimes they seem to be the strong ones. But we, brothers and sisters, can be assured that in his timing, the Lord will break the arms of the wicked. He will break their strength. And instead, he will sustain. He will sustain the righteous, sustain us with his strength. That’s the implication of that. This reminds me of the passage. The joy of the Lord will be our strength.

The joy of the Lord is indeed our strength. And then verse 18, the Lord knows the days of the blameless. Now, you may pause here. What do you mean the Lord knows the days of the blameless? The Lord knows everything, right? He’s omniscient. And it talks about the Lord knowing the days of the righteous. As one commentator puts it, God’s knowledge is his subjective involvement in the affairs of his children. The Lord is involved in our lives as believers to a degree and in a sense that he is not involved in the lives of those outside of his mercy. And the Lord knows our days. He knows our end from the beginning. And He knows us with the knowledge of love and mercy in grace. And their inheritance will be forever. Verse 18. What a comfort.

In Christ, our Savior, we have an eternal inheritance. And that inheritance is secured for us because of Christ’s finished work. And the Holy Spirit has sealed us unto the day of redemption. unto the day when we will receive that inheritance, full and final salvation in its fullness, its consummate fullness. So you see, brothers and sisters, how this psalm comforts God’s people, even as it reminds us of the ultimate destiny of the wicked who seem in this life to prevail. Verse 19 says of the righteous, of believers that says they will not be ashamed in the time of evil. And in the days of famine, they will have abundance. Here is a promise that the Lord will shelter the upright from shame and will provide for them in their distress. And think about it, brothers and sisters.

In Christ, God has delivered us from the ultimate shame that will be experienced by the unrepentant wicked on the day of judgment. I’ve mentioned this before, so I’ll try not to get too much onto my soapbox, but sometimes I hear of believers trying to encourage their fellow believers in evangelism, for example, by guilting them. Imagine you could have shared the gospel with that person, but you neglected to do that. Imagine explaining that to Jesus on Judgment Day. Imagine how ashamed you will be on Judgment Day. Brothers and sisters in Christ, If you are in Christ, you will experience no shame on Judgment Day. Jesus Christ took your shame upon himself. Won’t our works, good and bad, be brought forward before the Lord Jesus on Judgment Day? All things will be exposed, but there will be no shame.

If our sin is brought forward on Judgment Day, it will not be to shame us. but to show that we are trophies of his grace. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? As our catechism puts it, at the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory will be openly acknowledged and acquitted on the day of judgment and made fully blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity. Christ took our shame upon himself. He absorbed that shame into himself. There will be no shame in the new heavens and the new earth. There will only be vindication because in Christ we are already justified. And because we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from works, we will be vindicated on that final day. There will be no shame. They will be they will not be ashamed, verse 19, in the time of evil.

Here the psalmist is speaking of the evil that might be experienced in this life, and in the days of famine they will have abundance, but nevertheless this reminds us that shame is not something we need to fear if we know Christ. If you are united to Christ in faith and repentance, you can be assured that he has taken your shame. So do not live with a sense of shame. Jesus took that shame for you. Verse 20, though, again, brings forward the dichotomy here between the wicked and the righteous. Verse 20 says, But the wicked will perish and the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures. They vanish like smoke. They vanish away. Think about the green pastures that arise and fade so quickly. Think about smoke, even thick smoke that soon is dispersed and fades away.

That is what the wicked are compared to. We notice in verse 20 the transitoryness and ultimate fate of the wicked. And then in verses 21 and 22, we have again the characteristics of the righteous and the wicked contrasted. It says the wicked borrows and does not pay back. I think some of our government leaders maybe need to hear this. The wicked borrows and does not pay back. They don’t pay their debts, but the righteous is gracious and gives. The point is the righteous are characterized by generosity. The wicked are characterized by selfishness and greed. And then verse 22, for those blessed by him again, we see the theme of the inheritance of the land, a common theme, a major theme in this psalm. It says those blessed by him. will inherit the land. They’re blessed by him.

It’s grace. It’s not works. It’s grace. They’re blessed by him. They will inherit the land. But those cursed by him will be cut off. That terminology of being cut off is often used in scripture to describe either execution or being cut off from the covenant people of God. Believer, may you and I trust in Yahweh’s ultimate deliverance. He has not destined us for wrath, but in Christ has destined us for life eternal. And finally, in our final section of our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, we read here David’s testimony to the sustaining hand of God in verses 23 through 26. David gives testimony to the sustaining hand of God. Verse 23. The steps of a man are established by the Lord. and he delights in his way. This is talking in context here. This appears to be talking very clearly about the godly man, the believing man.

The steps of such a one are established by the Lord. That again, what comfort to know that the Lord Yahweh sovereignly establishes our steps. We don’t have to worry about making missteps. Again, this is not to say that we are not responsible, that we should not be concerned to make godly and good decisions, we ought to be concerned with that. And there’s many scripture passages that point us to that duty. Knowing this, beloved, that as we walk in fellowship and communion with our Savior, trusting in him and him alone, we can be assured that our steps are established by our faithful covenant making covenant keeping Lord. And then verse 24 is also incredibly Comforting when he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, unlike the wicked who will be eventually in the end hurled headlong.

What about the godly? When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong. Why? Because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. When he falls, not if he falls, by the way. We do fall. We fall into sin from time to time. Often we fall into sin every day. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. Believer, the Lord Yahweh, your faithful covenant making covenant keeping God and Savior holds your hand. Jesus Christ holds you in his sovereign care. And He will not let you go. He will never leave you nor forsake you. So rest in Him. And when you stumble, when you stumble in sin, when you wander from the way, do not lose hope. Do not despair. Return. Return, O prodigal one, to the gracious Father who welcomes you with open arms.

Yahweh upholds His people when they fall. The righteous may and often do stumble in the way, but ultimately, our faithful covenant Lord and Savior keeps us from falling out of or from the way. Praise be to God for his sovereign keeping. And then David closes up our section for this evening again with his personal testimony of how the Lord has been faithful. He says, verse 25, I have been young and now I am old. Some of you can say that. I have been young and now I’m old. I’m getting there, too. Yet I’ve not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread. Again, I know David is speaking from an Old Testament context and so forth, but he has said, look, in my own personal experience, here’s David who has experienced so much suffering, so much affliction from the hands of the wicked, yet he says, I’ve been young and now I’m old.

I’ve not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread. The Lord has provided. The Lord has not forsaken his people. Verse 26. All day long, he, the righteous one, is gracious and lends, and his descendants are a blessing. God promises to be God to us and our descendants after us in the line of successive generations. We see that covenantal continuity. here brought out in this passage as well. Again, David, in his personal experience, he knows what he’s talking about when he writes these comforting and convicting truths. Beloved, I hope this time in the Word this evening has been encouraging to you, has been a blessing to you. As we close our time in the Word tonight, we learn from this passage that we believers may live confident content lives, knowing God’s justice and his mercy.

His justice will indeed be visited upon the unrepentant wicked who persist in their wicked ways and continue to persecute God’s people. It often causes us to be fretful and anxious when we see the injustices, when we see God’s precious children being persecuted by the wicked and we cry out to the Lord, Lord, why do you allow this? But God knows what he’s doing, and he will bring justice to bear, either bringing those wicked persecutors to repentance or bringing them to judgment in his good time. But in the meantime, he is not slow in his promise, as some count slowness, but he is merciful to you, not wishing that any perish, but that all of his people should come to repentance. We can live confident, content lives, knowing God’s justice and mercy, all because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For in Christ, both the mercy and the justice of God have met. Jesus, in mercy for us sinners, satisfied the justice of God against our sin. Jesus is indeed the friend of sinners. Dear listener, is he your friend and your savior? If you’re not sure, then come to Jesus tonight. He was crucified for the forgiveness of sins and raised from the dead, and he is the only way of salvation. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. Come to the Father through Jesus the Son, trusting him, calling upon him for salvation from your sins, and he will save you. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. And let us continue to cling to Christ and hope in him, knowing that he promises us deliverance.

Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you, O God, for the power of your word. We ask, Lord, that these truths that we’ve considered this evening would find a lodging place in our souls. And we pray that your spirit would cause these truths that we have heard tonight to bear spiritual fruits in our lives. We ask Heavenly Father that you would help us to live in confidence and contentment knowing that you will never leave us nor forsake us. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

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About this sermon

Psalm 37 answers the old question of why the wicked prosper: ‘Do not fret because of evildoers,’ for they will soon wither like the grass. God’s people must trust in the Lord and do good, delight themselves in him, and commit their way to him. Fretting leads only to evil, while those who wait for the Lord will inherit the land. God cares for his children, and he will one day right every wrong and vindicate his people.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing as we turn to the sermon text for this evening. We move along in our study of select psalms from the book of Psalms. This evening, we’re going to consider the first part of Psalm 37, which is a lengthy psalm, but a very powerful psalm that that speaks to many hearts as it is God’s word to all of God’s people. Psalm 37, 1 through 11. Let us hear God’s inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. It is entitled, A Psalm of David. Do not fret because of evil doers. Be not envious toward wrongdoers, for they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord And he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil doing for evil doers will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more. And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. The grass withers and the flower fades.

But the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing for a brief word of prayer. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, how thankful we are for the rich treasure, the rich spiritual treasure that we find in your holy word. We ask that by your Holy Spirit this evening, once again, that you would make us attentive to your word. Help us to hear with faith, with love, with a repentant spirit, with humility, with meekness, with a teachable spirit. And we ask, Lord, that your word would take deep root in our hearts and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives. Once again, we ask that you would grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth your word with clarity and power. Clothe me from on high by your spirit that your word would go forth to feed your people and to be a testimony for Christ.

May the name of Jesus be lifted up this evening in this place. in the proclamation of your word. We ask these things in the glorious and majestic name of Christ, your son, our Lord and Savior and all of God’s people said, Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. Titled my sermon this evening is do not fret. And as you can see, this is part one. Because this is a lengthy psalm that deserves much attention. And so we’re going to spend a few Lord’s days considering the contents of this portion of God’s holy word. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, there are a number of words you can be listening for. A threat, wicked hope, vindication and retribution. Well, my dear friends in Christ, When we encounter examples of the wicked, of the godless, of unbelievers getting away with their wicked schemes, and especially when we see believers, when we see the righteous suffer under the hands of the wicked, it’s very tempting to fret.

It’s very tempting to be distressed, to feel uneasy, to feel anxious. when we see the prevalence of the evil and injustice of sinful humanity. It is tempting to question not only the goodness of God, but even the sovereignty of God. It’s that classical problem of evil. If God is all powerful and all good, why does God permit evil and sin in his good creation? The problem of evil has vexed the souls of many, including many godly men and women throughout history, and it is one of the major themes of our passage for this Lord’s Day evening. As one commentator writes, the psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question. Why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? King David, to whom this psalm is ascribed, was, of course, No stranger to such vexation, as he himself faced many occasions in his life where evil men plotted his downfall, even plotted his life.

His life was often in danger from the wicked. So David knows what he speaks of. He knows what it is like for the wicked to prosper, and he knows what it is like to have the wicked scheme against himself. And of course, friends, the ultimate king whom David was but a shadowy picture and type of, that is to say, great David’s greater son, Jesus the Messiah, was himself also no stranger to the plotting and schemings of wicked men. And our Lord’s suffering on the cross at the hands of wicked men was, in one sense, the ultimate expression of the problem of evil. As God the Father allowed, think of it, God the Father allowed his sinless, spotless son to die at the hands of sinful men. But our Lord’s crucifixion, in a deeper sense, our Lord’s crucifixion was the ultimate solution to the problem of evil.

As Jesus Christ, our Savior, took upon Himself the penalty for our sin, conquered the evil one, satisfied the justice of God against the sins of God’s elect, and guaranteed by His redemptive act ultimate cosmic redemption, paving the way for the new heavens and the new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. Dear ones, in this powerful portion of God’s word, the Holy Spirit, through King David, gives divine wisdom and advice to God’s people on the right attitude to have and the correct behavior to exhibit in the face of the apparent prosperity, security and success of evil doers. In this portion of Holy Scripture, God assures us, beloved, that he will never forsake his own, and he assures us in this passage that justice will be done in the end. Now, Psalm 37 assures us as believers that in his perfect timing, our faithful covenant Lord will indeed right all wrongs, bring upon the unrepentant wicked their just desserts, and vindicate his suffering and oppressed people.

So often it seems in this present age that injustice and evil is the norm. And even when so-called justice is done, it is often a very imperfect injustice, a very relative type of justice. But God, who is perfectly, infinitely just and righteous, holy, gracious and merciful, will indeed bring his justice to bear in the end. Now, how do we classify Psalm 37? Well, the scholars love to classify the psalms, and there’s different types of psalms, and Psalm 37 is often classified as a wisdom psalm. Why is it called a wisdom psalm? Well, because it kind of reads like the wisdom literature. It displays some of the emphases that we find in the wisdom literature of the Bible, such as, for example, what you find in the book of Proverbs. Some scholars suggest that Psalm 37 almost reads like Solomon’s Proverbs.

In the Hebrew, this psalm has been arranged in an alphabetical acrostic. Every two verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s not a perfect acrostic. I think one of the Hebrew letters, I believe, ayin, is missing and so forth. And that’s often a characteristic of the acrostic psalms written, penned by King David. But nevertheless, It is an alphabetical acrostic, and that’s important for you as an English reader to know, because when we in the English read this psalm, it kind of seems disjointed. It seems a little choppy to us. There doesn’t appear to be much of a logical flow to it, but that is because it has been arranged in this alphabetical acrostic pattern, which to the Hebrew reader would help to aid in memorization. Now, whatever the case may be, Whatever the case may be, the main focus of this song appears to be clear.

However, we might classify it, and that is that there is a great difference between the righteous and the wicked. But even though the ungodly may prosper for a time, the godly, those who are saved by God’s grace and thus oriented towards God in sovereign mercy, the godly can be assured that they will be the ones who will inherit the land or the earth, as it could be translated in the end. In fact, that’s a major theme, as we will see, that’s a major theme of this particular psalm, the theme of inheriting the land. What is that land that David is speaking of here? Well, this land that is in view here is almost certainly the promised land of Canaan, the holy land, the land that that piece of real estate in the Middle East that God promised to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But friends, we know as as believers living this side of the coming of Christ from a New Testament perspective, we know that that land that God gave to his people under the old covenant, that land was but a shadow and type a picture of the ultimate promised land. And that ultimate promised land is the new heavens. and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells and which Christ will usher in at his return at his glorious future second advent. In fact, even the saints who lived under the old covenant before the coming of Christ, the scriptures indicate that even they, at least at some level, understood the fact that this piece of real estate, this land of Israel that God had given to his people under the old dispensation, that was not their final or ultimate homeland.

Even Abraham looked forward to a heavenly land. Consider, for example, what the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 11, verses 9 and 10, where we read these words. Once I can get there, Hebrews 11, verses 9 and 10. Let me start at verse 8. It says, By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. And note, especially verse 10, for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He was looking for something beyond just the dirt under his feet, the land before him.

And then if you skip down to verses 13 through 16, we read this as the author fevers is talking about these Old Testament saints. He says, all these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and indeed, If they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, verse 16, as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. So we need to keep this new covenant perspective in mind as we read David speaking of inheriting the land.

Now, since the meek and the godly are to be the ones who will inherit the earth, as our Lord Jesus taught in the Beatitudes, how should the meek, the humble meek, true believers, in other words, how should they respond in the face of injustice and wickedness at the hands of the ungodly? Well, that question leads me to my first main point as we draw our attention to our passage for this evening. And I want us to focus, first of all, on the first section of this passage versus one through six. We learn from this section, beloved, that we are not to fret because of evil doers, but instead we are to hope in the Lord’s promised deliverance. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not fret because of evil doers, but instead let us hope in the Lord’s promised deliverance.

David writes, Do not fret because of evil doers. be not envious towards wrongdoers.” And then he explains why we should not fret. Now again, David’s major concern in this psalm appears to be the presence and the prevalence of the wicked and godless in the promised land and among the professed covenant people of God. What was the significance of the promised land in Old Testament times? Well again, as I mentioned, this was to be a picture, a type of heaven. And yet here was David, God’s chosen and anointed king, the promised king, and in the promised land. And this land is inhabited by a great multitude of people who are wicked, godless, impenitent, and unbelieving. Not only is the promised land inhabited by such people, these folks are not just found among the sojourners and the Gentiles who are temporary residents in the land.

But this was true even of circumcised Israelites. And so David is concerned about this reality. But again, the thrust of this psalm in general and of our passage for this evening in particular is Yahweh’s assurance to his people that those who through grace are rightly related to him, that is those who are described as those who trust in him, who delight in him, who commit their way to him, who rest in him, These are the ones who will inherit the land, not the unbelieving and impenitent who plot and scheme wickedness. So again, we are told, fret not because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. Why would you be tempted to be envious of wrongdoers? Because so often they seem to get away with their wrongdoing and they seem to be to escape any consequences for their sins and so forth.

But then David reminds us in verse two, for they will wither quickly like the grass, and fade like the green herb.” This is a common metaphor that is used in the Old Testament to describe how temporary this present life is, how fleeting it is, and how fleeting the wicked are. They will wither quickly like the grass, and that environments there in the promised land grass could rise up and then wither very, very quickly. I remember many years ago, and I won’t mention any names in particular, but I remember as a younger believer that I was fretting. And I have to be honest, brothers and sisters, this is a psalm that that speaks to me. I need to preach this to myself as well, because to be honest, I’m a fretter. You may not think that I’m a predator.

You say, Pastor Jeff looks like he’s kind of, you know, chill. No, I’m not. I am a predator. I am prone to anxiety. I don’t always show it. I bottled it up inside, but it’s there. It’s there. This is one of the sins that I, this is one of the sins of the heart that I often have to confess and struggle against. And I remember years ago, I was, I was aware of a particular public leader. Again, I won’t name any particular names, but this was a particular leader who was known for his godless lifestyle and so forth. And he just seemed, this particular individual, seemed to be so stable. He was a fixture from my childhood. I remember seeing him on the news and reading about him, and he just didn’t seem to go away.

But then one day, he died. He’s no longer with us. When I read verse two, I’m reminded of this particular individual. At the time, it seemed like he’s going to just be there forever. Now, I don’t know the state of his soul at the end. I don’t know if the Lord graciously converted him. I sure hope that he did. Otherwise, this individual will be in a lot of trouble right now. But nevertheless, I was fretting. I was upset. I was anxious. Sometimes perhaps you react that way when you read the news, the news. The way that the news is presented today, it’s presented to provoke rage and anger, and that tends towards fretting and anxiety. As we see the wickedness in our culture and in our world today, we’re tempted to fret and say, oh, the world’s out of control.

The world’s out of control. The wicked are overrunning the city, the nation. What are we to do? Let me ask you, brothers and sisters, who’s on the throne? God is still sovereign. Jesus Christ is still Lord. He is still on the throne. And as it says in verse two, when you think of the wicked out there in the world, and we need to look at our own hearts as well, don’t take the speck of dust out of your brother’s eye before you see the telephone pole sticking out of your own eye, right? We need to realize what verse two says, for they will wither quickly like the grass. Oh, we should pity them. We should pray for their salvation, their repentance. We should not wish ill upon them, even if they wish ill upon us.

Jesus loved his enemies. We are to love our enemies as well. Remember, life is so brief and they, the godless, who seem to be so prosperous, so secure in their godlessness, God has them in his hands. And unless they were tense. And I pray by sovereign grace, they do. I pray that I do and you do. It says, for they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. This is a this is a portion of God’s word that is encouraging us to take the long view. We want things done right away. Lord, why don’t you deal with this problem right away? We get impatient. But God is telling us, hey, I’ve got this under control. I’ve got this under control. And then verse three, trust in the Lord, trust in Yahweh, your faithful covenant keeping, covenant making God, your faithful Redeemer God.

But it doesn’t just say trust in the Lord, it says trust in the Lord and what? Do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. What a picture, cultivating faithfulness. Trust in the Lord and do good. This is a profound statement. You know, oftentimes I think when we believers hear exhortations in scripture to fret not, to not worry, to not be anxious and to wait upon the Lord, we tend to misinterpret that to mean that, oh, God just wants me to be apathetic. God just wants me to be inactive. He just wants me to sit back and in my easy chair and twiddle my thumbs and wait for the Lord to act. Let me ask you this, when you pray that petition of the Lord’s Day, Lord’s Prayer, give us this day our daily bread.

When we pray that, we recognize that God is the ultimate provider for all of our earthly needs. But is it legitimate to pray that prayer? OK, Lord, give us this day our daily bread and then to sit in your easy chair, twiddle your thumbs and wait for God to drop a Big Mac into your lap? That’s not how it works. What we’re saying, Praying, trusting God to provide for our daily needs is not contrary to going out and working for your daily bread and being active. And it’s the same thing with this call to fret not. The point is, don’t be overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. Yes, live your life, be faithful, be active, but trust that God will bring it to bring out righteousness to bear in the end. So again, This verse, verse three, where it says trust in the Lord and do good.

This shows that David’s call to fret not is not a call to passivity or apathy or indifference or inactivity in the face of wicked men. Rather, as one commentator puts it, the godly wisdom that is counseled here in this psalm is, and I quote, leave things in God’s hands as you perform your normal functions. Despite persecution. Stand fast where God has planted you and fulfill your calling. All this entire passage calls upon us to trust in the Lord and to rest in his divine sovereignty and deliverance. The trust that we are called to is not to be mistaken for a hands-off, detached passivity or an escapist mindset. No, dear ones, we are to trust in the Lord and then to live out as the outflow of that trust. We are to do good as the fruit and evidence of that trust, trust in the Lord and do good.

Then he goes on to say in verse four, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. If you are delighting in the Lord, then the desires of your heart will be godly desires. And again, this is all by God’s grace, not by our works, not something we work up in ourselves. He will give you the desires of your hearts. I’m sure that there are prosperity preachers that would latch on to the last part of verse four and say, aha, see, he will give you the desires of your heart. You want that Porsche? You want that new job? You want that mansion? That private jet? Name it and claim it. No. Delight yourself in the Lord. comes first, and then he will give you the desires of your heart because your desires by sovereign grace are godly desires.

And then verse five, commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he will do it. You know, this translation here in the New American Standard Version that says, commit your way to the Lord. In the Hebrew, it could literally be translated, roll your way upon the Lord. I love that imagery. Roll your way upon the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord. Roll your way upon the Lord. Rest in him. Do you see how David is repeatedly calling God’s people, not just to avoid something, namely fretting because of evil doers, but by grace, he’s calling them to rest upon and trust in the Lord. and to live out the implications of that in your life. And as you do, what does it say? What will be the result? What is the promise?

Verse six, he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. He will bring light to bear like the rising sun and like the noonday sun, he will bring light into your situation. So for my fellow fretters, why is it that we should not fret according to this psalm and according to the testimony of Holy Scripture as a whole? Well, brothers and sisters in Christ, we ought not to fret, first of all, because God cares for us. God cares for you. God cares for me. I know it’s not a theologically deep statement, I guess. But it is so profoundly true. The God who created the galaxies. And I forget the name of that telescope that has given us, recently we’ve gotten pictures from the far reaches of our universe and the scientists are discovering just how even more incredibly vast and huge our universe is.

With I think billions or trillions of galaxies, with trillions upon trillions of stars, planets and so forth. This huge universe. God created it all, and yet he cares for puny little you and me. If you’ve been born again by the Holy Spirit and thus you know Jesus Christ by faith as your very own Lord and Savior, then ultimately you have nothing to fear from the wicked because God, your Heavenly Father, does not abandon his adopted children. So Psalm 37 offers repeated assurance of this fact. Beloved in Christ, God is indeed our refuge and our strength, a very present help to us in our time of need. And therefore, let us not fret. Preaching this again to myself, I need to hear this. Let us not fret because of God’s care and concern for us, his children.

Are you a redeemed child of God? How do I know? Have you come to recognize your sin and recognize that Jesus Christ, the son of God incarnate, who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead, that he’s your only hope of salvation? Come to Christ. Rest in him alone for salvation from sin. And the word of God promises you, you will be saved. And God doesn’t lie and he doesn’t make promises with his fingers crossed behind his back. There isn’t lots of fine prints or legalese there. God’s promise is true. Believe in him, repent of sin and rejoice in knowing that he will bring, as it says in verse six, he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. But beloved, next, as we move on and consider the next section of our passage for this evening briefly, Be comforted by the promise of divine retribution against the unrepentant wicked.

Be comforted by the promise of divine retribution against the unrepentant wicked. Again, verse two reminds us of the fact that they, that those who hate the Lord and hate his people and persecute the meek and the lowly, It says they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. God’s retribution, if they remain unrepentant in their sin, God’s retribution sooner or later will come upon them. And then if we move on to verses 7 through 11, David again says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. And again, remember, waiting patiently for the Lord That is not a call to inactivity or passivity or apathy, sort of like, yeah, shrug your shoulders. Yeah, God’s got it under control. I guess I don’t need to do anything. No, it’s waiting for him to bring his vindication.

And that’s an active kind of waiting. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his ways. Talking about the wicked who prosper in their wickedness. Why? Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Don’t fret because of such a one. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evildoing. What have you ever accomplished by fretting, being anxious? What has that ever accomplished for you other than raising your blood pressure or damaging your health? Cease from anger, forsake wrath, do not fret. It leads only to evildoers, evildoing rather. Why? What’s the right? Why should we not fret? Why should we not? Why should we cease from wrath and so forth? Verse nine for evil doers will be cut off. The terminology of being cut off is sometimes used in the Old Testament to refer to execution.

It’s to expulsion from the covenant people of God, either through execution or or some other penalty. Evil doers will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land who will inherit the land. And this is talking, this is pointing us to what land? The ultimate promised land, the new heavens and the new earth, where in righteousness loves who will inherit the land. Those who in faith rest, wait for the Lord. Verse 10, yet a little while the wicked man will be no more. Again, this is This is God’s view of time. What to God seems like a little while may to us seem like a very long time. But the point is, when it says, yet a little while and this will happen, this is affirming the certainty of this vindication and this judgment against those who persist in their impenitence.

Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more, just like that individual that I mentioned earlier, who used to frustrate me so much and get me all anxious and fretting who ended up dying. And he is with us no more. And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But here’s the promise. The humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. They will delight themselves in abundant prosperity because they, as verse four tells us, they delight themselves in Yahweh, their God. Dear friends, this truth that our Heavenly Father is the righteous judge who will destroy the wicked and vindicate his people, this is a precious truth that ought to bring comfort to your heart, strength to your feeble hands, and praise to your quivering lips.

It doesn’t mean, again, this doesn’t mean that we should, that when we hear of or read of wicked people dying, that we should just be gleeful and rejoice and so forth. Remember King David, when Saul, David’s persecutor, was killed, did David throw a feast? No, David mourned, as was appropriate. But nevertheless, there is great comfort in knowing that those who wrong and persecute, who torture and harass the Church of Jesus Christ, that if they do not repent, one day God will bring them to account. This was a great, I mean, let me ask you to imagine, as we close our time in the Word tonight, let me ask you to imagine that you are living in the early centuries of the Christian Church, that you are living in a period of church history, you’re in the Roman Empire, and you’re living during a period of time in the Roman Empire when the Roman Empire is engaging in active persecution against Christians.

Now, You know, in the Roman Empire, persecution came in waves and it wasn’t always as intense. But let’s say that you’re in one of those periods of Roman history where the church is being severely persecuted. Imagine being a child, for example, witnessing your parents, a beloved mother or father, being dragged away to be taken to the Coliseum and fed to the lions. Imagine a beloved pastor being lit up like a torch, burned alive in your presence. We can hardly imagine. We live in such a setting of peace and prosperity in comparison to what many of our brothers and sisters in past ages have had to live through, and what many of our brothers and sisters across the world today face. We have it very comfortable here in the United States, and we sort of have this bias towards our comfortable normalcy, our comfortable American normalcy.

Oh yeah, Christians being martyred? That happens on the other side of the world. Maybe someday it’ll happen here. I hope not, but could be. We never know. But the idea of being comforted by God bringing retribution upon the wicked, to us that might seem a little bit sick. Pastor, are you saying that we should take comfort In the prospect of God casting the wicked into hell. Yes, that is a comforting thought. If you face real evil in the world. Not that again, not that we delight. God does not delight in the death of the sinner, but would rather the sinner turn. And nevertheless, what you comfort us and what we should rejoice in. is that in the face of all the injustice and all the evil that we see all around us in the world today, God will one day bring it to an end.

He will one day right all wrongs, and he will one day vindicate his people and bring his holy and just retribution upon those who have refused to repent of their wicked ways. Though Christ’s sheep are threatened by wolves from without and false shepherds from within, God will visit judgment upon the wicked and will deliver and vindicate his people. Make sure that you are amongst among those who belong to his people. Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior for your life. And then you can claim for yourself the promise of verse 11. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father in heaven. We are so prone, Lord, to anxiety, to fretting. We ask, Lord, that you would forgive us for our sinful fears, our sinful anxieties, for our fretting hearts.

Lord, we pray that you would give us the grace to trade fretting for faith. We ask that you would grant unto us the grace to trust in you, Lord, and to do good. We ask, O Lord, that these truths would sear themselves upon our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. Help us to see how these truths we’ve considered tonight are relevant to our particular circumstances. And we pray that you would grant us a restful evening tonight. Bless us in our vocations in the week ahead. We ask all of these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said, Amen.

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About this sermon

David wrote Psalm 34 after fleeing from Saul and pretending madness before the king of Gath, and it overflows with praise: ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good.’ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing, and he is near to the brokenhearted. The Father vindicated Christ, the righteous sufferer whose bones were not broken, and none who take refuge in him will be condemned.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. My sermon text this evening as we continue to work our way through select Psalms is Psalm 34. Dear friends, hear the word of God. This is entitled, A Psalm of David. when he feigned madness before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good! How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints! For those who fear him, there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.

The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Dear ones, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. And please join me in a word of prayer. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, you are indeed so good to us.

We thank you, O God, that you have granted unto us your word. what a precious revelation, what a precious treasure your word is. We ask that by your Holy Spirit this evening, that once again you would feed our souls through the word, open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. Edify us and build us up in our most holy faith through the word this evening. Forgive our sins and strengthen us and grant unto me, your unworthy servants, the grace to declare your word with clarity and power. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, the title of my sermon this evening is, O Taste and See. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, there are quite a number of words you can be listening for this evening.

Well, dear ones, this portion of God’s word that we’re considering on this Lord’s Day evening is a psalm that is saturated with a tone of exuberance and high praise to God. Now, the superscription or title of this particular psalm ascribes it to David, Indeed, to a very dangerous period in David’s life when he was fleeing for his life from the persecutions of King Saul. This was during that period of David’s life before he had ascended to the throne. God had chosen him to replace Saul, but he had not yet been raised up to the throne of Israel, and so Saul was seeking to take his life. And David found himself as an exile, fleeing from Saul. The Abimelech that is mentioned in this superscription is likely a title for the king of Gath, one of the Philistine cities, a king whom the author of 1 Samuel named as King Accus.

But even though, according to the superscription, this psalm arose out of a specific historical situation in the days of David, the contents of this psalm, like many of the psalms, are general enough that it could be used by many different believers in many different periods of history facing various circumstances in life. Now, the biblical scholars love to classify things, especially those scholars who study the Psalms, and such scholars debate whether this particular Psalm should be classified as a thanksgiving hymn or as a wisdom psalm. Now, the first seven verses of the psalm, the first section of the psalm, the first seven verses where the theme of exuberant thanksgiving dominates would seem to favor the Thanksgiving hymn classification. But the second section of this psalm, verses 8-22, is a section where the theme of wisdom and the language of the wisdom tradition predominates in this portion of the psalm.

So that would seem to favor its classification as a wisdom psalm. Some scholars think, well, this is a Thanksgiving psalm with elements of wisdom. Others would say this is a wisdom psalm with elements of thanksgiving. So, which is it? Well, friends, I’ll leave that to the scholars to decide, but however we might technically classify this psalm, it is clear to the student of scripture who studies this psalm carefully that the two basic themes that dominate this powerful psalm are the themes of thanksgiving and godly wisdom. Praise to God, magnifying the Lord, and the pursuit of godly wisdom in accordance with the Word of God. These are the two major themes that are highlighted in this particular portion of God’s Word. So, with that background information in mind, let’s focus our attention, first of all, on the first section of this psalm in verses 1-7, and I want you to observe, brothers and sisters, a heartfelt thanksgiving for God’s goodness and deliverance.

What we have in the first section of this psalm is a heartfelt thanksgiving for God’s goodness and deliverance. The first two verses are the opening verses of this psalm. And in these opening verses, the focus is on individual thanksgiving. As David writes, I will bless the Lord. And when will he bless the Lord? I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Again, we have that typical acrostic pattern that we find in the Psalms, where the psalmist says basically the same thing in two slightly different ways. To say, I will bless the Lord at all times, and to say his praise shall continually be in my mouth, is basically two different ways of saying the same thing. And then he goes on to say in verse 2, my soul will make its boast in the Lord, the humble will hear it and rejoice.

These opening verses are like an entryway that brings us into a great banquet hall where we may feast on the delicacies of praise as well as the delicacies of godly wisdom. Now, I want to go back to verse one. David writes, I will bless the Lord at all times. We know what it means for God to bless us, to grant us his grace, his favor, to shower his goodness upon us. But what does it mean when we bless God. Well, as one commentator puts it, the idea behind bless is to speak a good word about someone. So when a human blesses God, he speaks a good word about God’s kindness and generosity. David had experienced God’s kindness, God’s generosity, so he wants to make that known. He wants to speak with his lips in blessing to God. speaking a good word about God’s goodness and generosity.

But one of the things about this psalm, while it begins on a note of personal thanksgiving, personal praise to God in view of God’s answer to David’s prayers and cries for help and deliverance, it doesn’t remain personal. There are even hints at the end of verse 2 that David is going to expand this and this psalm is going to progress toward a communal direction. When David says, the humble will hear it, and rejoice. It is certainly a very edifying thing. If you spend time in prayer and praising God in personal devotion, you build yourself up in your faith. When you spend time with the Lord in private, praising Him and thanking Him for His goodness to you, that certainly is an edifying exercise. But David is not just concerned about his own edification. He’s not just concerned to express his own personal praise and thanksgiving to God.

He’s also concerned that others join in with him and our benefit from the praise that he offers to the Lord. And so he says at the end of verse two, the humble will hear it and rejoice. He wants to invite others to join with him in rejoicing before the Lord. And so, though this psalm begins on a note of individual thanksgiving, we see in verse three, it progresses to a call to communal praise. As David writes, O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Again, while this psalm begins with a focus on individual thanksgiving, as David resolves to personally bless and praise Yahweh, his faithful covenant God, continuously in verse three, The psalm progresses to a call for communal praise as David calls upon the community of God’s covenant people to join him in magnifying and exalting the name of Yahweh.

Now, have you ever asked yourself the question, what does it mean to magnify God? How can we magnify the God who is already infinitely, perfectly, boundlessly magnificent? How can we glorify the God who is infinitely glorious? When the scriptures talk about us glorifying God or magnifying God, it doesn’t mean that we somehow add to God’s magnificence or add to His glory. We cannot add to the glory of God, because God is already infinitely glorious. But we can reflect and declare His glory, His magnificence. And so that term, magnify, what does it mean to magnify God? It means to make God’s name great. through our praise to declare and magnify God in the presence of others. And again, as I already pointed out, here the psalmist wants others to join with him in communal praise to God.

And friends, this is important. There is a sense in which corporate communal praise, such as we engage in when we gather for worship and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unto God and offer to God our prayers and our praises and our thanksgivings in prayer. There’s a sense in which communal praise in the assembly of God’s people is the ideal and is much more meaningful than isolated individual praise. So that too is important. I’m not denying the importance of personal praise, personal devotion. But God’s word is much more concerned about our communal life together as the body of Christ, as the company, the community of God’s covenant people. And we see that communal emphasis that communal focus, that covenantal communal focus in this psalm and in most of the psalms as well. Now, in verses 4-6, as David moves on in this psalm, what does David do next?

As he has expressed his own personal thanksgiving to God and called the community, the covenant community, to join him in praising God, what does David do next in verses 4-6? is offer a personal testimony of how the Lord has heard his cry and met his need. He says in verse four, I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. David had much to fear, especially with King Saul in the picture. David was having to flee for his life, even having to take refuge in the pagan land of of Philistia and in the city of Gath. What does David say? I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. God had made a covenant promise to David that David would be the next king and God was going to be faithful to keep his promises and David could appeal to Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness to keep the covenant.

And then David goes on again While he begins with a personal testimony of how the Lord had answered his need, he again turns this towards a more communal focus. He says in verse 5, “…they looked to him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.” David, according to Dr. Van Gemmeren, has witnessed how God’s saints radiate confidence and joy. Indeed, they radiate confidence and joy, and that is expressed through this language here about their faces never being ashamed. And who is it whose faces are never ashamed? Well, those who seek the Lord like David did. And by the way, as an aside in commenting on verse 4, notice the important theme of seeking the Lord. Scripture often calls upon sinners to seek the Lord, and the Bible tells us that God is the gracious rewarder of those who seek Him.

Consider once again those familiar words from Isaiah 55, verses 6 and 7, where the prophet Isaiah says, Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him, While he is near, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. And he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. God is merciful to those who seek his grace, who seek his face. And I’m reminded of what the author of Hebrews tells us after the in the midst of that great hall of faith in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse six. We read these words. Hebrews 11, verse six. And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who do what of those who seek him.

David, in his need, in his utter dependency and in his utter helplessness, sought the Lord and the Lord delivered him from all of his fears. Those who, like David, looked to Yahweh, looked to the Lord for all of their needs, especially for the need for grace and salvation and deliverance. What does verse 5 say? They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. The faces of the godly radiate joy and confidence. Why? Because Christ has taken their shame upon Himself. If you find yourself in a situation where you do something shameful or you feel ashamed, you oftentimes… what will happen if you feel ashamed or embarrassed? It’ll often show up in your face. Maybe your face will… maybe you’ll blush. Your face will turn bright red. Or perhaps if you’re thinking of something you’ve done in the past that you feel shame for, and that shame still eats at you, it might cause your countenance to fall, your face to fall.

But those who look to the Lord in faith and trust in His saving mercy, their faces are lifted up. Or we have reason to have our faces lifted up. Why? Because again, Jesus Christ has taken our shame away from us. We have much to be ashamed of. We all are guilty of sin. The sin nature that resides in us and of many sins that we have committed. And perhaps you have things in your past. As you look back on them, you feel shame for them. And the devil, the accuser of the brethren, loves to dredge those up, doesn’t he? He loves to pull those skeletons out of your closet and remind you. Remember when you did this? Remember when you thought that? Remember when you said that? Remember when you behaved in this way? And we feel ashamed.

But brothers and sisters in Christ, when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, Yes, he took our sin upon himself. He took the guilt of our sin upon himself in our place and in our stead. The sinless, spotless Lamb of God died in our place, in our stead. And in taking our sin upon himself and paying the penalty for our sin, Jesus Christ also absorbed our shame so that there is no more reason for us as believers to feel shame. Now, certainly, as imperfectly sanctified saints, We continue to sin and we continue to experience feelings of shame. And when we do stray from the Lord, we should temporarily at least feel ashamed if that shame leads us to repentance, which it is designed to do. But by the grace of God, having confessed and forsaken and repented of our sin, we need not live in shame because Christ covers our shame.

He cleanses us through his blood. He clothes us in his perfect everlasting righteousness. And He abides with us. And He loves us as a loving Heavenly Father. Yes, He disciplines us so that we may share in His holiness. Yes, He sometimes corrects us and sometimes brings pain and difficulty into our lives. But He does so not ultimately to shame us, but to restore us and to cause us to seek His face and rest upon Him. Praise God that Jesus, our Savior, has taken away our shame on the cross. And then verse six, David writes, This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. This poor man cried. What are you saying, Pastor? What’s David saying here? That he was impoverished? Well, we need to understand that again, to quote from another commentator, here, as often in the Psalms, poor, the term poor characterizes not necessarily one who has no possessions, but one who is and recognizes that he is without resources to effect his own deliverance or secure his own life, safety, or well-being, and so is dependent upon God.

This reminds me of what our Lord Jesus says in his Beatitudes. The very first Beatitude, Jesus says what? Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Among other things, it means to recognize your own spiritual poverty, to recognize that you have nothing with which to lay claim upon God or his mercy. And yet God is merciful to those who are humble and broken in spirit, recognizing their spiritual poverty, recognizing that God alone can deliver you and meet your need. David expresses this kind of faith, this kind of poverty of spirit here in this psalm. And then David speaks these hopeful words in verse 7. He says, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and rescues them. Here we see testimony to Yahweh’s protection of his covenant community described here as those who fear him, those who reverence him.

And who is it that protects them, encamps around them, protecting them? The one described as the angel of the Lord. You’ve heard of the angel of the Lord before, haven’t you? The term angel simply means messenger, and sometimes the scriptures use the term angel to refer to those spiritual, mighty spiritual beings, the angels, but sometimes that word can refer to a messenger. And oftentimes in the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord is one who is distinct from Yahweh in one sense, but also the name of Yahweh is in his angel. I believe that this angel of the Lord is often in the scriptures in the Old Testament, speaking of Jesus prior to his incarnation. This is the Son of God prior to his incarnation. For he is distinct from the Father, and yet the name of God, the divine name, the divine essence, is in this angel of the Lord.

And this is speaking of Jesus. Jesus encamps around those who reverence Him and rescues them. Praise be to God that Christ our Savior has rescued us from sin and death and hell. Oh dear ones, let us consider from this first section of Psalm 34 how good God has been to us. Especially, let us consider what Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has done to rescue us from our sins, and let us praise Him for His goodness and His gracious deliverance of us. But after this opening section of praise and exuberant thanksgiving to God, David goes on, beginning at verse 8, to pen this second section of Psalm 34. And this section causes us to consider the greatness of wisdom. That’s my next main point as we focus on this second section of Psalm 34. Consider next, beloved, the greatness of godly wisdom.

Solomon writes in that familiar passage in Proverbs 1 verse 7, he writes, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is a sense of holy reverence and awe for the Lord, for who He is, and for all that He has done for us. In verse 8, after the opening section of exuberant praise, David, using the language of the wisdom tradition, says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Yahweh is good. He’s faithful to us. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Language of taking refuge in the Lord is language that we would today describe as those who exercise saving faith in him. To take refuge in the Lord is to trust in the Lord for your salvation, for your protection, for your deliverance.

And then David goes on to say, Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. For those who fear him, there is no want. And so forth. Taste and see that the Lord is good. What does it mean to taste that the Lord is good? Well, this is the language of personal experience. In other words, experience personally in your life that the Lord is indeed good. The Apostle Peter in that passage I read earlier in the service from 1 Peter chapter 2 Remember, he says, therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have what if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, if you are in Christ, if he is your Lord and Savior, you have tasted the Lord’s kindness, the Lord’s goodness.

And you see with the eyes of faith that the Lord has been good to you. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Only those who know Christ taste his mercy. Now, notice also in this verse and the verses that follow that there are numerous exhortations that David presents in this psalm. He tells us again in verse eight to taste and to see those are action words. These are He is exhorting us to active faith. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Verse 8. Look at verse 9. Oh, do what? Fear the Lord, you his saints. Look at verse 10. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who do what? Seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Verse 11. Come, you children, listen to me.

Again, these are action words. these passages of scripture require a response of active faith. And then in verse 13, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. So there’s keep, there’s depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. This language is a call to pursue godly wisdom, but friends, the call to godly wisdom is also a call to faith, and to the faithful action that is the outflow of a true and living faith. And that is what we are called to in verses 8-14. It’s interesting in verse 10, David reflects upon the young lions. We know an account where David wrestled with a lion And we know that he was familiar with that, but he says, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

Now, one commentator points out that the word lions may actually be used in a metaphorical sense, that this may be a metaphor for those who are strong, oppressive, and evil, yet even they, even they are in want, even they at times lack and suffer hunger. But the good news is that those who seek the Lord, the Lord will provide. And ultimately, spiritually, he provides us food for our souls through his word and by Christ. Now, in verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me. Who’s speaking here? Is this the Lord addressing his covenant community when he says, Come, you children, and listen to me? Is this God addressing his people as his children? Or is this to be understood as referring to David David regarded as a wisdom teacher addressing his followers as his children.

Well, given the customary language of the wisdom literature and tradition, probably the latter. It’s very common for wisdom teachers to refer to their disciples, their followers, as their children. So perhaps this is being used in sort of a metaphorical sense. However, we need to remember that David writes this psalm as a prophet of God. The Holy Spirit inspired David, carried him along so that he penned these words, and these words are the words of the Holy Spirit. So, as a prophet of God, David is a mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit. So, ultimately, we should understand this as the Spirit addressing us as God’s children and summoning us to pursue godly wisdom. Are you, brother or sister in Christ, pursuing godly wisdom? Oh, go back and, after the service, Reflect, especially upon this section of Psalm 34 and ask yourself, am I pursuing the pathway of godly wisdom?

Have I tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Do I reverence the Lord? Do I seek the Lord? Am I listening to his word, open to his teaching? Do I keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit? Do I depart from evil and do good? Do I seek peace and pursue it? This is the way of godly wisdom. This is the way that faith calls us to travel, brothers and sisters, in Christ. We also note here in verses 15-22, this latter section of the psalm, the rewards of wisdom. The eyes of the Lord are toward the right, verse 15, and his ears are open to their cry. By the way, notice the anthropomorphic language that David employs here to describe God as if he had body parts. Our Mormon friends, I know, will zero in on passages like this to say, see, God has a body like we do, with literal eyes and literal ears and so forth, and a literal face.

But no, we need to understand that this language is intended to communicate at a human level the Lord’s perception of us, his engagement with us His relationship to us. It says the eyes of Yahweh, the Lord, are toward the righteous, those who are rightly related to God. The eyes of the Lord are toward them. In other words, God watches over his people in favor. He watches over them and provides for them. His ears are open to their cry. God listens to our prayers, brothers and sisters. But then there’s a warning in verse 16. The face of the Lord is against evildoers. When the scriptures talk about God shining the light of his countenance, turning his face toward you, that’s language that describes God’s favor. But when God turns his face away from someone, that is an indication of turning away his favor.

Yahweh is attentive to and responds to the cries of the righteous, but he turns his face, his face rather, indicating his favor away from evil doers. to cut off the memory of them from the earth. Verse 17, the righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. What comforting words these are. And then to wrap up this exuberance psalm, this psalm of wisdom and thanksgiving, David says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. I mean, this is not a candy coated version of reality. This is not happy, clappy Christianity here that David presents. God’s word is clear. The way of righteousness is a hard way. It is a narrow way. It is the way of Christ’s faith in him.

And as a result of that faith following after him. But here’s the thing. Though many are the afflictions of the righteous, what does it say at the end of verse 19? But the Lord delivers him out of them all. Sooner or later in this life or in the next, the Lord delivers the righteous out of all of his afflictions. I would be lying to you if I said to you, well, if you follow Jesus, everything will be hunky-dory for you all the time. You’ll always be healthy. You’ll always be wealthy. You’ll always be prosperous. That’s the lie of the prosperity gospel. Prosperity preachers need to read Psalm 34 verse 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Many. And it says in the New Testament that it is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God.

But the good news is that the Lord delivers him out of them all. The Lord in his providence does send afflictions our way, brothers and sisters. But he does so as a loving father, and he promises to us that he will deliver us out of them all. And then verse 20 is an interesting sort of mysterious passage. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Now, in the original setting here, David is perhaps speaking metaphorically of how God preserves his people. But the New Testament authors, again, under the inspiration of the spirit, ascribe this to Christ. This is a prediction of Christ. When Jesus was crucified, one of the amazing things about Christ is that none of his bones were broken. Remember, as Jesus was hanging on the cross, and Pilate had given the order for the soldiers to go break the legs of Jesus and those who were crucified with him, because that would speed up the process of death because the, you know, because the Sabbath day was coming and so forth, and the Jews did not want Jesus and his fellow crucifixion victims to remain.

But when the soldiers came to Jesus, he was already dead. They didn’t break his bones. The Lord preserved Jesus, preserved his bones from being broken. John 19 verse 36 sees this as a prophecy of Christ and his crucifixion. As it says in John 19, verse 36. Let me just get there. In describing the care of the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, it says, John writes, For these things came to pass to fulfill the scripture, not a bone of him shall be broken. Why was this significant? This was significant, brothers and sisters, because God’s Word teaches back in the regulations regarding the Passover that the Passover lamb, the bones were not to be broken. If you go back to Exodus chapter 12, verse 46, Exodus 12, verse 46, it says this of the Passover lamb.

It is to be eaten in a single house. You are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. So David, perhaps with this passage in the background of his mind, as the Holy Spirit carries him along to pen these words, looks forward and sees of Christ, Christ who is the great David’s greater son, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate righteous man, whom God vindicates by Christ’s resurrection from the dead. That is his vindication. It says that God keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Jesus Christ was the ultimate Passover lamb, the ultimate righteous sufferer who was vindicated by his Father in heaven. That vindication comes out in the last two verses of this passage. Evil shall slay the wicked.

That’s a warning to those who refuse the Lord, who are impenitent in their sin. And those who hate the righteous will be condemned. Oh, if that describes you, heed this warning and turn from your wicked ways. Turn to Christ. as your Savior from sin. Verse 22, the Lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Are you taking refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior, the deliverer who absorbed all your sin and all your shame upon himself on the cross? The Lord who rose from the dead and provides his people with newness of life in union with him. May you find in Christ your refuge, your deliverance, your hope, and your strength. And may you taste and see that the Lord is indeed good.

As a result, beloved, let us magnify and exalt his name together. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, We thank you, O God, that you are so good to us. And we thank you, O Lord, that you have granted unto us in the scriptures not only a model of praise, but also godly wisdom to live by. Grant us the grace, O Lord, out of gratitude for your gift of salvation to us, that we would listen to you, that we would seek you, that we would fear and reverence you and magnify you, not only with our lips, but from our hearts and in our daily lives. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

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About this sermon

Psalm 32 declares that the truly blessed person is the one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. While David kept silent about his sin, his body wasted away under God’s heavy hand, and when he confessed, God forgave. Old covenant saints were justified by faith, just as believers are now, trusting in the atonement to come. The Lord’s lovingkindness surrounds those who trust in him, so the righteous rejoice and shout for joy.

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Sermon transcript

This evening as we continue our study through the various psalms in the Psalter, this evening we are in Psalm 32. Psalm 32, a very significant and precious psalm. So here God’s holy word, Psalm 32, it is entitled the Psalm of David a Masculine. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Stila. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin, Selah.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance, Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bits and bridles to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, loving kindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy. all you who are upright in heart.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Please join me in your hearts in prayer. Our Lord and Father in Heaven, we thank you, O God, for the Holy Scriptures, for your inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. We ask, Lord God, that your Word, by your Spirit, your Word would find a lodging place in our hearts this evening. And we ask Lord God that this word that is considered tonight and proclaim tonight would bear spiritual fruit in our lives that brings glory to your holy name. We ask these things through Jesus Christ, your son, our savior and Lord and all of God’s people said in that congregation, you may be seated. Titled my sermon this evening is blessed. and forgiven, and you’ll notice on your sermon outline that there are a number of key words that I would encourage you to keep track of if you find that helpful in following along in the sermon.

Where do you find true, lasting happiness? Where do you find true blessedness? And who is the truly blessed man, the truly blessed woman? Is it, for example, the influential billionaire who owns several huge mansions, multiple fancy cars, maybe a couple of private jets, a huge yacht with staff included, and who enjoys great public prestige? Is he the blessed man? Or is it the dashing, carefree playboy who lives for pleasure and eagerly fulfills all the desires of his fleshly passions? Is this the successful businessman whose business skills are able to secure for him a growing business with soaring profits, or maybe a little bit more down to earth, is it the devoted family man who finds satisfaction in his loving wife and adoring children? I imagine that if you were to take a public survey and ask folks, the ordinary man or woman on the street, what true blessedness is and how to identify a truly blessed man or woman, I’m sure you would get many different answers to that question.

But what is the biblical answer to the question, who is the blessed man, the blessed one? Well, the biblical answer to that question is found in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, Psalm 32. What kind of a Psalm is Psalm 32? How do we classify it? Again, I know I often quote from Dr. Willem van Gemmeren, but he is usually on target in identifying these kinds of questions, and he introduces Psalm 32 in the following words. He says Psalm 32 has a special significance in the life of the church and the Christian. It is one of the seven penitential Psalms. Those Psalms include Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. And he goes on to say its association with David encourages the Christian to use the Psalm as an assurance of God’s forgiveness.

Yet this Psalm is more than a penitential Psalm. It includes elements of thanksgiving and wisdom. There are sort of elements of the wisdom tradition that we can detect in this composition of King David. And so, Dr. Van Gameren says, we conclude that Psalm 32 is an adaptation of a thanksgiving psalm to the wisdom tradition. Now, as we dive into our passage for this evening, I do need to give credit where credit is due, and I must credit the New Bible commentary for the main points. of my sermon in terms of the basic outline, although the contents come from various sources of my studies. So let’s dive in, and first of all, beloved, let us consider the joy and blessedness of God’s forgiveness. The first section of this psalm, verses 1 through 5, we learn here of both the joy and the blessedness of God’s forgiveness.

As the psalmist David begins this wonderful psalm, how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Now before we get too much into the weeds of the details of this text, let’s step back a moment and let’s focus in on that word blessed. If you’re familiar with the broad contours of the Word of God, if you’re familiar with with the general outlines of Holy Scripture and the general themes of Scripture, you will know that the themes of blessing and of curse are deeply interwoven into the fabric of sacred history. And even before man’s fall into sin, Adam in the garden was presented with a blessing and with a curse. He was presented with the option of a blessing or of a curse.

In the creational covenant of works that God made with mankind in Adam, God threatened the curse of death if Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience to God’s command in the covenant of creation, the covenant of works, would result in the curse of death for Adam and indeed for the entire human race, which Adam represented. But in the midst of the garden, there was another tree, sort of a mysterious tree mentioned, namely the tree of life. Not much is said about that tree in the text of Genesis itself. But when we, and though it is not explicitly stated in the text of Genesis, when we compare scripture with scripture, and also when we remember that the tree of life actually shows up in the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation 22, we see that there is deep significance to this tree of life.

And we can infer from the presence of the tree of life in the garden that its presence there implies the promise of eternal glorified life for Adam and his posterity, provided that Adam continued in his obedience to God and passed the probationary tests of the serpent’s temptation in the garden. The tree of life represents the blessing, just as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the curse for disobedience. Let’s briefly go back to the beginning to Genesis chapter two and look at verse nine and also verses 15 through 17 in Genesis chapter two, verse nine. We read these words, it says out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the site and good for food. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden. and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So we’re introduced to those trees which represent the blessing and the curse as we will learn. And then look at verses 15 and following 15 through 17. It says then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden, you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.” In other words, you disobey this command, this probationary test that God is putting Adam to. You disobey and there will be the curse. You may eat of any tree, but if you eat of this tree, there will be the curse. And so the theme of blessing and curse goes all the way back to the beginning of Holy Scripture.

Of course, we know that Adam and Eve We know the end of the story, we know what happens in Genesis chapter three, and we know that Adam and Eve failed this probationary test and through their disobedience, they brought God’s curse upon the human race. Now, fast forward to a later time in redemptive history, later on in redemptive history, after God had rescued his people, Israel, from their slavery in Egypt and had brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai. What does God do? Well, he gives to them his holy law. And after God had revealed his holy law to the Israelites from Mount Sinai and through the prophet Moses, again, God presents his people with the choice of a blessing or of a curse. The covenant nation of Israel would experience the blessings of God’s covenant if they responded to his law with obedience.

But if they would not obey, they would experience his curse. We’re reminded of this in a very significant passage in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 27, verse 26, says the following. Deuteronomy 27, verse 26, in the midst of the pronouncement of the curses of the covenant from Mount Ebal, the crowning curse that is pronounced is in verse 26 of chapter 27 of Deuteronomy. Cursed is he who does not what? Does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say, Amen. It’s all or nothing. Cursed is the one who does not confirm the words of this law. Beloved, it is on the basis of this principle that the law requires personal, perfect and entire obedience. It is on the basis of that principle that the Apostle Paul reminds the Galatian Christians in Galatians chapter 3 verse 10. that justification before God cannot be on the basis of the works of the law.

As Paul states in Galatians 3 verse 10, where he quotes from the Deuteronomy passage that I just read to you, Deuteronomy 27, 26, Paul writes, for as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse for it is written, curse is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. Now, let’s step back and reflect on this in light of our passage for this evening. If all of mankind in Adam is under a curse because of Adam’s disobedience and the scriptures bear it out that yes, indeed, humanity is under the curse of the covenant of works. And if it is impossible for us sinners to obtain the blessing of God’s favor and the blessing of eternal life through the keeping of God’s holy law, since as sinners, none of us is capable of perfectly obeying that law, then how can fallen sinful man ever experience the blessedness of God’s favor?

How can we ever hope to gain eternal life, the ultimate blessing in such a situation as ours is in our fallen situation where we are under the curse? Where can the blessed man be found? Well, in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, King David, writing under the Spirit’s inspiration, helps us to answer that question. In this psalm, we learn that the truly blessed one is the one who has experienced the forgiving, justifying grace of Almighty God, the justifying and forgiving grace that has been secured for his people through the saving work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And even old covenant saints such as King David enjoyed the blessedness of that forgiving, justifying grace of God. Though David and the other old covenant saints did not see the full picture as we see it, are privileged to see it today under the new covenant, they did trust in the promise that God would send a Messiah who would indeed provide for atonement and provide for the blessing of justification.

And so this brings us back to our psalm for this evening. And we see, first of all, the statement of blessing pronounced in the first two verses. And it’s interesting, in these first two verses, there are three terms that David uses for sin, to describe sin, and there are also three descriptions that he uses of God’s forgiveness of our sins. He says, how blessed is he who’s, what, transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. There’s transgression, there’s sin, and verse two, how blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute what? Iniquity. So there’s transgression, there’s sin, there’s iniquity. And the blessed man is the one who is what? Forgiven, whose sin is covered, and to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Now, let’s first of all focus on these three words for sin.

Again, to quote from the New Bible commentary, first of all, there is the word transgression. Transgression is an act of rebellion and disloyalty. What about the word sin itself? Well, this is an act that misses, often intentionally, God’s expressed and revealed will. It’s missing the mark. And what about the word iniquity? Well, this is a word that indicates a crooked or wrong act often associated with a conscious and intentional intent to do wrong. So you’ve got these synonyms for sin, and various aspects of sin are highlighted. What is the Holy Spirit teaching us in inspiring David to use these various terms? Well, it would seem that the point that is being made here is that God’s forgiveness of believers, it covers all shades and all types of sin. But again, notice the three words for God’s forgiveness.

Again, to quote from the Bible commentary, the three verbs express the absoluteness of divine forgiveness. There is the term, first of all, are forgiven. This is the act of removal of sin, guilt and the remembrance of sin. When God forgives us, he removes the sin. He removes sin, guilt and the remembrance of sin. And then there is the term that they are covered. This is the gracious act of atonement by which the sinner is reconciled, and the sin is a matter of the past, so that the Lord does not bring it up anymore as a ground for his displeasure. When God forgives us, he also, by implication, promises to forget, if you will. Not that he’s not aware of our past sins, but he promises never to dredge them up and use them against us ever again.

And by the way, that is the model for our forgiveness of those who sin against us. When a brother or sister has sinned against you and asks for your forgiveness and you bestow, you grant your forgiveness, you are implicitly saying, yes, I forgive you and I’m never going to bring this up again ever to use it against you. Never going to dredge up the past again. If you do that, you haven’t really forgiven that person. What about does not count sin? Does not impute sin? Again, this expresses God’s attitude toward those who are forgiven as justified. So think about the nature of sin that is forgiven. All types and shades of sin are included. Iniquity, transgression, sin itself. And then what does God do? He forgives us. He covers our sin. He provides atonement. And that provision of atonement was symbolized and typified in the sacrificial and ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant.

That’s why we see an Old Covenant believer like David understanding that his standing before God is not on the basis of his obedience to God’s law, but on the basis of God’s gracious forgiveness to him. That God has provided forgiveness for his sins. God has provided atonement. He trusts in God’s provision of atonement that was signified and symbolized in the ceremonial and sacrificial laws which pointed forward to Christ. But then in the next section of the psalm, verses 3 and 4, David recounts a very painful experience in his past where he did not acknowledge his sin. He says in verse three, when I kept silent about my sin, the particular sin is not mentioned. We don’t know. I mean, you read the history of David. David had a lot of sins. He was a man after God’s own heart.

He was the sweet psalmist of Israel. He was a great saint in one regard, in one sense, but he was also a great sinner and he needed a God of great, amazing grace to meet his need. There was a particular time when he held back from confessing or acknowledging his sin. What was his experience during that time? We read about that in verses three and four. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. This is a description of the sovereign Lord’s hand of conviction. See, when we as believers are living in unrepentant sin, the Spirit will convict us. And if we resist him, the heaviness of that conviction, his hand will weigh heavy upon us until through sovereign grace we do once again repent.

Day and night, this was a continual thing. David says, day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. And it was physically draining to him. He says, my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I think we’re sort of in the midst of the fever heat of summer. Some of these days, especially getting into the 90s, it gets very hot out. And I don’t know about you folks, but when it’s hot and humid, even if I’m inside my air conditioned home, the humidity and the heat just kind of drains me of energy. Well, that’s sort of a description of what’s going on with David, his vitality. He just lost his zest for life as he refused to repent of his sin. and was under the conviction, the continuous heavy conviction of the Lord.

But then, praise God, there was relief. And he found relief through confession and repentance, resulting in God’s forgiveness. Look at verse five. He says, I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And what was the result? David says, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Oh, blessed relief, blessed relief when he finally owned up and said, yes, Lord, I’m guilty. This is what I’ve done. He found relief through confession and repentance, and we do as well. Just a couple of takeaways from this passage. First of all, beloved, the forgiveness of sins of which this passage speaks is only made possible through the merit and substitutionary atonement of Christ, our Lord and Savior. And again, as I mentioned, the atonement of Christ that makes, that is the ground and basis of our forgiveness and justification before God.

This atonement was pictured in the shadow and types, the shadows and the types under the old covenant. So while believers living in Old Testament times did not have the fullness of gospel understanding that we are privileged as new covenant believers to enjoy in this new covenant era, nevertheless, they too looked to God’s promised mercy in the promised Messiah for their salvation. They, too, looked for the promise. They trusted in the promise that God would send the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent. It wasn’t entirely clear how God was going to do this. They had the Passover lamb. They had the sacrifices that pointed them to God’s provision for atonement and forgiveness. But nevertheless, they knew that it was God’s mercy and the atonement that God provided that enabled them to be forgiven and to stand justified before God.

David understood this and we must understand this as well. Dear listener, are you resting in Christ and his vicarious atonement for the forgiveness of your sins? Do you look to, you know, earlier in the service, We sang that beautiful hymn, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. His active and passive obedience, his merit and sacrifice alone is the ground and basis for our justification and salvation. Does your hope rest on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness? He alone provides us with atonement. And it is through him alone that we can experience the joy and the blessedness of forgiveness that David experienced when he finally, through sovereign grace, was brought to acknowledge and confess and repent of his sin. We also see here that the blessing of justification by faith alone was experienced under the old covenant, just as it is experienced today under the new covenant.

Now, I know that in our reformed circles, that’s not a controversial statement, but some of our Distensational brothers and sisters, for example, some of our fellow believers who maybe don’t think, they think only in terms of the New Testament and they don’t see the whole biblical picture. There’s this view out there where many seem to think that, well, Old Testament, the Jews under the Old Covenant, they were saved and justified by works of the law, were justified by faith in Christ. Well, if the Jews were to be justified by works of the law, then there was no Jew under the Old Covenant who was ever saved, including David, including Moses, including Abraham, including those saints listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. But the Apostle Paul had a different view. Look with me, if you would, briefly, as we confirm this point from a New Testament passage.

Look at Romans 4, verses 1 through 8. where the Apostle Paul is establishing the gospel truth of our justification by faith alone apart from works, and he uses two examples of Old Testament saints as those who were justified by faith apart from works. He mentions Abraham and he also mentions David, and in fact he mentions the passage, he quotes from the passage that we find in the first two verses of our psalm. In Romans four, beginning verse one, what then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works his wages, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, His faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. And then he quotes from Psalm 32, 1 and 2. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose transgressions have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Again, There’s always been one way and only one way of justification and salvation, and that is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in the Messiah alone. Old Covenant saints were saved by trusting in the promised Messiah who is yet to come. We in the New Testament, we know his name. His name is Jesus, and salvation is found in his name and his name alone.

Are you looking to Christ alone for your justification before God? And so we have the joy and the blessedness of forgiveness presented in the first five verses. But then briefly, as we wrap things up, consider the basis next for confident prayer. As David recalls the blessedness that he experienced as he experienced God’s grace of forgiveness, he goes on to speak of some of the implications of this forgiveness in his own life and in the life of lives of those who experienced this forgiveness. He says in verse six, therefore, Let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Let everyone who is godly, the godly, those oriented to God, those as the justified are the godly. They are oriented towards God. And because we are forgiven and justified in Christ, we can have confidence in prayer.

Let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. This reminds me of what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6, 1 and 2, where he says, today is the day of salvation. Do not delay. Do not delay. Then he goes on to say in verse 7, well, he goes on to say, surely in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him. In other words, God heeds our prayers. He protects us. He does not allow us to be overwhelmed by the great waters. And then David, addresses the Lord, he says to the Lord, you are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance. This is an expression of trust in and taking refuge in the Lord. His faithful covenant keeping God for the Lord has blessed him.

And so he looks to the Lord to preserve him and to surround him with songs of deliverance, songs of praise. Note that we see the note of joy as a result of experiencing God’s forgiveness. And then in the final section of this psalm, David says this in verses eight and nine, he says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding. whose trappings include bed and bridal to hold them in check. Otherwise, they will not come near to you. In other words, they have to be tamed. They have to be forced to do what you want them to do. Now, the question here in verses eight and nine is who’s speaking?

Who’s the speaker? Is this Yahweh speaking to his people or is this David speaking, for example, to his son? Well, opinions among the scholars differ, but the point here is the fact that Yahweh directs those who willingly submit to his leading. And so let us not be like the horse or the mule who must be directed by external compulsion. Instead, as those who have been blessed with the blessing of forgiveness and justification, let us be teachable. Let us be pliable. Let us be malleable. Let us be open to the Lord’s direction and leading through his word and by his spirit. And then in wrapping this psalm up in verse 10 and 11, David says, Many are the sorrows of the wicked. David experienced some of those sorrows during a time in his life when he refused to repent and the hand of the Lord was heavy upon him.

He experienced the sorrows of the wicked in his own life. And he he puts this out there as a warning. Many are the sorrows of the wicked. It’s not worth it to walk in the way of wickedness and unbelief and impenitence. But on the other hand, he who trusts in the Lord, loving kindness shall surround him. Picture of loving kindness surrounding you. In other words, the wicked are cursed, but those who trust in Yahweh, the faithful covenant God and Savior, those who trust in Yahweh are blessed for loving kindness. God’s loving kindness surrounds them. And what is What is the proper response to such blessedness, such promise, such truth? Well, it is stated in verse 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy all you who are upright in heart.

Why should we rejoice? Why should we shout for joy? Because we, through grace, are blessed with the blessing of forgiveness. God does not impute our iniquity to us. Indeed, by his sovereign grace through faith, he has imputed to us the perfect, everlasting righteousness of Christ. And so this psalm of the blessed man, the man who has experienced God’s forgiving and justifying grace, is closed with an appropriate call to praise. Again, beloved, what better way to express our gratitude to the God who in Jesus Christ has blessed us? with such amazing grace and favor and let us do so as we close our time in prayer and also in a song of praise. So let us pray. Lord and Father in heaven, you have blessed us so richly. We thank you, Lord, for your amazing grace, and we thank you for the joy that we have because We can be confident that in Christ our sins are fully, freely forgiven, and we are justified.

How thankful we are that you do not impute to us our iniquity. We so deserve, Lord, to have that iniquity imputed to us. We deserve, O God, to bear your holy wrath against our sin. And yet you have been merciful. May we never take your mercy for granted. May we always rejoice in you. And as a result of your grace, may we always seek to walk as those who are blessed out of gratitude for your gift of salvation. In Jesus name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

About this sermon

In Psalm 30 David remembers how he said in his prosperity, ‘I shall never be moved,’ until God hid his face and he was dismayed. Prosperity tempts God’s people to trust the gifts more than the Giver, and God disciplines them out of love. David cried to the Lord, and God turned his mourning into dancing and lifted him up from the pit. Christ, David’s greater son, conquered death itself, so weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

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Sermon transcript

Indeed, God has not removed his mercy, and this psalm that we’re considering this evening, likewise, underscores that fact. The sermon text this evening is Psalm 30. Psalm 30, hear the word of God. It is entitled, A Psalm, A Song at the Dedication of the House, A Psalm of David. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from shale. You have kept me alive that I would not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the Lord, you his godly ones, and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. Now, as for me, I said in my prosperity, I will never be moved. Oh, Lord, by your favor, you have made my mountain to stand strong. You hid your face. I was dismayed. To you, oh, Lord, I called and to the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness? Here, O Lord, and be gracious to me. O Lord, be my helper. You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Dear friends, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. You may be seated. Once again, please join me in prayer in your hearts. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would illuminate us as we consider this portion of your inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. And we pray, Heavenly Father, that that which the Spirit is speaking in this portion of Scripture would indeed make a deep impression upon our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives, fruit that brings glory to your holy name and fruit that benefits us in our walk with Christ. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. The title of my sermon this evening is Evening Tears mourning, joy. And there’s a number of words that you can be listening for if you find that helpful.

Praise, prosperity, pride, faith, joy and deliverance. Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, prosperity and material security and circumstances of outward peace and stability can pose some of the biggest challenges to our trust in and devotion to Almighty God. You see, faith often flourishes in the midst of afflictions, but in times of prosperity, it can become easy to forget the Lord and to forget our utter dependence upon him. You read the history of Israel. This is precisely what happened among the Israelites when they were in distress. They cried unto the Lord. They recognized their need for the Lord to rescue them, to deliver them. But when they were prosperous and at ease, the tendency was to forget the Lord and indeed to fall into the idolatry that was so common in that part of the world.

And so, friends, indeed, we need to take this warning to heart. Now, the word of God indicates, of course, that every good and perfect gift comes down to us from God, our gracious and generous Father in heaven. And we may certainly receive these good gifts of God with hearts of thanksgiving. And we are allowed and encouraged in scripture to enjoy these good gifts as long as we do so in good stewardship to the Lord and with hearts of faith and thanksgiving. But, of course, the natural tendency of our sinful hearts is to place our confidence more in these providential gifts than in him who is the divine gift giver. Our tendency is to trust in earthly prosperity and to fall into a carnal security that looks to earthly things and earthly circumstances for stability rather than clinging to our faithful God and covenant savior for true and lasting security.

Well, friends, in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, King David recounts a time in his own life when he had fallen into such a carnal security. He recalls the time when apparently he looked to his prosperity more than he did to his God as the source of stability. For example, we see that reflected particularly in verse six, where David writes, Now, as for me, I said in my prosperity, I will never be moved, O Lord, by your favor. You’ve made my mountain to stand strong, but then what’s the next line? You hid your face. I was dismayed. You see, as a result of David’s carnal security, as a result of him putting his confidence in the prosperity that ultimately the Lord had blessed him with at that particular time, whatever that time might have been, As a result, God graciously chastened and corrected him.

And how did God do so? By sending affliction and adversity into his life, humbling him with sorrow so that he might ultimately be restored to a renewed and joyful confidence in Yahweh, the Lord, as his only source of ultimate security and stability. Friends, in this psalm, David reflects on his experience of God’s chasing and restoration as an experience of evening tears followed by morning joy. As it says in verse five, for his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. In summarizing the contents of this beautiful psalm, John Calvin writes the following, and I quote him. He says, David, having been delivered from great danger, not only renders thanks to God apart by himself, but at the same time invites and exhorts all the pious to perform the same duty.

He then confesses that he had flattered himself too confidently in his prosperity and that his security had justly been chastised. In the third place, having briefly expressed his sorrow, he returns again. to Thanksgiving. Now, there are many different opinions amongst the Bible students and Bible scholars regarding what may have been the set of historical circumstances in David’s life that might have led him, under the Spirit’s guidance, to pen this beautiful psalm. And it is entitled, as the superscription states, it is entitled, A Psalm for the Dedication of the House. Or if you have an English standard version, it is translated for the dedication of the temple. Which is it? What is it referring to? Was this a psalm for the dedication of David’s private house or for the house of the Lord? In other words, the temple. could be referring to either one, and of course opinions differ.

Calvin thought that the historical circumstances that probably lie behind this poem were the circumstances of Absalom’s rebellion against David, his father. When David was forced to temporarily be exiled from his private house, and as a result of being restored to his kingship after Absalom’s rebellion was put down, David rededicated that house. That’s Calvin’s view. Others suggest that the historical circumstances lying behind this psalm are more likely Ornan’s threshing floor following David’s disastrous taking of a census in Israel. If you’re familiar with that historical event where David, in an act of trusting too much in military might, took a census of the people. And of course, God sent a great plague upon the Israelites And David, that plague was only stayed when David offered sacrifices at the threshing floor of Ornan, which ultimately, I believe, became the place for the building of the temple.

Others suggest that while this psalm was originally an individual psalm of thanksgiving from David, it later on was adopted and adapted for the dedication of the second temple. Whatever the case may be, the truth is we cannot know with certainty what the specific historical circumstances were. But ultimately, friends, this psalm’s relevance and power do not depend upon knowing with certainty the original historical circumstances. And so, as we look at this psalm, we note that it both begins and ends on a note of praise. In fact, This praise is the predominant theme of this psalm. And so it is, in a sense, bookended by expressions of praise. In verse one, David writes, I will extol you, O Lord. That’s an expression of praise to the Lord. And at the end of verse 12, the very last verse of the psalm, David says, O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

What is this praise that David offers? What is praised me? Dr. Van Gameron states, the praise of God consists of a declaration of his exalted nature and thanksgiving for his free condescension for the purpose of exalting his children. So again, whatever may be the historical setting behind the composition of this song, it’s a very personal song. It is one that all of us as God’s people can use and apply to our own personal experiences and circumstances as pilgrims living in this fallen world where dangers and enemies abound. So let’s dive in. And I first want us, as we focus on the opening section of this psalm, the first five verses, we note the mercy of Yahweh displayed in a time of great need. The mercy of the Lord displayed in a time of great need.

David begins this psalm, I will extol you, O Lord. Notice again the word Lord in all capital letters. David is addressing the Lord Yahweh, and that name Yahweh is God’s covenant name. It refers to God as the faithful Redeemer God, the God who in grace and mercy redeems his people in his covenant of grace. I will extol you, O Lord, O Yahweh, for you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. If you know anything about the history of David, both his rise to the kingship and his reign over the people of Israel, you know that David’s kingship was filled, his life was filled with many enemies seeking his destruction. But David praises the Lord because the Lord has not let his enemies rejoice over him, gloat over him. God has spared David from such gloating on the part of his enemies.

You have lifted me up. The language in the Hebrew pictures for us lifting up as in lifting water out of a well. As Van Gameron says, like a bucket that was lowered down in a well and then raised to draw water up. So the Lord pulled the psalmist out of the grips of shale, shale being an ancient term for the state of the dead, the pit. And then it goes on to say in verse two, Oh, Lord, my God, again, notice how personal, how intimate David is in his address to the Lord. There’s this common misconception, by the way, that in Old Testament times, God’s people only enjoyed a very distant ritual relationship with God. Read the Psalms. David had what we what evangelicals today typically call a personal relationship with the Lord. David indeed had a personal relationship with Yahweh, his God.

He addresses the Lord Yahweh, not simply as our God, but my God. Oh, Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you healed me. Now, that term healed has led some to suggest that perhaps The circumstance that David was facing as he penned this psalm was a circumstance where the Lord had healed him from a physical sickness, a physical disease. But it’s my understanding that the term is broad enough to include any kind of adversity, not just physical sickness, but also adversity from one’s enemies. And I think that would make sense in view of what verse 1 states. So David has been delivered by the Lord. from his enemies. The Lord has lifted him up out of the grips of his enemies, out of the grips of Sheol. And then verse three, O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.

You have kept me alive that I would not go down to the pit. Apparently, whatever the circumstances were that David faced, these were circumstances that threatened his very life. He was on the brink of death, either from enemies or sickness or a combination of the two, whatever the case may be. What is the reason for David’s praise? The reason that David gives for his praise to God is answered prayer. The Lord, who had humbled him, heeded him in his time of need. Again, as Calvin says, as one restored to life, therefore, he proclaims that he had been marvelously delivered from present death as if he had been restored to life after he had been dead. David’s deliverance is almost like a resurrection. And then David doesn’t keep this note of praise to himself. He invites all of God’s people to join in with him in praising the Lord.

So he says in verse 4, sing praise to the Lord, you his godly ones, or as some translations put it, you his saints. And give thanks to his holy name. The reference to God’s holy name or his holiness, this conjures up the images of the temple or the tabernacle at the time where God’s holy presence dwelt, where his holy presence was signified. And then, verse 5, for his anger is but a moment, and David had experienced Yahweh’s anger in the sense of the Lord’s fatherly chastisement, and he had experienced it. His anger is but for a moment, but his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, and David was in his own age, in his own experience, a man of sorrows. He was familiar with weeping. Weeping may last for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.

So again, David invites the community of godly ones, of saints, to join him in praising Yahweh for the Lord’s mighty deliverance. What’s the takeaway that we can glean from this, beloved? There are many things that we can learn from this, but the Lord had not allowed King David’s enemies to gloat over him, for he was ultimately unable to conquer all of his enemies. Remember, God had made covenant promises to King David. And remember, too, that David, King David, was a type, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son. When we read the passages like this, keeping this redemptive historical reality in view, then ultimately this points us to Jesus. For after all, our Lord Jesus Christ Our great messianic king, great David’s greater son, was anointed and enabled by the father to overcome all of his and our enemies.

Christ, our king, conquered our ultimate enemy death. He did so by his life of humble obedience, by his humiliating death on the cross in payment for our sins and by his glorious resurrection from the dead. Through faith in him, We believers are delivered from Sheol or the pit in the ultimate sense of those terms. Yet David, the Lord had delivered David from physical death. That’s the reference in verse three, O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive that I would not go down to the pit. But we know that there is a death worse than physical death. We know that apart from Christ, we are already spiritually dead unless the Lord resurrects us in the new birth. We also know that physical death is the wages of sin.

But there is a second death to fear even more. That Jesus Christ, if he is your Savior, if he is your King, he has delivered you from that second death, that ultimate shale, that ultimate pit. Praise be unto God. We also see as we move on in this passage to the second section, the middle section of this beautiful psalm, we see the psalmist David remembering a time of great distress when he was humbled to seek God’s gracious help. You see a remembrance of a time of great distress when David was humbled to seek God’s gracious help. Verse six, Now as for me, here David, David is the king. David is the ruler. He is the one that the Lord has raised up and anointed. He is the sweet psalmist of Israel. And again, as I mentioned before, he is a type of Christ.

But here, David admits that in his sin, in his humanity, in his fallenness, rather, he says, Now, as for me, I said in my prosperity, I will never be moved. You know, as the children of Israel, if you read the book of Deuteronomy, The children of Israel, as they were being prepared by Moses to enter into the promised land, one of the things that the Lord over and over again warns the people of is prosperity. Remember, God says to the people, once you’ve come into the promised land, once the inhabitants have been subdued, once you enjoy the bounty of the land, beware lest you forget me. To paraphrase. Well, we see that in our own lives. When things are going well with us, we often we get a little bit arrogant, don’t we? We think that we’re self-sufficient or we think that we can trust in these earthly circumstances and earthly riches to sustain us.

But then, what does David say? He acknowledges, he confesses openly his sin, trusting in his prosperity, He does recognize, verse seven, that the Lord, the Lord’s favor had made his mountain to stand strong. But then it goes on to say in verse seven, you hid your face. I was dismayed that that picture that of God hiding his face all to the to the believer. The idea of God hiding his face is a terrifying thought. We desire for God to shine the light of his countenance upon us. But in his chastisement and fatherly discipline of us, it often seems like God is hiding his face from us and we feel like we are cut off from our gracious father in heaven. Of course, the Lord had not cut David off, but the Lord had disciplined David.

Again, as one commentator puts it, David now contrasts the apparent security afforded by prosperity with the appalling silence of death and recalls the critical period of his past life. Verse six records for us pride and presumption in his prosperity. And verse seven uses the word dismayed. David says to the Lord, You hid your face. I was dismayed. That’s a very strong word. One commentator says that dismayed is a strong word in Hebrew, implying shattering terror, shattering terror. I was dismayed. He needed to be dismayed. He needed to be shaken out of his complacency. Verse eight and nine to you, oh Lord, I call these finally turning from trusting in his prosperity back to the Lord. In whom his trust alone should be You to you, O Lord, I called. Did the Lord ignore his call?

No. To the Lord, I made supplication. And David recounts some of the dialogue he had with the Lord, some of the expressions of prayer to the Lord. He says, what profit is there in my blood if I go down to the pit? In other words, Lord, what profit is there? How how can I serve your your purposes that you have covenanted with me to serve if I’m dead? And then he asked the question, will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness? Now, you know, some have looked at this statement here at the end of verse nine and suggested, well, you know, in the Old Testament, they didn’t know about life after death or they didn’t have clear conceptions of life after death. I think that’s a misreading of David’s statement here. David is speaking from the standpoint of this present life, from the standpoint of this present life, and David David’s calling in this present life as the King of Israel.

Will the dust praise you? One of David’s responsibilities, one of his chief delights, as well as one of his chief callings was the praise of God. And we see that especially in the beautiful Psalms that the Spirit inspired David to repent. Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your faithfulness? The dismay brought on by God’s chastening moved David to seek His help and security once again in Yahweh, His covenant Lord. And then in verse 10, we see a cry for mercy and help. He says, Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me, O Lord, O Yahweh, my faithful covenant God and Savior, O Yahweh, be my helper. In other words, what does that imply? My riches can’t help me. My prosperity can’t help me. You alone, Lord, can help me. What’s the takeaway from this, beloved?

We need to beware of the pride and self-trust and self-reliance that can arise from prosperity. Again, prosperity is not a bad thing. Some of the most godly characters of scripture were wealthy men. Job was a wealthy man. Abraham was a wealthy man. But nevertheless, in our sinfulness and fallenness, we can trust in our prosperity rather than trusting in the one who blesses us with that prosperity. If the Lord blesses you with riches and prosperity, certainly receive them with thanksgiving. Use them in good stewardship to serve the Lord. But do not set your hopes upon them or trust in them for your security. Trust in the Lord. And if you don’t trust in the Lord alone, you may find yourself under the chastening hand of God. Sometimes God has to send affliction and trials into our lives to get our attention.

But finally, having experienced the Lord’s deliverance, having been renewed in his confident hope in the Lord and the Lord alone, We see finally a firm resolve to praise Yahweh for his gracious intervention. We see that in the closing verses of this psalm, verses 11 and 12, where David says, You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. The afflictions that David experienced under the gracious, chastening hand of God led to a period of mourning. But that mourning had been turned back into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth. What was sackcloth? What was wearing sackcloth a sign of back in that culture and in that time? If you were mourning or if you were repentant or both, you would wear sackcloth as a sign of that. But David says to the Lord in response to the Lord’s gracious answer to his prayers, you have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.

Again, this wonderful picturesque language that David uses, being loosed from sackcloth and girded about with garments of gladness. Why has God done this? Verse 12, that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent. Oh, Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Do you see the importance and vitality and centrality of praise in the life of a believer as exhibited by these statements from David? David says, Lord, you have you have restored my joy. The Lord had humbled him and restored his joy. Why? That his soul, the very heart and center of his being may do what? Sing praise and not be silent. Well, Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. This reminds me Of course, as an Orthodox Presbyterian, this reminds me of the answer to our first catechism question.

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Yes, we glorify God through our obedience. We glorify God through trusting Him. We glorify God through our daily vocations and callings and seeking to be faithful in those vocations and callings. But we also glorify God in worship, in praise. This is very important what we do when we gather Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day to praise the Lord. It’s not that God needs an ego boost from us. That’s not why we praise him. But God is pleased when his loved, beloved, redeemed children offer praise to him for his wonderful deliverance and redemption of them. Beloved, God’s gracious redemption of us through his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, should lead us to a life of grateful praise and wholehearted obedience.

David’s experience of the Lord’s merciful deliverance led him to resolve to give thanks to the Lord forever, to not be silent, but to sing praise to the Lord. May God’s amazing grace to you and to me, brothers and sisters in Christ, lead us to resolve afresh in our souls, in our hearts, that we, like David, will give thanks to the Lord forever, that we will not be silent, but we will sing and declare his praises both now and forevermore, for he is indeed worthy to be praised. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, We do thank and praise and bless you for all of the gifts of providence that you bestow upon us, including the gifts of the material gifts that you give unto us. But we also recognize, oh, Lord, the idolatry that resides in our own hearts and how prone we are to put our trust in the gifts rather than in you, who are the gift giver.

We thank you, Heavenly Father, for this psalm. May we learn from it. May we take these truths to heart. And we thank you, O God, for Jesus Christ, your son, who has indeed conquered all of his and our enemies, and that ultimately our enemies will not gloat over us. For our enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil have ultimately been conquered and destroyed through his obedient life, atoning death and glorious resurrection. Lord, as you have delivered us through Christ, give us hearts that always trust in him, that look to him as our only ultimate source of security and stability and hearts that are resolved to give you thanks and praise. Both now and forevermore, because of your amazing grace to us in Christ, we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

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About this sermon

Psalm 29 uses a thunderstorm to show the glory of the Lord, whose voice is upon the waters, breaks the cedars of Lebanon, and shakes the wilderness. The psalm sets Yahweh above Baal, the Canaanite storm god, and it summons the angels to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Every thunderclap declares his glory, and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood, and he gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace in Christ.

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Sermon transcript

This evening, as we continue to study the book of Psalms and various Psalms, this evening we’re going to consider Psalm 29. Psalm 29. Let us hear God’s holy word. This is entitled, A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in holy array. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Syrian like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve and strips the forests bare. And in his temple, everything says glory. The Lord sat as king at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Congregation, you may be seated. This evening, the title of my sermon is Yahweh’s Powerful Voice. A number of key words to listen for voice, glory, king, creation, and flood. Well, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in this majestic psalm, King David depicts Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, as glorious, majestic, and sovereign over the various realms of creation.

This psalm is characterized by literary beauty, poetic majesty, and stylistic power. From the contents of this psalm, it would appear that the providential occasion that God used to inspire King David to pen this literary masterpiece was a tempestuous thunderstorm. The thunderstorm reveals God’s powerful voice. This teaches us that God’s creation speaks of God’s creation gives voice to Yahweh’s glory, majesty, strength, and sovereign reign. A sensitive and prayerful reading of this psalm, of course, with the assistance and illumination of the Holy Spirit works within our hearts as believers, a deep sense of reverence and awe for our sovereign God. And it also causes us to rest in our Lord’s sovereign dominion overall, therefore blessing us with his peace. As verse 11 says, the Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Now it is, in terms of the cultural and historical background to this psalm, it is quite possible that in this psalm David is offering a case for Israel’s God, that is, for the true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and against the Canaanite God, Baal. In other words, what we might have sort of undergirding this psalm is an anti-pagan or anti- a polytheistic polemic that is going on here. After all, Baal was thought to be the lord of the storm. But Psalm 29 presents Yahweh as exercising glorious sovereignty over the mighty thunderstorm. One commentator introduces this psalm in the following words. It says this is a hymn of praise to God for his awesome power, where a thunderstorm serves as a visible emblem of God’s majestic voice. It was once common to think that this psalm was based on a Canaanite or Phoenician original, but the evidence for this is poor.

It seems reasonable, however, to suppose that the setting of the psalm in a thunderstorm deliberately sets Yahweh over Baal, the storm god widely worshipped in Syria, Palestine. Now, what do we learn in this psalm, or what are some of the takeaways from this psalm. Well let’s first of all focus on the the opening section of this psalm in the first two verses and I want you first of all brothers and sisters to consider with me the summons for the angels to worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness. We have I believe in these opening verses a summons for the angels to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. In verse one it says ascribe to the Lord and again notice the word Lord is in all capital letters that indicates that David is referring to God as Yahweh, that is God’s covenantal name, that is his name that has reference to him in his special covenant relationship with his redeemed people.

Ascribe to Yahweh, but then, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Worship the Lord in holy array. Now, those to whom this psalm is addressed are named… this is translated differently. Here in the New American Standard Version, it’s translated, Sons of the Mighty. The English Standard Version translates it a little bit more interpretively as, Heavenly Beings. It could literally be translated, Sons of God or Sons of the Gods. David calls upon these sons of the God, these sons of the mighty, to ascribe glory and strength to Yahweh. In other words, to worship God, Yahweh, for his glory and his strength, as that glory and strength are displayed in the tumultuous thunderstorm. Now, the question, the interpretive question is, are these beings, these sons of God, are these civil rulers or are they heavenly angels or some other reference?

Sometimes the terminology in the Hebrew can refer, in Scripture, to civil authorities, to civil leaders. Sometimes the civil leaders are called sons of gods, or sons of God. But other times, in Scripture, this terminology refers to celestial beings, in other words, to the angels. So are these beings, these sons of gods, rulers, political rulers, or are they heavenly angels? Well, there’s differences of opinion. The great commentator Matthew Henry thinks that this should be understood as a summons for political rulers to give glory and worship to Almighty God, since again, since sons of God can sometimes refer in scripture to earthly rulers. However, most commentators are of the view that this is referring to angels, sons of God in the sense of the angels. And I tend to agree with most commentators, I believe as the ESV translates it, that these are referring to heavenly beings, to the angels.

And this is significant. I mean, why would David call upon the angels to offer praise to God? David was on earth at the time, and among the human people, the covenant people of God, amongst mankind, why would God’s people on earth summon the angels in heaven? to give glory to Yahweh, the faithful covenant God of Israel. Well, I think this is significant, beloved, because scripture seems to indicate that when God’s covenant people are gathered for holy worship, angels are present. And so even tonight, as we are gathered in the name of Jesus as a covenant assembly of God’s people, we’re not just gathered here to kind of hang out together as Christians or to go through some You know some ritual? We are here in the presence of Almighty God, attended with the holy angels.

And just as one example of a scriptural teaching that would seem to point in this direction, I would refer you to 1 Corinthians 11, verse 10. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 10. Now, this passage is a very difficult passage. It’s dealing with the whole issue of head coverings, and we don’t have time this evening to get into the weeds when it comes to that particular issue. But notice what Paul says as he’s talking about this matter of proper decorum, really, within worship. He says this in verse 10. He says, therefore, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. Why? Well, almost in passing, Paul says, because of the angels. And that would seem to indicate, Paul says almost in passing, well, yeah, of course, we should be concerned about decorum in public worship and doing all things decently and in good order.

Why? Because of the angels, because the angels are present with God’s people as they gather in holy worship. In corporate worship, God’s people on earth join their voices with the angels and saints in heaven to give glory to God. This points to the spiritual reality that our worship, especially our corporate worship, as God’s covenant people, as a covenant assembly, our worship of God is eschatological in its focus. For in holy worship, we get a foretaste of worship as it will take place in the new heavens and the new earth, where we will worship God in the direct presence of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. as we join hearts and voices together in the worship of our sovereign, majestic, glorious, holy triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And viewing worship in this way can actually transform your experience of worship.

And if we’re honest, you know, we are creatures of the flesh. Sometimes we don’t always feel like going to church, and sometimes we feel like we don’t get much out of church or what have you. When you realize, brothers and sisters, that when we gather in the name of Jesus for holy worship, supernatural stuff is going on here. Jesus Christ himself is present by his spirit. It always amuses me. Sometimes you’ll hear preachers say, you know, well, what would your church do if Jesus Christ were to show up on a Sunday? And my answer to that is Jesus Christ shows up every Sunday when we meet for worship. Christ is here by his spirit. And not only is Christ here, the angels are here because in worship by the word and spirit of God, we are, in a sense, by faith and through the Holy Spirit lifted up into heaven.

And we join our voices with the voices of angels and archangels to praise and worship our mighty and majestic, our strong and glorious Lord, our faithful covenant God. And so, again, as David says, As again, I believe he is calling upon the angelic beings, not the the heavenly beings, he says, ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength as the church on earth ascribes glory and strength to the Lord and worships the Lord in holy array on earth. We join our earthly worship with the worship that takes place in heaven. Now, as an aside, Since this passage would seem to be speaking of the angels, I would remind us briefly of the role of angels as their role is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Now, when we’re talking about the angelic realm or the demonic realm, we’re getting into areas of a certain amount of obscurity and mystery.

We only know what Scripture says and we would do well not to speculate too much. But based on the teachings of the Word of God, what is the role of angels? Well, first of all, we learn in Scripture that the angels serve as God’s heavenly messengers. They are messengers through whom God often reveals his word. In other words, oftentimes in Scripture, the angels serve as agents of revelation, of divine revelation. They are also presented in Scripture as an army of heavenly worshipers, heavenly worshipers who incessantly praise and worship God before his holy throne in the heavenly sanctuary. and mighty angels who are charged with guarding God’s holiness in the heavenly sanctuary. But we also learn in the scriptures that the angels are sent by God to serve those who are to inherit salvation. Again, how they do this and what that looks like is a mystery that is, at this point in redemptive history, veiled from our eyes.

But consider what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1. If you’d like to turn there, I just want to read this verse briefly to you. In chapter 1 of the book of Hebrews, where the author is first of all trying to establish this superiority of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the angels. Let me start reading in verse 13, as he quotes the number of passages that point to the deity of Christ. In verse 13, The author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1.13, but to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And then with regards to the angels, he says in verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits? Spirits who serve. Sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.

What a comforting thought, by the way. The Lord sends out his angels to serve us, his people. And so again, getting back to our passage for today, the angelic beings, the celestial beings, the mighty angels in heaven are called upon to join us in our praises on earth. Praises to the Lord, Yahweh, the true and living God. And then verse two, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Remember, God’s name represents God himself in all of his glorious attributes ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. And then in a in parallelism here to kind of bring out the full meaning of that, he says, worship the Lord in holy array or in the splendor or beauty of holiness. Dear friends, there is a beauty and splendor to holiness. Again, notice the close connection between ascribing glory to God’s name and worshiping him in holiness.

To ascribe glory to the name of the Lord is to worship him in holiness. This is basically two different ways of speaking to the same reality. Beloved, as we learn in the scriptures, all rational creatures, both here on earth and in heaven above, oh God, worship and adoration for his glory, for his strength, And indeed, for his majestic name, there is no higher duty than the duty of worship. But there is also no higher privilege. Think about it. Worship is the highest activity of the glorious angels who dwell before God’s holy throne. Remember, the angels are mighty spirit beings. They’re much more mighty than mighty. They’re much mightier than you or I. They’re more highly intelligent than we are, and yet all of their beings are employed in the worship of Almighty God in his glorious heavenly sanctuary.

If that is the highest privilege of the angels in heaven, that certainly is our highest privilege. Worship is certainly our highest privilege as God’s people here on earth. What a privilege, beloved, to join our hearts and our voices with those of the angels above in rendering to our great and awesome God the glory due to his name. Dear listener, do you see the worship of God as both your greatest duty as a creature of God, but also your highest privilege in life as a redeemed child of God? Is worship a top priority in your life? Is it your highest joy? There is no higher privilege. There is no higher duty. There is no higher joy. But next, as we move on to the central section of our passage for this evening, as we consider especially verses three through nine, take to heart, beloved, God’s powerful voice revealed in the displays of nature.

We have here God’s powerful voice as that voice is revealed in the displays of nature, and with a special focus here on the term voice. This term voice is repeated seven times. The sevenfold reference to Yahweh’s voice is a literary device. And as one commentator puts it, it is a literary device that gives the impression of clap upon clap of thunder. And you can almost picture that. You can almost feel that as you read through this passage. As you hear the term voice of the Lord, think of a powerful thunderclap. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

Those cedars, those mighty trees, those mighty cedars, the Lord’s voice breaks them. And then, verse 6, he makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Syria like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve and strips the forest bare. And what is the response in the temple? Probably referring to the heavenly sanctuary, but that worship in the heavenly sanctuary is reflected in the earthly sanctuary. In his temple, everything says what? Glory. Glory. This literary device arrests the reader’s attention and highlights the glory and majesty of Yahweh’s powerful, sovereign voice. Again, in terms of the imagery that is used here in this passage, one commentator says, the reader should imagine a magnificent storm coming eastward from the Mediterranean, making landfall to the north in the mountains of Lebanon, and heading south to sweep through Israel, through Sirion, which is Mount Hermon, in the northern end, to Kadesh, at the southern end.

Dr. Willem van Gemmeren says, the psalmist reflects on the thunderstorm as a powerful illustration of the majesty and power of the God of Israel. The region of the sea was considered by the Canaanites to be the battleground between Yam, the god of the sea and of chaos, and Baal, the god of fertility and thunderstorms. El, the chief of the Canaanite pantheon, was the benign father of the gods. the direct reference to Yahweh as the glorious El may contain a polemic allusion to the superiority of Yahweh over Baal.” Again, this language here, it’s hard for us as 21st century Christians to kind of grasp, well, what’s going on here with this poetic, literary artistry that David is exhibiting in this passage. Again, undergirding all of this beauty This literary beauty is an anti-Baal polemic, an anti-Baal, anti-pagan polemic.

And in this passage, this central section of Psalm 29, God’s sovereign glory is revealed, first of all, over the waters, over the seas. As we see in verses three and four, the voice of the Lord is upon what? Upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. We’ve talked recently, we’ve considered recently in our Lord’s calming of the storm, how God is sovereign over the waters. In the ancient mind, in the ancient Near East, the waters represented the powers and forces of chaos, and often in pagan mythology, the gods were viewed as being in battle against the forces of chaos. But the Lord, the sovereign Lord, Yahweh, is over the waters. He’s sovereign over the chaos, and he controls it. And so we see God’s sovereign glory revealed over the waters, over the seas in verses 3 and 4.

But we also see His sovereignty over the mountains in verses 5 and 6. As it says, the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Now, what are these cedars of Lebanon? They are strong, powerful trees. And what this is alluding to, probably, is the Lord breaking these cedars in pieces by sending lightning bolts upon them. Again, God is pictured, as He truly is, as sovereign over nature, and everything in nature occurs ultimately because of the sovereign control of God. Yes, God uses natural forces, secondary causes, but God is behind every sunrise and sunset, every storm. Almighty God is ultimately behind all of that, and directing it from his throne in heaven. And then in verse 6, he makes Lebanon skip like a cat, Syria like a young wild ox. Again, we see God’s sovereignty, his sovereign glory over the mountains.

And then also over the desert regions that’s alluded to in verses seven and eight, the voice of the Lord. He was out flames of fire, the voice of the Lord shakes what the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. This is a desert region. The point here, beloved, is that these different realms and aspects of God’s creation display the glory and the holiness of Almighty God, their creator. Dear ones, as the scriptures teach us, the heavens declare the glory of God in the firmament shows forth his handiwork. God’s power and majestic glory is revealed in his creation. His powerful voice is heard in the created realm. We hear his voice in a sense Every thunderclap that you hear, you are hearing the voice of God. Everything in creation speaks forth the glory and the reality of God.

Let us praise God for the glory that he displays through his natural revelation. But as we close our time in the closing section of this psalm in verses 10 and 11, notice also that God’s sovereign dominion over the powerful forces of creation should serve to strengthen us and give us peace. This this psalm, this literary masterpiece, which evokes these images of God’s power over the created realm, using the thunderstorm as an illustration of the voice of the Lord, the powerful voice of the Lord. All of this ultimately has a pastoral purpose to it. It has a purpose of strengthening us and blessing us with peace as his people, as it says, In verses 10 and 11, the Lord sat as king at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people.

The Lord will bless his people with peace. This final section of the Psalm affirms Yahweh’s sovereign royal rule and kingship as the source of strength and peace for his people. Now, it says the Lord sat as king at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. We’ve already learned in verses three and four that Yahweh is over many waters and that he controls the waters. He’s not controlled by them or doesn’t have to do battle with them. He is the sovereign Lord over the chaos waters. But what is this flood? What flood is this referring to? Well, the flood here, I believe, is likely a reference to the judgment flood of Noah’s day. That would be a natural reading. understanding of this. David alludes back to the flood judgment of Noah’s day, where God destroyed mankind in judgment, but even in the midst of pouring out his wrath upon sinful humanity in sending that flood, God rescued a remnant chosen by grace in the sanctuary of the ark.

The ark was a sanctuary, if you will. It was a place of salvation, and thus it was a type of Christ and our salvation in Him. Now, if this is the case, if verse 10 is a reference to the flood of Noah’s day, and the fact that Yahweh sits enthroned above the flood, that He is the royal king even over the floodwaters, if that is the case, then there is an eschatological and prophetic element to this psalm. An element that points us forward to Yahweh and ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord Yahweh incarnate as the sovereign royal king who presides over the judgment day. For what did the flood of Noah? What was that ultimately a type of? It was a type of the final judgment. It was an anticipation of the final judgment.

And this being the case, beloved, I believe we would do well to consider this closing section of our passage for tonight in light of what the Apostle Peter says about the flood judgment in 1 Peter 3, 17-22. And I just want to read those verses, but especially focus in on verses 21 and 22. Again, we don’t have time to go into a deep study or exegesis of this particular passage. It’s just a passage that does have some interpretive issues, not problems, but interpretive difficulties to it. But nevertheless, 1 Peter 3, beginning at verse 17. Again, the Apostle Peter is addressing a group of Christians who are facing persecution for their faith. He says, For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the waters. Notice especially verses 21 and 22. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Baptism is like an anti type to the flood, if you will. Baptism now saves you. And then he clarifies, offers a very important clarification, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.

The Lord sit enthroned over the flood, where is there comfort for us as God’s people? Our comfort is in the anti-type, that which the flood points to. Our comfort is in that which is signified and sealed to us in our baptism. Namely, that we are cleansed from sin. We are rescued from the flood judgment because of what Jesus has done. Now, when Peter says, baptism now saves you, He’s not saying that we’re saved by the ritual of water baptism, but we are saved by that which baptism points to. I mean, Peter makes it very clear. I’m not talking about the ritual. He says not the removal of dirt from the flesh. It’s not that a water ritual that removes dirt from the flesh is going to save you, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Here’s the process or the progression of thought. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The flood was a sign of the final judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign over the day of final judgment. How are we to face that day? We are to face that day with confidence if we are in the ark. Pastor, we don’t have an ark today. Oh, yes, we do. We have Jesus Christ. He is the ark of our salvation, and we are saved through the water, the waters of baptism point us to and are a sign and seal of our union with Christ through faith in him alone. And so if you are in Christ, the Lord’s sovereignty over the flood judgment, the Lord’s sovereignty over the final judgment need not terrify you. For the Lord, who is whose sovereign voice rules creation, is sovereign voice of grace and mercy. comes to you and to me in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so, as a result, look at verse 11. The Lord will give strength to his people. What strengthens us as God’s people? What that which gives us strength is knowing God’s grace, knowing that God in Christ has delivered us from the judgment, knowing that we have a sanctuary in the ark who is Christ, knowing that In him, the Lord will bless his people with peace because of his grace given to us in Jesus Christ and signified in our baptism. We are blessed with God’s strength and we are blessed with his peace. Beloved, God is the king and sovereign ruler over all creation as a whole and over every arena of creation. The proper response of both angels and men to Yahweh’s powerful voice is worship, reverence, and awe. Remember that our highest duty as God’s creatures and our highest privilege as God’s children is worship.

Listener, are you a child of God? If you are united to Christ, if you’re trusting Jesus who died for sinners, died to pay the penalty for sin and rose again from the dead, as your refuge from the judgment to come. If you are trusting him alone for your salvation from sin with a penitent faith, you will indeed be saved. Rest in him. Rejoice in him. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Amen and amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you, O God, that you, that your voice rules the universe. We thank you for your powerful, sovereign, majestic voice. But we thank you especially, O God, for your voice of grace and peace that comes to us in the good news, the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He, O Lord, is our refuge from the judgment to come. So give us grace, Lord. Give us your strength and your peace to live out out of gratitude for your gift of salvation, to walk worthy of the calling with which we’ve been called. May we indeed worship you in the beauty of holiness. In Jesus name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

About this sermon

Psalm 24 declares that the earth belongs to the Lord, its Creator, and it asks who may ascend his holy hill. Only those with clean hands and a pure heart may stand there, and no sinner has them. The gates lift up their heads for the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty in battle. Christ is that King, who conquered sin and death and ascended into heaven, and his people stand before God in his righteousness alone.

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Sermon transcript

My sermon text this evening as we continue to make our way through select Psalms in the book of Psalms is Psalm 24. Psalm 24, it is a short Psalm, 10 verses in length. So friends, let us hear God’s holy word. Psalm 24, it is entitled the Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob, Selah.

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Selah. Your friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Shall we ask the Lord to bless the preaching of his word? Once again, dear Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. Your word is indeed powerful, and it accomplishes all that which you command it to accomplish. We do ask that by your spirit you would bless the word as it goes forth this evening, and we ask that you would prepare our hearts, the soil of our hearts, to receive the word that we consider this evening.

We do ask, Heavenly Father, that we might not resist your word, but indeed receive it. And we ask that you would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that which is faithful and true to your word. We ask all of these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Well, friends, not surprisingly, the title of my sermon tonight is King of Glory. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice there’s a number of words that I’d encourage you to listen for that’ll help you follow along in the sermon tonight. The word creator, covenant, holiness, king, and glory. Well, dear friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day evening is a glorious passage of God’s Word. It is a passage that highlights Yahweh’s sovereignty as our Creator King and His holiness as our Covenant Lord.

It also underscores the holiness of heart and conduct that is necessary to enjoy communion with God. A holiness, of course, that we lack as unholy sinners, but a holiness which Christ our Savior has won for us by His merit and sacrifice. You see, friends, ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ is this divine King of Glory who, as our divine warrior, has conquered all of His and our enemies, including the world, the flesh, and the devil. And for whom the gates of the heavenly Zion open as He Himself ascended the ultimate hill of the Lord in His ascension to go before us through those heavenly gates. The ESV study Bible in the study note regarding this particular passage introduces the passage as follows. It says, this psalm seems fitted for some liturgical occasion, perhaps one that celebrates the way that David brought the ark of the Lord into Jerusalem, as recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 6.

This would explain the interest in God’s presence in verses 3 through 6. and the address to the gates in verses seven through 10. The psalm asserts the astounding idea that the God who created and owns everything is the very same God into whose presence the faithful worshiper enters because of the covenant with Israel. Such is the privilege of being Israel and such too defines their mission, namely to bring God’s fame to all his creation and especially to all mankind. And in terms of the setting of the psalm, again, we don’t know what the original setting was as suggested in that study note. David may have composed this under the inspiration of the Spirit, of course, as he composed all of the psalms that he wrote. The historical occasion may have been when the ark was brought into Jerusalem.

And there are elements in this psalm that seem to suggest a liturgical movement and perhaps a call and response between the priests or the Levites and the people who are coming to worship before the Lord in his tabernacle on the holy hill of Zion. Well, whatever the case may be and whatever the occasion may be, again, this psalm ultimately points us to our ascended King of glory, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So let’s dive right in this Lord’s Day evening, and I first want to direct our attention to the opening verses of this psalm, verses 1 and 2. And we learn from these verses that Yahweh, the Lord, is the sovereign creator king. Here in these verses, Yahweh, the Lord, the covenant God of Israel, is presented as the sovereign creator king. In verse 1, it says, the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.

Now in verse 1, when David speaks of the earth, or as it could be translated, the land, he is contrasting this to the seas and the rivers, which are mentioned in verse 2. Yahweh established a habitable world for man and for beast and that is underscored by the language that David uses in verse 1. Our Lord is presented here as the sovereign Lord over all of the earth and over everything that is upon the earth. Whether we’re talking about the world of nature or the world of mankind, God is sovereign over all. Everything belongs to the Lord. He is the sovereign governor and owner of all. And so we have strongly asserted in this opening verse the universal sovereignty of God, Yahweh, our Creator, King. And then in verse two, David goes on to say in beautiful fashion, he says of God that he has founded it.

He’s founded the land or the earth. He’s founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. What’s this talking about? What kind of imagery is being used here? Well, David here is alluding to the creation account recorded in Genesis chapter 1. In particular, he is alluding to God’s separation of the dry land from the waters that took place on the third day of creation. If you go back with me to Genesis chapter 1 and look at verses 9 and 10, Genesis 1 verses 9 and 10, we read these words, and this speaks of God’s creative work on the third day of creation. It says, then God said, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. Hold your finger there. Go back to verse two of our passage.

He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. God says, Genesis 1.10, God speaks and says, let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God speaks and it happens. God called the dry land earth and the gathering of the waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good. So again, this language in verse 2 highlights the fact that Yahweh, Israel’s covenant Lord, is the creator who separated the land from the seas. He is the one who founded the earth as a habitation for man and beast. And this kind of imagery is also, interestingly enough, alluded to by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3, verses 5 and 6. If I could just take you there for a few moments, 2 Peter 3, verses 5 and 6.

And here Peter is talking about those who mock, those scoffers who mock at the idea that Christ will return since, after all, it’s been a long time that he’s been gone. Where is the promise of his coming? And it says in verse 5 of 2 Peter chapter 3, For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water, and so forth. And so, friends, again, what is being emphasized here in these opening verses of Psalm 24? Well, that God, Yahweh, is the sovereign Creator-King. Israel’s covenant Lord is the sovereign Creator-King. Israel’s God is not simply like the pagan gods of their Gentile neighbors. who were nationalistic or tribalistic deities.

No friends, Israel’s covenant Lord, the Lord who had redeemed and rescued them from their slavery in Egypt and had by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, the Lord who had split the Red Sea and brought his people through the Red Sea on dry land and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and revealed His law to them. This Lord was not another tribal deity or nationalistic deity, but He is the true and living Creator God, unlike the gods of the nations who are false gods and idols. And so, my friends, what does that remind us of today in our new covenant situation? Well, friends, we are to be reminded today that our Redeemer and covenant Lord, Jesus Christ, is likewise our creator and providential King. And so let us trust in Him and worship Him as God.

Jesus is God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God from everlasting unto everlasting. Our Savior is our creator. Our Redeemer is our Lord. May you trust Him as your Lord, Redeemer, and Savior. And so Yahweh is presented as the Sovereign Creator King. But as we move on to the next section of this psalm, which encompasses verses 3 through 6, next we consider the holiness required for communion with this God, with Yahweh. The next subject is the holiness required for communion with Yahweh. In verse 3, David asks one of the most important questions that sinful man could ever ask. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? God’s tabernacle was placed upon a hill. and the hill of the Lord. What does that represent?

Of course, God is omnipresent. With respect to his omnipresence, he is everywhere present. But God dwells in his holiness, his special covenantal presence, his gracious presence is on the hill of the Lord, where he communes in covenant assembly with his people. But who may enter the presence of the Lord? Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who may enter into God’s holy, covenantal, royal presence, his heavenly presence? Who may stand in His holy place? And furthermore, we who are sinners need to ask, how can we, sinful, fallen creatures, ever hope to stand before the infinitely holy God of the universe, the God who created all things and the God who made covenant with His people? How can we possibly hope to stand before His holy presence without being utterly obliterated and destroyed? That’s a very vital question.

Well, David goes on to answer the question. He who has clean hands and a pure heart. who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood. And he’s probably referring there to lift up your soul to falsehood is to worship false gods, to devote yourself in worship to a lie. And that’s what idolatry basically is. That seems to be in the back of his mind as he pens these words. and has not sworn deceitfully, that perhaps is speaking of swearing or making vows and oaths to these lies, these idols, these false gods. So one who has clean hands and a pure heart. The clean hands, hands, that’s something external, but the heart is internal. And so this seems to point to purity in conduct and heart. And of course, from one standpoint, these are the fruits and evidences of true faith and repentance.

In union with Christ, we seek to walk after a new obedience. We seek to be pure and holy in heart and in conduct. As one study note in the Lutheran Study Bible puts it, by joining an external part hands with an internal part heart, David asserts that both ritual and moral purity are important. But then it goes on to say, and I agree with this, this is important, the Old Testament ceremonial law was fulfilled by Christ and no longer binds us. Our only purity is given to us by Christ. You see, if we were to stand before the Lord in our own cleanness, in our own purity, in our own sanctity, we would not be able to stand. Because God requires perfection. He requires perfect obedience. And from that standpoint, from the standpoint of the covenant of works at least, none of us has clean hands or a pure heart.

None of us has avoided lifting up his soul to falsehood. We’ve all been guilty of idolatry. We’ve all been guilty of swearing deceitfully, erecting idols in our hearts. So again, where is the hope for the sinner? that hope can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is, that’ll be, we’ll come back to that when we especially consider the last portion of this psalm. But then in verses five and six, David goes on to say this. of the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. And verse six says, this is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. Yahweh’s blessing and vindication is to be bestowed only upon those who are said to seek him, to seek his face.

Now what a picture that is. Does the Lord have a literal face? You know, the Bible often ascribes physical parts to God, and this is not to be taken in a woodenly, literalistic sense. God, unlike our Mormon friends seem to think, who believe that God has a body and has hands and feet and so forth. No, when we talk, when the scriptures talk about the face of the Lord, the face of the Lord refers to God’s presence, God’s favorable presence. Who may dwell before the Lord, before His face? Those who seek His face. To seek the Lord and to seek His face are basically two different ways of referring to the same basic idea. We seek the Lord by seeking his face. As Dr. Van Gammeren says, to seek the Lord is an idiom for covenant loyalty to and fellowship with him.

And that covenant loyalty to and fellowship with the Lord comes through faith, through trust in him and him alone. But there is still that tension, given that we are sinners, given that we may not approach God without atonement, without purification. And that was symbolized even under the old covenant system, in order to go before the Lord in His tabernacle and later on in His temple. There were elaborate rituals that needed to be, that you needed to go through. Even the priests had to wash their hands and their feet. They were always washing themselves and they were always offering sacrifices indicating that even the priests, yes, they too needed purification and cleansing from sin and atonement for their sin if they were to stand before God’s holy presence. They had no merit or righteousness in themselves.

By the way, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed under the Old Covenant in the ceremonial and sacrificial laws. Because those ceremonial and sacrificial laws pointed to the need for atonement, and forgiveness and purification and consecration and all of these things were given as a gift from God to his people and were experienced by God’s old covenant people in those very sacrifices and types and shadows that pointed forward to Christ and they experienced Christ in those very ordinances. But now that Christ the substance has come, we stand before the Lord, united to him in his righteousness, cleansed through his blood, clothed in his everlasting righteousness, justified by his grace. And we stand with boldness because of Christ, our great high priest. And this is underscored by the final section of this psalm. And that brings us to verses 7 through 10.

We note here the victorious march of the king of glory into the city of God. As this psalm progresses in the liturgical progression of this psalm, we come to its climax, if you will, in verses 7 through 10, where again we read of the victorious march of the King of Glory into the city of God. Now, once again, friends, one can only make an educated guess about the original setting of this particular song, psalm, but whatever that setting was, the ultimate redemptive historical thrust of this psalm is to point us to King Jesus and to his conquest as the divine warrior over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Again, notice how the gates are personified. The gates to the City of God. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in.

Now it is possible that David, under the Spirit’s inspiration, penned this during a historical situation where the Israelites had taken the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle, the Ark of the Covenant representing God’s reign over His people and His presence, His saving presence in the midst of His people. And the Israelites had gone out with their priests and with the Ark of the Covenant which is symbolizing that God was present with them as the divine warrior, the Lord Yahweh of hosts. Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, the Lord over the armies of Israel. And they’d gone out against their enemies and perhaps experienced a victory. And so the picture here is perhaps of them coming back to Jerusalem, coming back to the tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant. And as they come in victory, They shout out liturgically, lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in.

And then perhaps the Levites or those entrusted with guarding the purity and holiness of the tabernacle respond and say, who is the King of Glory or this King of Glory? The answer is the Lord, Yahweh, strong and mighty, Yahweh, mighty in battle, the Lord who has conquered all of His and our enemies. And then it’s repeated for emphasis. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory, the glorious King, may come in. Again, who is this King of glory? Yahweh of hosts. I was talking about military hosts there. God is depicted often in the Psalms as the divine warrior who fights for his people. And what a comfort that should be to us. Our Lord not only has redeemed us and saved us and forgiven us and justified us, adopted us as his children, but he fights for us.

Our Savior pleads for us before the Father. Our Lord fights our battles for us. Who is this king of glory? Yahweh of hosts, the Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. How are we to read this and understand this today in our situation here, our present situation in redemptive history? Well, again, as I mentioned, Jesus accomplished this ultimate conquest by his obedient life, by his atoning death on the cross, and by his glorious bodily resurrection from the dead. And after Jesus rose from the dead, what did he do? After he was appearing, appeared to his disciples over a period of 40 days and instructed them and proved to them, demonstrated to them that he was in fact risen from the dead, did Jesus continue to hang around? No. Jesus ascended into heaven. And we often do not appreciate the incredible redemptive historical value and importance of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the history of the church, the liturgical history of the church, this psalm is often preached on when the church has celebrated the ascension of Christ and appropriately so. You see, when Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection, He entered through the heavenly gates into the heavenly Mount Zion where he reigns over all as the King of Glory. Again, twice David asks, he asks in verses 8 and 10, who is the King of Glory? The answer that is given, twice, the answer that is given rather in verse 10 is very clear. The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Since Jesus Christ, our risen and ascended Lord, is fully divine, fully God, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, it is certainly correct to identify Him as Yahweh of hosts.

Again, as another commentator puts it, Jesus alone is qualified to ascend to heaven and he is the victorious Lord for whom the gates of glory open. And that is so comforting because we are united to him as he has ascended into heaven and is at the Father’s right hand interceding for us. What does it tell us in Ephesians? that we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. If you are in Christ, there is a sense in which you are with Jesus who has ascended ahead of you and me. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us praise God that Jesus Christ, his son, our Lord and Savior, is our King of glory. He is our divine warrior who has fought our battles for us, and he has won the victory for us.

And sometimes, as believers, we do continue in this present age to struggle, to struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And sometimes it seems that the world, the flesh, and the devil win some battles. But let us remember, Jesus has won the war. He is the victor. He is our victor. And we are victorious, not in ourselves, not in our merits. We have no merit to offer to God. We are victorious in Jesus, the victorious one. So rest in Him. out of gratitude for his wonderful gift of salvation, let us strive to have clean hands and a pure heart. In other words, to be holy in conduct and in heart. Not because our striving after holiness of heart and conduct somehow earns us access to the heavenly holy of holies, to the hill of the Lord.

We stand before the Lord again only through his merit and sacrifice, but out of gratitude for what he has done to present us, to give us a standing in grace that we already have through faith in him. So brothers and sisters in Christ, rest in Jesus, your divine warrior, the one who fights your battles for you, the one who has won the victory. And in view of your union with him, Count yourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God in union with Christ Jesus, our Lord, and live in the light of that. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we praise you that Jesus Christ is our King of glory, that he is Yahweh the Lord, mighty in battle, victorious. Give us grace, O Lord, not to seek victory in our own efforts, our own merits, even our own religiosity.

Though you do call us to the diligent use of the means of grace, may we not rest in our diligent use, but may we rest in the one to whom those means point, namely Jesus. Be with us now, Lord, strengthen us in grace and faith that we might honor you in our hearts and in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

About this sermon

Psalm 23 has comforted countless believers in battle, prison, and at the point of death. The Lord is a shepherd who supplies every need, leads his sheep beside still waters, restores their souls, and guides them in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even in the valley of the shadow of death his people need not fear, because he is with them. He spreads a table before them in the presence of their enemies, and goodness and lovingkindness follow them all their days, because they stand in Christ, the good shepherd.

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Sermon transcript

This evening we consider a very familiar passage of scripture, Psalm 23, as we continue our consideration of the book of Psalms. Psalm 23, hear the word of God. It is entitled, A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, once again, we ask that by your spirit you would cause our hearts to be good soil so that the seed of your word would indeed take deep root in our hearts and bear spiritual fruit unto holiness and sanctification in our lives. And once again, Lord, we ask that you would set a guard over my lips that I might speak only that which is faithful and that which is timely and edifying to your people. Grant me the assistance of your spirit in doing so. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the spirit is speaking to us in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible word.

In Jesus’ name we pray and all of God’s people said. Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. The title of my sermon on this Lord’s Day evening is The Lord Our Shepherd and Host. Well, dear friends, the passage from God’s Word that we are considering on this Lord’s Day evening is, of course, one of the most familiar as well as one of the most well-beloved portions of Holy Scripture. Along with passages like John 3.16, for example, Psalm 23 is a portion of God’s Word that even many who are otherwise unfamiliar with the Bible and its contents have heard and perhaps even memorized. Psalm 23 has brought great comfort and solace to many in times of darkness and distress. Only the final judgment day will disclose just how many soldiers going into the front lines of battle have found strength for the battle from this psalm, or how many prisoners in chains have been comforted by it, or how many on their deathbeds have had their faith fortified as they prepare to cross over to the other side.

Perhaps this familiar psalm has been a source of comfort and hope for you. And if so, there’s good reason for that. For it would seem that the Holy Spirit has given this precious psalm as a gift to God’s people to serve as a source of comfort, encouragement, and strength in the face of life’s many challenges and difficulties. King David himself, of course, if you know his history, if you know the history of his rise to the kingship in Israel and the tumults of his reign over Israel, you know that David himself faced many discouragements, many distresses, many enemies, and he found comfort in his good shepherd. Dr. Willem van Gammeren says of this psalm, and I quote him, he says, Psalm 23 is a psalm of trust and confidence. The psalm expresses confidence in God’s goodness in this life and in the life to come.

The personal way in which the psalmist speaks of God, the imagery of God’s soothing guidance, and the ensuing confidence in God have all been factors in making this one of the most charming and beloved of the psalms. He goes on to say, it is a psalm of God’s strength and grace for all ages. The teaching of our Lord that he is the good shepherd, and he refers us there to John 10, 11, who comes for both Jews and Gentiles, gives the Christian a sound reason to apply the benefits of God’s goodness to the ancient covenant people and to himself as a child of Abraham and fellow heir of Jesus Christ. Moreover, it causes us to hope in the glory of God, the glory that God has prepared for His own. Amen. The great reformer, Martin Luther, described Psalm 23 as, quote, a psalm of thanks in which a Christian heart praises and thanks God for teaching him and keeping him on the right way, comforting and protecting him in every danger through His holy word.

Dear ones, in this psalm which is ascribed to King David, David uses two metaphors to describe Yahweh, Israel’s faithful covenant God. Yahweh is first of all described as the divine shepherd of his sheep. And that is the focus of the first four verses, as God is presented as the divine shepherd of his people, his sheep. and Yahweh is also presented in verses 5 and 6 as the divine host of the Feast of Salvation. So in my sermon for this Lord’s Day evening, we’ll focus on what we can learn about our great God through these two descriptions of Yahweh as the divine shepherd of his sheep and Yahweh as the divine host of the feast of salvation. So as we turn our focus to the first four verses, the first section of Psalm 23, believer, take comfort in the Lord, your divine shepherd.

The Lord is your shepherd believer. This is the wording that David uses here. Notice in verse one, David begins this psalm by saying the Lord, that is Yahweh, the faithful covenant God of Israel. The Lord is, notice he doesn’t say the Lord is our shepherd, although that would certainly be true, but he says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yahweh, the Lord, Israel’s faithful covenant God, is the psalmist’s shepherd. Now, what comes to your mind when you think of a shepherd? Well, we tend to think of shepherds, and of course, shepherds tend to be in pastoral settings with their sheep. But when we think of a shepherd, we tend to think of a very lowly profession, a very lowly vocation. Someone who cares for dirty, messy, smelly, wandering sheep, right? But what is interesting here, beloved, is that we need to remember that in the ancient Near East, in the time of David, a king was often described as the shepherd of the people whom he governed.

And so while a shepherd indeed shepherds the sheep, the dirty, smelly, wandering sheep. The sheep that are exposed to predators, the sheep that are prone to get stuck and fall into ditches. There’s a funny, as an aside, there’s a funny video on YouTube of a sheep that has fallen into a ditch and the shepherd pulls it out and the sheep gets up and it runs down the road a little bit and falls right back into the ditch. That’s how we tend to be as God’s sheep. But in terms of what this tells us about the shepherd, we need to remember, beloved, that in the ancient world, the title shepherd was often ascribed to, or a king, a royalty was often spoken of as the shepherd of his people. And David was indeed the theocratic earthly shepherd of God’s people.

He was the theocratic king. But here David, David, the shepherd king of Israel, affirms that there is a shepherd higher than himself. He affirms that he himself, the shepherd of Israel, has a shepherd. And that shepherd is none other than Yahweh. David affirms that Yahweh is his shepherd king. And this, of course, points us forward to our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ, remember, Christ is great David’s greater son. For in the New Testament, Jesus reveals himself to be the good shepherd of God’s elect sheep. As we read earlier in the service from John chapter 10, in John 10 verse 11, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd does what? He lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus Christ laid down his life for you and for me, dear brother and sister in Christ.

So we need to keep this in mind. The Lord is my shepherd. Not in the sense of a lowly shepherd, but a royal shepherd. The royal shepherd king of his covenant people. The Lord is my shepherd. David personalizes it. And he recognizes that he’s not the ultimate shepherd over God’s people. Yahweh is. And then, what is the result of this? What are the implications of the fact that the Lord is his shepherd? He says, I shall not want It’s an old-fashioned way of saying that the Lord will provide for me. Yahweh, the Divine Shepherd, provides for the individual needs of His sheep, His covenant people. He doesn’t just provide for the needs of His church corporate, although again, He certainly does that. But you and I, brothers and sisters, we can take this psalm upon our lips and we can say, not only the Lord is our shepherd, the Lord is the one who provides for our needs, but the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want or be in want. And David certainly experienced the Lord as his provider, the one who provided for him protection, security, the one who raised him up to the throne and conquered all of his enemies. And then he goes on to say in verse two, David goes on to say of Yahweh, his shepherd, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. The sheep love the green pastures, provides them with food, it provides them with tranquility. They love being led beside quiet waters, waters where they are protected from predators. Here we have painted for us in verse two a picture of tranquility, rest, and abundant provision. And as we read this imagery, as we consider and ponder this imagery, that David, under the Spirit’s inspiration, pens. Let us be reminded, brothers and sisters, that in Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, we have peace of conscience, we have rest for our souls, and we have abundant provision for all of our spiritual needs.

For Christ is the bread of life, he is the water of life, he is the one who feeds our souls by his word and spirit, and he quenches our spiritual thirst. as we draw upon Him, as we commune with Him in faith. Is this true of you, dear listener? Is Jesus Christ your Good Shepherd and Savior? Oh, rest in Him and draw nourishment and strength, comfort from Him. And then David goes on to say, as he continues to extol Yahweh, his shepherd king, David says of the Lord, he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness. And why does he do it? For his namesake. God is glorified as our souls are restored, as we are guided in the paths of righteousness. God, his name is glorified. And this points us to the fact that the divine shepherd restores the vitality of life to his people.

Biblical history reveals to us numerous times in the history of Israel where the people needed to be restored and guided back into the paths of righteousness. Numerous times where they went astray. Numerous times where foreign aggressors, where predators preyed upon them. But the Lord is the one who restores the souls, the life of his people, the vitality of life and guides his people into the paths of righteousness. Our divine shepherd guides us along the straight and narrow pathway, the right way, and that right way is the road of salvation and righteousness. As we read verse 3 and read about the paths of righteousness, we should be reminded of what Jesus says, for example, in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14. In the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus says this in Matthew 7, 13 and 14, Jesus says, enter through the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it. And by the way, as an aside, I don’t think Jesus is saying that, well, the way to life is so incredibly hard that you cannot attain to it. Of course you cannot attain to it. I cannot attain to it because The requirement of salvation, if you rest on works, is perfect obedience. But the point here is that Jesus himself is that narrow gate. We only enter the gateway of salvation through faith in Christ and his righteousness alone. As we rest upon him and him alone for salvation, we are guided along that narrow path. that leads to life.

It is not of works. It is of grace and grace alone. And he does so again as we get back to our our passage. Psalm 23 verse three. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness again for his namesake. It’s about him and his glory. It’s not ultimately about us. Yahweh’s sheep, Yahweh’s people, you and I, brothers and sisters, we bear His holy name before a watching world. That name was sacramentally placed upon us in holy baptism, and we have confessed that name. We who are communicant members of the church, we’ve confessed that name. We bear His name before a watching world. May He guide us in the paths of righteousness. For His name’s sake, that His name might be glorified and honored. And then in verse four, David goes on to say, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.

Now let me pause there. Walking through the valley of the shadow of death. In the ancient world, if you walk through a valley that was dark and shadowy, you would not know what’s hiding in the shadows. perhaps bandits or robbers, perhaps vicious animals that threaten your life. But David’s confident. He uses this picture of fear to say, I will not fear. I fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. You, Yahweh, my divine shepherd king, you’re with me even through the valley of the shadow of death. Your rod and your staff They comfort me. The point here in this verse is that the Divine Shepherd’s presence, protection, and guidance drive out fear, even in the face of the dark valleys of life, and even indeed in the face of death itself. For if we are in Christ, if we are clothed in His perfect righteousness, if our sins have been washed away through His precious blood, we have no reason to fear death ultimately.

Now death is fearful because it’s uncertain. It’s something that we never face. We each have to face individually. We know it’s not uncertain in the ultimate sense because Jesus came back from death and God’s word reveals what happens after death. But if we are in Christ, we need not ultimately fear death because God is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death. And then what about this imagery? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. What did the shepherd, what did a shepherd use a rod for? What did he use his staff for? Well, the shepherd would use his rod to fight off wild animals and predators that threatened the safety of his sheep. And so the rod is a picture of protection against predators. and the staff was used to direct the sheep.

If a sheep was starting to wander off, maybe wander off into a ditch, the shepherd would come along and poke the sheep with the staff, get it back onto the right way. And that’s what the Lord does for us. He protects us by his word and spirit. He protects us and by his staff, by his word and spirit, he guides us in the right way, the narrow way that leads unto life. Praise be to God that Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, protects us from all of his and our enemies, and that he directs our paths through his word. But not only is our Lord presented here as our divine shepherd, the one who protects and guides us, the one who comforts us by his rod and staff, but Christian rejoice in the Lord as the generous divine host of the feast of salvation.

He is presented in verse five and six as the divine host of the feast of salvation. Verse five, David writes, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In verse 5, we have a picture not only of spiritual abundance, but of victory in the face of our spiritual adversaries. Now, when David writes, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Again, hearkening back to the history of King David, you know that David had many enemies. As David was being raised up to the throne of Israel, David had to contend with Saul. King Saul, in burning jealousy against David, would seek David’s life time and time again.

And David would often have to run and flee from Saul in fear of his life. And of course, even after the Lord raised David up to the throne of Israel, there were still enemies to contend with, the Philistines and so forth. And here, what David is depicting is that his enemies have been subdued. The Lord has delivered, has saved him. And he is saying, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. So there is feasting, even in the presence of those who sought David’s downfall. They are the ones who are subdued. And David, by the blessing of the Lord, feasts at the Lord’s table of salvation in the presence of his enemies. And I think perhaps from an eschatological perspective, We should look forward to that day when we will feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb in the new heavens and the new earth.

When God will have finally and completely and consummatively, that’s a word, will have completely subdued all of his and our enemies. and what rejoicing there will be. And the Lord is the one who makes this possible. The Lord is the one who spreads the feast of salvation. We have but to, by his sovereign grace, accept the invitation to the feast. And then he says, you have anointed my head with oil. Indeed, the Lord anointed David As king over Israel, David is a type of Christ, and the word Christ or Messiah means anointed one. David was anointed by the Lord to serve as Israel’s theocratic king, and as a type of Christ, he points forward to Christ, the ultimate anointed one. And then he says, my cup overflows. Again, a picture of abundance, a picture of victory, a picture of security. a picture of ultimate salvation.

And then in verse six, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. For most of David’s life, he faced adversity. He faced hatred from his enemies. But now David Looking with the eyes of faith into the future, he looks with hope and he says, surely, he’s convinced of this, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. Why does he express this hope that things will be good for him, that the Lord will provide for his ultimate good? Well, he has confidence in this because he knows God’s covenant promise. And he trusts that God is faithful to keep his covenant promises. He’s not expressing this hope, this certainty, this confidence about the future because he has confidence in his own worthiness or his own merits that David, though he was a great saint of God, he was also a great sinner.

And the Lord showed great grace to King David. But his confidence is in Yahweh, his shepherd king. And so he says, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. But not only the days of his life. David also, at least at some level, understands that there is an eternal aspect to this salvation. He says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The house of the Lord. Now, the earthly house of the Lord at the time that David wrote this was the tabernacle. But that was a copy, a picture of the ultimate sanctuary, the heavenly sanctuary, the Lord’s dwelling place. David anticipated that he would dwell in that house forever. The ultimate hope is not only experiencing God’s presence in goodness and mercy in this present life.

Praise God, we do experience that. We experience that through faith in Christ and we experience God’s presence and we fellowship with God in the means of grace, in word and sacrament and in prayer and praise and worship. But not only do we experience God’s presence and goodness and mercy in the here and now, but dwelling in God’s house, in other words, his temple, the place where his saving presence dwells forever. That is too what is promised to us who are believers in Christ. Surely this is a picture or at least a pointer to the ultimate gift of everlasting life which God promises to all who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation from their sins. And so, dear listener, through Jesus Christ, God has spread the Feast of Salvation, and He welcomes all who would come to Him.

Come to the Feast of Salvation. And you say, well, pastor, you know, I came to the Lord many, many years ago. I’ve been a believer all my life. How is this relevant to me? Because the Feast of Salvation is not just spread once. The gospel is not just for unbelievers. The gospel is for Christians, too. I need the gospel day in and day out, week in and week out, because guess what? I’m still a sinner. I’m a maturing sinner. I’m a sinner who’s being sanctified by God’s grace. But I’m still a sinner, and so are you. We come to church not to show off how righteous we are. We come to church week in and week out, and we come to prayer and to the study of scripture in our private lives and in our family lives, not because doing so earns us merit with God.

We come to these things because we need more of Jesus. We need Jesus every day. We need his grace every day. We need his forgiveness and mercy each and every day. The gospel is for Christians too. Oftentimes, and this has been my experience in various churches I’ve had opportunity to worship in in the past at churches outside the OPC especially, but even in reform circles, there’s this idea that, you know, yeah, we need to give the gospel to unbelievers, but once they get saved, then we need to give them a lot of how-to instructions. You know, many sermons today, many Christian sermons today focus on Christian living, how to live a Christian life, how to sermons. And oftentimes what will happen is a lot of good advice and edifying advice often shared in such sermons.

And then they tack the gospel on at the end in case there’s any unbelievers in the audience. But the gospel again, the Feast of Salvation is spread for the unbeliever who is coming to faith in Christ by the sovereign grace of God. But the Feast of Salvation is spread for us as believers too, because we need more of Jesus every day. And His grace, His grace is abounding, super abundant. His mercies are new every morning. So Christian, You know, if you’re at that place where you’re thinking, wow, I’ve really messed up, and I keep messing up, and I keep going back to God, God must be really tired. God welcomes you. Now I’m not saying don’t take your sin seriously. Yes, you should take your sin seriously, and you should be repentant for that sin.

But the Lord is the good shepherd. And you can say of the Lord, even when you mess up, even when you backslide, The Lord is drawing you back and convicting you. You can say, the Lord is my shepherd. And you can say, you prepare before me in the presence of my enemies. Who is your greatest enemy? The world, the flesh, and the devil. And sometimes the greatest enemy is within, your own sin nature. But the Lord spreads the table of salvation even in the presence of that enemy. And so you can say with confidence as you confess your sins and continue to follow Christ in faith, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. And that is true in spite of your mess ups, in spite of your ongoing battle against sin, that is true.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, not because you’ve met a certain standard of holiness, but because Christ’s perfect, everlasting righteousness has been credited to you, and you stand in him and him alone, and he is the shepherd who laid down his life for you, and the one who has drawn you to himself will continue to shepherd you even through the valley of the shadow of death. So do not lose hope. Take comfort. and say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we do thank you that you shepherd our souls unto salvation. And we thank you that the feast of salvation is spread for us to enjoy, not only at the beginning of our Christian journey, but it is spread for us to enjoy day in and day out, week in and week out.

We thank you that your mercies are new every morning and that you faithfully shepherd us through all of the seasons of life. We pray that we would take these truths to heart and that your spirit would build us up and comfort us and strengthen us through these truths. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

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About this sermon

Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king before battle: “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May he send you help from the sanctuary!” The people trust in the name of the Lord their God, not in chariots and horses, and they know that the Lord saves his anointed. In Christ, God’s Anointed, believers already have the victory, so they walk by faith and serve as bold soldiers of the cross.

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Sermon transcript

My sermon text this evening, as we continue our study of the book of Psalms and various select Psalms, we’re gonna continue, we’re gonna consider this evening Psalm 20. Psalm 20. Hear the word of God, it is entitled for the choir director, A Psalm of David.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May he send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion. May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable. Selah. May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your counsel.

We will sing for joy over your victory. And in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright. Save, O Lord, may the King answer us in the day we call. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Amen. You may be seated. As you can see from your bulletin, the title of my sermon this evening is Help from the Sanctuary, and there are a number of suggested words that you can be listening for if you find that helpful in following along with the sermon.

How would you describe the Christian life? What is the Christian life like? And how do the scriptures describe the Christian life? Well, friends, among other things, the scriptures declare that the Christian life is a spiritual war. We, as God’s covenant people, living in this present age, we are the church militants.

Scripture summons us to do battle against the world, against the flesh, and against the devil. But in this spiritual warfare, we dare not trust in our own strength. We dare not trust in our own merits. We dare not trust in our own resources, nor should we trust in worldly weapons, nor rely upon merely human ingenuity. Instead, beloved, we must trust in the name of the Lord, in the name of Yahweh, our faithful covenant God and Savior, for He and He alone is the source and the guarantee of our victory.

We are reminded of these truths in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening. In our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, we consider another royal psalm where the king is facing an enemy. Now the original circumstances that prompted David under the Spirit’s inspiration to pen this beautiful poem, this psalm, are of course unknown to us today. But from the contents of the psalm, we may infer that the king faces a military threat from a foreign aggressor. And of course, if you know anything about the biblical history of King David, you know that he was a man of war. He was a man that often faced conflict in his kingship, and of course, even in the days leading up to his kingship.

This psalm anticipates battle, and therefore it includes a plea for Yahweh, Israel’s faithful covenant God, to grant to his anointed, to grant to Israel’s king, victory in battle. Now it is interesting if you take the time to read Psalm 20 and Psalm 21 together, for though these two Psalms are independent compositions, they seem to stand apart from each other in that sense, nevertheless, these two Psalms appear to go together. It appears that Psalms 20 and 21 go together or complement each other, for Psalm 20 petitions the Lord for victory before a battle, whereas Psalm 21 rejoices in God for granting the victory requested.

Now, of course, the ultimate fulfillment of this portion of Scripture, for this plea for victory over God’s enemies, the ultimate fulfillment is found in the person and saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ. For remember, friends, that Jesus was great David’s greater son. Jesus Christ is the ultimate anointed one. That’s what the term Messiah or Christ means. For Jesus is the one who has conquered our greatest enemies. namely sin and death and the devil.

Charles Spurgeon puts it well in his Treasury of David when he wrote the following of this particular psalm. Spurgeon says, quote, it needs but a moment’s reflection to perceive that this hymn of prayer is prophetical, that is to say, it is a prophecy of our Lord Jesus. and is the cry of the ancient church on behalf of her Lord, as she sees him in vision, enduring a great fight of afflictions on her behalf. The militant people of God, with the great captain of salvation at their head, may still in earnest plead that the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in his hand. Amen. This is indeed ultimately a hymn that we as the church militant in this present new covenant age can also take upon our lips as a church reflecting upon the victory that Christ our Savior has indeed won for us.

In terms of the setting of this psalm, Dr. Van Gammeren says, concern for God’s blessing on the king in facing national distress dominates the psalm. It contains a beautiful expression of solidarity between the people and their king, as all are involved in imploring the Lord’s favor. The people recognize the anointed leader as God’s agent in bestowing his favor on the people. The confidence in God’s help shows a deep theological awareness of God’s kingship as well as the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. God is faithful to his promises. The psalm shows balance and development. It is a royal psalm like Psalm 2. The literary qualities are evident and they will become even more evident, I hope, as we make our way through this wonderful and brief portion of God’s Word.

So as we dive into our text for this Lord’s Day evening, we first find in the first section of our passage for tonight, in the first four verses of Psalm 20, a plea for victory in the face of opposition. What we have here is the Church of God, the people of God, joining their voices with the voice of King David pleading for God to grant victory against the enemy that threatens. This is a plea for the king’s success in the face of opposition. And verse 1 and verse 9 serve as bookends of this psalm, if you will, because as this psalm begins with the plea for the Lord to grant the king victory, so it ends with the plea for the same thing.

And so in verse one, it says, may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. David records here what his, perhaps his troops or perhaps the gathered assembly of God’s people, as they are anticipating battle against a foreign aggressor, the people of God say, may the Lord, may Yahweh answer you, answer you, King David, in the day of trouble.

May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high, or as some translations put it, protect you. That’s what the imagery points to. For God to set you securely on high is for God to protect you. What does it mean, may the name of the God of Jacob protect you or set you securely on high?

How does God’s name protect us, set us securely on high? Well, as one Bible commentator states, God’s name means all that God has revealed about his character. The prayer is for that fullness of protection, which God’s revealed nature would lead us to expect. God’s name represents God himself in all of his glorious perfections and attributes.

May the name of the God of Jacob, the faithful covenant-making covenant-keeping God protect you. in the face of this opposition. Now one of the things you may notice if you’re a perceptive reader of scripture is that we have some Hebrew parallelism going on in this verse and throughout this psalm. Note the poetic parallelism of this verse and much of the psalm where basically David says the same thing in basically two slightly different ways and so the first line of verse one, may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble is basically that same thought is repeated from a slightly different angle at the end of this verse where he says, may the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. Basically, may God answer you and may God protect you.

He’s basically saying and getting at the same idea in two slightly different ways. And that’s one of the reasons why the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament scriptures lends itself often to memorization. We tend to memorize things better if things are stated or repeated from a slightly different angle. In any case, we see that Hebrew parallelism taking place here, this poetic parallelism throughout this psalm. And then in verse 2, it says, May He send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.

What does this mean? May the Lord, may Yahweh send you help from the sanctuary. What does God’s sanctuary represent? What is He talking about? The sanctuary? We tend to think of the sanctuary as, well, where we’re gathered for worship tonight, a place of congregating for worship.

But in the Old Testament, the sanctuary of God had a more specific reference. It referred in particular to the tabernacle, and later on, after Solomon had built the temple, it referred to the temple. The sanctuary symbolized God’s royal presence and dwelling in the midst of his covenant people. And, of course, the sanctuary, the tabernacle, temple, pointed to the ultimate reality of God’s heavenly sanctuary. The earthly temple and tabernacle was a pointer to, a copy of, a type of the ultimate sanctuary, the ultimate dwelling place of God in his heavenly sanctuary. And so the sanctuary which David had erected on Zion represented God’s being with, present with his people.

It was, in a sense, the intersection of heaven and earth. And you can see how that points forward to Christ, because Christ is the intersection of heaven and earth. He is the one mediator between God and man. We come to the Father in Christ, and we experience God’s presence in union with the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

So David recognizes, and the people who pray for his success recognize, that if help is to come against the enemies of God, it must come from the heavenly sanctuary, from God’s throne room presence, which is represented, symbolized there in the earthly sanctuary, in the tabernacle. May the Lord support you from Zion, from his throne. May he send you help. May he send you support. And then the thought continues in in verse 3. May he remember your meal offerings.

Where were the old covenant offerings offered to God. Could they be offered just anywhere? No, they were to be offered at his sanctuary, at the designated place of sacrifice, which again indicates that the sanctuary that he’s referring to in verse two is this tabernacle, the place where sacrifices were offered and where God mediated his presence to his people. May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable.

In view of the coming battle, the king had offered sacrifices to God in order to invoke God’s favor and also as expressions of consecration and submission to the Lord. And of course, from a New Covenant perspective, we understand that all of those sacrifices ultimately pointed to Jesus’ once and for all final perfect sacrifice. So when we plead for the Lord to grant us victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. We plead for him to remember the sacrifice of Christ. We plead on the basis of Christ’s perfect, victorious sacrifice on our behalf. And then in verse 4, the people of God continue to pray for their king.

May he, may Yahweh grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your counsel. What would be the king’s desire in the context of this psalm? What would be his heart’s desire in the context of the circumstances that are addressed in this particular psalm?

Well, obviously, counsel here probably refers to the king’s plans for battle. Other versions translate it as, may the Lord grant your plans, fulfill your plans, and so forth. In order to be successful in battle, you have to have a battle plan. And so the people of God are praying for their anointed king. May the Lord not only fulfill your desire for victory in this battle, but also fulfill your counsel, your plans.

This is a prayer for Yahweh to grant the king’s desire for victory in battle and to prosper and grant success to his battle plans. What is the takeaway that we can glean from this first section of this Royal Psalm, Psalm 20? Well, there’s many things that we can learn from this, beloved, but let us keep in mind the fact that God has granted His people victory in Christ. We, as the church militant today under the New Covenant, we too can take these words upon our lips, but we must pray this prayer from a New Covenant, Christ-focused perspective, recognizing that God has indeed already granted us the victory.

Jesus was victorious on the cross. He said, it is finished. The devil has been, in principle, defeated. And let us take confidence, let us have confidence because he is faithful to keep his covenant promises as we look to him for help. And he sends us help from his sanctuary and Christ is that sanctuary. He is the ultimate living temple of the Lord and we are a living temple in union with him. And our victory over sin and death and the devil is found in union with Christ, great David’s greater son, the anointed one. So we have a plea for victory in the face of opposition, but in the center of this Psalm in verse five, we have an anticipation of victory. Verse five goes on to say, we will sing for joy over your victory.

Now, wait a minute, the battle hasn’t happened yet. In the historical circumstances here, the battle has not yet happened. This is a prayer for God to grant victory in battle. And yet we see, We see the gathered community, the covenant community, expressing faith and confidence that God will indeed grant the victory. We have this anticipation of victory.

And so, the Spirit inspires David to record these words of the people praying for his victory. We will sing for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. David had petitioned Yahweh for victory, and the people joined with their king in solidarity with their king before the throne of grace, saying, yes, may Yahweh fulfill all your petitions. Dr. Van Gammeren says, when the Lord responds to the prayer, he will demonstrate his presence and favor by giving victory to the king. The people pledge loyalty to the king by affirming their joy in his victory. They are confident that he is God’s chosen servant for the occasion and look forward to his return in victory.

They also pledged loyalty to the Lord by raising their banners, quote, in the name of our God. Now, what does this raising of the banners mean? As Dr. Van Gammeren explains, here the raising of the banners signifies God’s victory over the enemies. Raising your banners in battle is a sign that victory has been accomplished. And as an aside here, Have you noticed that there’s a lot of military imagery that is assumed by this psalm and indeed that we find throughout the scriptures?

One of the things that I find interesting, regarding theological liberalism. Theological liberalism tends to view the use of military language and violent language in scripture to describe the life of faith. Theological liberalism and theological liberals tend to view that as rather unpleasant and unpalatable, perhaps even unacceptable. It’s my understanding that in some of the mainline churches, the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, has been removed from the hymnal, or at least has been modified to kind of tone down the military imagery, you know? that classic hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before. Oh no, they say we don’t want to highlight this kind of violent imagery. We’re about peace, right? Isn’t Jesus the Prince of Peace? Well, yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but he gains peace for us by going to war against Satan. You see, friends, modernists often tend to downplay, de-emphasize it, or even outright reject any language that involves violence or military imagery.

However, if you have even a superficial acquaintance with the word of God, you know, brothers and sisters, that God’s word is filled not only with historical accounts of actual military battles, and oftentimes military battles that God commands his people to engage in, But it is also filled with military language to describe the life of faith in Christ. The Christian life is described, as I said at the beginning of the sermon, the Christian life is often described in scripture as a battle. And we’re told, as we read earlier in the service from Ephesians chapter 6, that we are to put on the whole armor of God.

That’s military imagery that the Apostle Paul uses, for example. Obviously, the Holy Spirit had a reason for utilizing and inspiring this kind of language and having it written in Scripture, breathed out and recorded in Holy Scripture. And who are we to question the Spirit’s wisdom in using this imagery in the Word which he has inspired? This military language, this violent language of Scripture, highlights the seriousness of our spiritual warfare. It highlights the seriousness of what is at stake. We are at war for the souls of men, beloved. But in highlighting the seriousness and severity of our spiritual warfare, it also highlights the certainty of our victory in Christ.

Indeed, it highlights how glorious and wonderful our Lord Jesus’s victory over sin and death, the devil and hell is. Again, without this military imagery in scripture, we would not have passages such as this one from Romans chapter 8, which I know is very familiar, but hear this passage again. It says in Romans 8 verse 31, What then shall we say to these things if God is for us, who is against us?

He who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all. How will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns? There’s courtroom imagery there. Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

But in all these things we overwhelmingly what? we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are more than conquerors through Christ. We are already victorious in Christ, for Christ is the victorious one, and we are in union with him. And that brings me to the final point that we observe in the last section of Psalm 20, verses six through nine. We find confidence in the Lord to provide victory. Here we find an expression of confidence in Yahweh to provide the victory that is requested.

David writes again, writing under the inspiration of the spirit, now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. And here that term saves indicates delivers. Of course, God in terms of eternal salvation did save King David, but here he saves or delivers David in the face of this distress. I know that the Lord saves his anointed.

He will answer him from his holy heaven. That’s his sanctuary. That’s his royal, holy presence. With the saving strength of his right hand, the right hand is an image of power and authority. God has granted power and authority to his anointed king, whom he has promised, to whom he has promised victory. And verse seven, I love verse seven. It really puts things into perspective. Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast, here it is again, in the name of the Lord our God.

It’s interesting, one of the things that God commanded his people, Israel, is that they not multiply horses and chariots. The pagan nations around them relied upon the military might that came to them through these military means of chariots and horses. If you had a lot of chariots and horses on your side, you had a great advantage. from a military perspective. But God’s people were not to trust in horses and chariots. They were not to trust in earthly, temporal, or human resources. They were not to boast of their military might. They were to boast in the name, in the glorious revealed attributes of their holy God, Yahweh, their faithful covenant savior.

And then verse 8 goes on to say, they have bowed down and fallen. Again, anticipating victory even before the battle. They have fallen down, but we have risen and stood upright. And then verse 9. It says, save, O Lord, may the king answer us in the day we call. Other versions, I believe the ESV translates it as save your king, O Lord, answer him in the day that he calls. I think that’s probably a more accurate translation and lines up with the flow and the thought of this psalm. So David ends this psalm as he begins with this petition. But even though there is a petition for God to grant victory, there’s also confidence, great confidence expressed in this glorious royal psalm. And so we are confronted by this psalm with a question here, I believe.

And the question is, where will we as God’s people place our trust in the face of opposition? What will we boast in when it comes to facing opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil? Will we boast in chariots or horses or maybe to bring it a little more up to date, will we boast in politicians, in cultural trends, Boast in the right policies? Will we boast in our own military strength? And we can be thankful we have great military strength in our nation, but do we boast in that as God’s people? No, beloved, let us boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.

For he is the one who sends us help from his sanctuary. He continues to send help to his church. And sometimes he sends help by sustaining us in the face of persecution. And sometimes he sends us help even in the face of martyrdom. But however he sends it, whatever the circumstances may be, let us know that in Christ we are victorious.

But to address you also as an individual, what are the weapons of your warfare in the spiritual battles of your Christian life? Are you trusting in yourself, in some earthly power or method or resource? Or are you trusting in the Lord? Like David of old, let us trust in the name of the Lord our God.

And his name is Jesus. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that in Christ we have victory. And we thank you, Lord, that though we face hostility in this world, you promise us victory. Indeed, you’ve already secured it for us. Help us to walk by faith and not by sight, walking in the light of that victory that you have granted to us in Christ our Savior. And Lord, we do pray that we might be faithful and bold soldiers of the cross. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

About this sermon

Psalm 19 praises God’s glory in the heavens and in his law. The heavens declare his glory to every nation without words, and Paul applies that universal voice to the gospel. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul, making wise the simple, and it is sweeter than honey and more desirable than gold. David prays to be kept from hidden faults and presumptuous sins, and he asks that the words of his mouth be acceptable to the Lord, his rock and his redeemer.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. As we continue to work our way through various psalms, this evening we’re gonna consider a very well-known psalm, Psalm 19. So let us hear God’s holy word. This is entitled, for the choir director, A Psalm of David. Psalm 19. The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words. Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them he has placed a tent for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me from hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins.

Let them not rule over me, then I will be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Your friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing and join me in prayer. as we ask the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Lord and Father, we do pray that your spirit would illuminate us, enlighten us, and cause your word to find a lodging place in our souls this evening. And we pray that you would grant me the grace to speak forth your word with clarity and power and the assistance of your spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. You may be seated.

The title of my sermon this evening is The Heavens Declare, The Scriptures Restore. Well, dear friends in Christ, our passage for this Lord’s Day evening is recognized by many as one of the most beautiful of all of the Psalms. And I know I quoted from C.S. Lewis this morning in my sermon. I’m going to quote from him again in his reflections on the Psalms. He writes the following of this particular song, Psalm. He says, I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world. Friends, this deep and rich portion of God’s Word is indeed a composition of great beauty and majesty. It is a composition of great beauty and majesty not only in terms of its structure, but also in terms of its content and the truth that it conveys to us.

I like how it is introduced by the NIV study Bible in the study note. That study note says of Psalm 19 that it is, quote, a hymn extolling the glory of God as revealed to all by the starry heavens, as we see in the first six verses, and as revealed in the law of the Lord, which has been given to Israel. Placed next to Psalm 18, it completes the cycle of praise. Praise for the Lord’s saving acts, for his glory reflected in creation, and for his law. Now, in terms of the basic outline of this psalm, there’s basically three sections of this psalm. And again, to quote from Dr. Willem van Gammeren, he summarizes it well. He says of this psalm that it comprises three separate motifs. that the author has brought together into a unified wisdom hymn.

There is creation praise as we see in the first six verses, there is a wisdom psalm in verses 7 through 11, and there is a prayer for forgiveness and acceptance in verses 12 through 14. Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this majestic psalm, King David points us to the ways that God has revealed himself to mankind, namely through the created order and also through his law, his Torah, in other words, his holy scriptures. And what should our response be to God’s heart-searching revelation, whether that revelation comes to us in creation or whether it comes to us more fully in the holy scriptures? Well, as the final prayer of contrition that is found in this psalm in verses 12 through 14 makes clear, our proper response to God’s revelation in creation and in scripture should be conviction of sin and a plea for forgiveness and heart transformation.

Now, as we read this psalm from a New Covenant or AD perspective, this forgiveness of sins, this heart transformation that God’s revelation in nature and scripture so clearly confronts us with, our need for this forgiveness and heart transformation, is made possible and secured for us ultimately through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, the one who is great David’s greater son, the one who unlike King David was perfectly blameless both in heart and conduct. And so as we approach our text for this Lord’s Day evening, we learn of how the heavens declare God’s glory, but then we also learn of how the scriptures restore our souls or convert or revive our souls. And of course the scriptures do this ultimately by bringing us to the Lord Jesus Christ and bringing us to the foot of his cross.

So as we dive into God’s word for this evening, first I would have you brothers and sisters to behold the speech of heaven. In the first six verses, David writes of God’s speech that is declared in the heavens. In these first six verses, David is referring to what the theologians like to call either natural or general revelation. This is God’s revelation of his reality, his nature, his eternal power and deity. And that revelation comes to all of humanity, both those who have access to the scriptures and even to those who are cut off from the privilege of having access to the Word of God. This is the universal speech of God coming through creation and providence. It’s called natural revelation because it is God’s revelation through nature, through the created order. It’s also called general revelation, not only because it reaches all men generally, but also because its content is rather general as well.

And in verse one, we learn of the subject of this speech. The psalmist writes in verse 1, the heavens are telling or declare the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the works of his hand. What is the subject of the speech of general or natural revelation? The revelation in the heavens? It is the glory of God. The heavens are telling the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the works of his hand. Now in the ESV, the word expanse is translated as sky above. This is an interesting word. In the Hebrew, this is creational language, and some translations translate this word, as it’s used in Genesis 1, as firmament. It’s the same Hebrew word. So as we look up at the night sky, or even the sky in the day, and we see the sun and the moon and the stars, these works of God’s creation declare the glory of God.

And that’s very important to note, because in ancient pagan cultures, The sun and the moon and the stars were not just viewed as creations of God that served God’s purposes. They were actually worshipped, especially the sun was worshipped as a deity. But here David treats the sun properly as a creation of God, as we will see later on. The heavens and the The stars and the lights that inhabit the heavens are not themselves deities but are servants of God that declare his glory. And so the subject of God’s speech in the created order and in the heavens in particular is the glory of God. We also see in verse 2 the constancy of this speech. It says, day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge. The heavens declare in our telling of the glory of God, not in the sense of astrology, not in the sense of verbal communication, but they tell the glory of God by bearing testimony to their Creator.

And this is not just an occasional revelation, this is a constant revelation. Day to day, the heavens declare the glory of God. Night to night reveals the knowledge of the true and living Creator God who made the heavens and the earth. We also read in verses 3 and 4 of the universal reach of this speech of God through the created order. It says in verse 3, there is no speech nor their words, their voice is not heard. Now, what is David saying when he uses this language here? What’s the point that he’s getting across? And there’s several different ways to understand the language of verse 3. In the New American Standard Version, we read, their voice is not heard. In ESV it says whose voice is not heard. Perhaps this verse conveys the idea that although the quote voice of natural revelation reaches all humanity, nevertheless it is a voice that is not heard because fallen man suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.

And even though I’m not inclined to accept that way of interpreting the language here in verse three, that idea certainly does convey a biblical thought. We saw that in Romans chapter one, which I read earlier in the service, which speaks of mankind suppressing of the truth in natural revelation through unrighteousness. or perhaps alternatively, the language here in verse 3 may convey the idea that there is no nation of mankind that does not have access to the so-called voice of God’s revelation in the creation. As the New King James Version translates it, there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Even though there’s not a physical, audible voice that the heavens speak, nevertheless, their message, their voice is clearly heard throughout all the world. And what is this voice? Well, the voice of verse three is the same as the speech in verse two.

It is the speech of the heavens declaring to all humanity the glory of God. And then verse four goes on to say, their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world. Now this is an interesting verse, especially the first part of verse four, because the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans chapter 10, 18, and he applies this verse to the gospel message. Now here in this original context, David is speaking of the universal reach of general revelation, of God’s revelation of himself in creation. But Paul uses this language and applies it to the gospel. How is Paul twisting the scriptures? And when he does that, is he misusing, mishandling the scriptures? Well, no, as one commentator puts it, interpreting this heavenly proclamation eschatologically in the light of Christ, Paul applies this verse, verse four, to the proclamation of the gospel in his own day.

He thus associates these two universal proclamations. You see, just as general revelation reaches all mankind, So the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be spread throughout the nations. I’m reminded of the Great Commission. Our Lord Jesus has called the church to take the gospel to the nations, to make disciples of all the nations. And this is perhaps why the great reformer Martin Luther describes Psalm 19 as, quote, a prophecy. Brother Luther says, quote, of this psalm that, quote, it speaks of how the gospel would spread to all the world as far as the heavens extend. Day and night, it would be spread, not only in Hebrew, but in all languages. Amen to that. And so we see that Psalm 19 is one of those scriptural proofs for the doctrine of God’s general revelation, his revelation in the created order in nature and conscience and providence.

But we also learn in this passage that the light of natural revelation is inescapable, just like the light of the sun is inescapable. It says in verse, at the end of verse four, in them, He has placed a tent for the sun. The heavens that are stretched out is compared to a tent. Verse five, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. He’s describing the sun here. And he’s using, obviously, this language to describe the course of the sun, the rising and the setting of the sun. Verse six, its rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Again, as another commentator puts it, the sun daily runs its course through the firmament, giving life and heat to the entire world.

In contrast to the surrounding pagan religions, which worship the sun as a deity, the Israelite faith understood it to be a creation that fulfilled its creator’s bidding. And regarding the language of like that the sun does this, like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, A wedding took place in the ancient world, a wedding took place under a special canopy. God, like a father, sets up such a canopy for the son. The son emerges each day as joyful as a new husband.” And so the point here is that the searching light of God’s natural revelation, his general revelation in creation, It spreads abroad and it touches everyone just as the light and heat of the sun impacts everyone throughout the world. But the searching light of natural revelation leads next to a consideration of another light, the light of special revelation or Holy Scripture.

And so that leads us on to the next section of this psalm which begins in verse 7. And so brothers and sisters, next let us behold God’s speech. that comes to us in scripture, God’s speech in scripture. It says in verse 7, the law of the Lord, notice the word Lord is in all capital letters indicating that David is speaking here of Yahweh, of the covenant God of Israel, God considered in special redemptive covenant relationship with Israel. The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring or reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous all together.

Here again, we have God’s special revelation, his redemptive revelation that David is speaking of here, his revelation in Holy Scripture. And David uses here six synonyms for God’s word, different terms to describe God’s word. In verse seven, he calls it the law or Torah of Yahweh. Also the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord. In verse 9 he speaks of the fear of the Lord, and that’s not so much scripture itself, but that’s what scripture is meant to produce. Holy reverence or fear of Yahweh the Lord. And then he speaks of the judgments of the Lord. These are six different ways of speaking of Holy Scripture, giving slightly different angles to the same subject. And what is profound is that verse seven tells us that the law of the Lord is perfect.

As one commentator puts it, that means inerrant, bringing strength and comfort to men. Each of these synonyms highlights a different aspect of the perfection of God’s Word. What does God’s Word do in its perfection? It restores the soul. It converts. It makes wise the simple. We have from the testimony of the Lord in Scripture, we have wisdom from God. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The scriptures, when they are understood correctly, they bring joy to the heart of the believer. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. They give us wisdom. They enlighten us. They illuminate us. They endure forever and they are righteous all together. And so we see the perfection of God’s word. We also see in verse 10, the value and the sweetness of God’s word.

It says of God’s word of the commandments, the Torah, the scriptures, they are more desirable than gold. Yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. So again, we see the value and sweetness of God’s word. And for the believer, for the soul of the believer who has come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, the scriptures are soul food. They are sweet to the soul, especially the gospel promises as we meditate upon the glorious gospel promises. there is a sweetness to that. And if I may wax a little autobiographical for a few moments, I remember before my conversion to Christ in high school, I found the scriptures to be intellectually interesting and stimulating and even somewhat convicting. But after the Lord in sovereign mercy effectually called me to faith in Christ, called me out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son, as a new believer, I remember just hungering to know the word of God.

I wanted to, I mean, I didn’t, I knew about the scriptures and I knew passages from the scriptures. I’d heard the scriptures read in church, but now I wanted to know the word because the word was sweet to my soul. I wanted to get to know Jesus better and Jesus, of course, is revealed. in His Word. The Holy Scriptures are sweet to the soul of the believer and they are of great value. They are more to be desired than gold because the truths of God’s Word revealed in the Word of God. What do these truths do? They lead us to Jesus who is the source of eternal life. Indeed, to know Christ is to know life eternal. We read also in this passage of the effects of Holy Scripture in verse 11. What do the scriptures do?

What does this Torah, this covenant instruction, this special revelation from Yahweh, the true and living God, what does this do to the servants of the Lord? Verse 11, moreover by them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward. The Scriptures warn us, they direct us, they guide us, they encourage us, they reward us. Not as a reward of merit, but a reward of grace. And so, my friends, we behold here in this passage God’s speech in Scripture. But also in this portion of God’s Word, We are confronted with a prayer for a pure heart and for blameless conduct. And that leads me to my final main point here, based on verses 12 through 14. Take to heart a prayer for a pure heart and for blameless conduct. Verse 12, David asks, and he’s praying this to the Lord, who can discern his errors?

Acquit me of hidden faults. Some of our faults are obvious to us. We don’t need anyone to point them out. We don’t need to, they’re self-evident to us, but we all have hidden faults. And here, David is acknowledging to the Lord, Lord, I’m ignorant. I don’t know myself as you know me. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Again, I’d mentioned the great reformer Martin Luther earlier in my sermon, and I quoted from him. And remember, Luther would spend a lot of time in the confessional, and he wore out his confessors, because he was constantly trying to remember all of the sins that he had committed. And, you know, after a couple hours in the At confession, he finally gets absolved, he leaves, and then he remembers another sin, and he has to go back.

You know, we all have committed sins that we don’t remember. God knows what those sins are. What do we do? What do we do about that? Well, again, God acquits us of hidden faults. He’s merciful, He’s kind. Yes, if the Spirit brings to your mind through the word obvious faults or convicts you of sin that you were not previously aware of, then confess your sin. But trust the Lord to forgive you of hidden faults as well. These are sins of ignorance, sins of weakness, and so forth. But then He also mentions another category of sin in verse 13. Also, keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me.” Other versions translate it as, let them not have dominion over me. And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Here, David prays for deliverance from willful, presumptuous sin.

This is sin that is conscious and willful, and if persisted in, it grabs a stronghold in your heart, and it begins to dominate you. It exercises dominion over you. And David is saying, Lord, deliver me from such willful, presumptuous sins. Notice, by the way, that this passage assumes that there are different types and degrees of sin. Our confessional standards are very correct in recognizing that even so-called small sins are worthy of eternal damnation. All sin is an act of cosmic treason against the Lord of the cosmos, the Lord of heaven and earth. And so we do recognize the seriousness of even so-called small sins. And yet, the scriptures are very clear that not all sins are equally heinous in the eyes of God. All sins are worthy of eternal damnation, but some sins are worthy of what scripture calls the greater condemnation.

And I bring this up, brothers and sisters, because I’ve often heard out there in the evangelical Christian world this idea that in God’s eyes, every sin is equally bad. Every sin is equally sinful. And that’s simply baloney. That’s not what the scriptures teach. Every sin deserves damnation, don’t get me wrong. Every sin is serious, but some sins are more serious than others. Some sins, by way of several aggravations, to use the language of our confession, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. And so, for example, Jesus says, if you look at a woman who’s not your spouse to lust for her, you’ve committed adultery in your heart. And that’s a serious sin. But it’s even more serious if you act on those impulses and actually commit the act of physical adultery. If you have sinful anger in your heart towards a brother or sister in Christ and wish that one to be dead, that’s very sinful.

But if you act on that sinful desire, it’s even more heinous in the eyes of God. Sin is serious, but some sins are presumptuous and have the potential of exercising dominion. And that’s why, that’s why David says, keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, not sinless, but blameless. And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. What we have here in David’s prayer of contrition is a desire for a pure heart and for blameless conduct before the Lord. David is a man who, though he was very sinful, and all you have to do is read the biblical record, David, yes, he was a man after God’s own heart, but he was also a very sinful man, a man who knew sin, but also knew God’s amazing grace and forgiveness in his life. and that grace and forgiveness had transformed him.

And so he expresses the desire of his heart. He says, Lord, verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, let my outward conduct and speech, as well as my inward heart, the core of my being, my meditation, be acceptable in your sight. And notice how he addresses the Lord. He addresses the Lord as my rock and my redeemer. David looks not to himself, not to his works, not to his worthiness. He looks to Yahweh as his rock, his redeemer, his deliverer. In other words, his savior. Christ our Savior has secured all of this for his people. Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son, did not need to pray this prayer, for he was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And he was innocent of all sins, whether hidden, false, or presumptuous sins.

Jesus was innocent of them all, for he was the sinless one. and he died on the cross to pay the penalty for all kinds of sin, both hidden sins and even presumptuous sins. Christ is the all-sufficient Savior. And so we can trust in Jesus and come to the Father with this prayer. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Jesus, my rock and my Redeemer. Is Christ your rock, your Redeemer, your Savior? If not, come to him today. May God in sovereign grace call you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son of his love. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. So in closing, friends, as we’ve very quickly had an overview of this wonderful psalm, which speaks of God’s revelation in the creation as well as his revelation in Holy Scripture.

As we’ve considered this psalm, may God’s spirit Cause these truths that we’ve considered tonight to find a lodging place in our souls that we too may cry out with David. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God. We do thank you that you have revealed yourself with clarity And Lord, though in our sin we suppress the truth in unrighteousness, yet in your sovereign grace you have given us your spirit and you’ve caused us to see in your revelation, especially in your word revelation, a treasure, something that is sweet to our souls. We ask, oh Lord, that you would make your scripture sweet to us, that you would help us to value the word of God, And we ask, Lord, that as we meditate upon and read and study your word, that you would transform us by the renewing of our minds, and that you would grant, oh Lord, grant us, Lord, pure hearts and blameless conduct, the fruit and result of our redemption.

For it is in Jesus’ name that we pray, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.