Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Psalm54 is short.
[00:00:03] That's what we're going to study this morning, Psalm 54.
[00:00:06] And when I was reading, studying for this, I went back to Augustine's sermons.
[00:00:16] There are a few people that I love reading that I don't read enough of, and Augustine is one of them, partly because the translations that I have are talking about tough translations. They're written like in King James, English.
[00:00:31] Of course, he wasn't writing in English, but. So there's no reason for me to be suffering through that, except that I don't have more modern translations. They may not exist for these sermons, actually.
[00:00:45] Anyway, what Augustine says at the start of his sermon is that even though this psalm is short, that gives him extra time to focus on the introduction to the psalm. So now there is something, there is something very important about the context that this psalm was written in.
[00:01:10] Sometimes we're given plenty of context. We know exactly what was going on and why a psalm was written. Sometimes we don't know anything.
[00:01:18] Maybe we don't even know who wrote it.
[00:01:21] In this case, we know who wrote it and exactly what was going on.
[00:01:27] So listen to this introduction for the choir director on stringed instruments.
[00:01:35] A mascul of David when the ziphites came and said to Saul, is not David hiding himself among us?
[00:01:45] So if we're going to understand this psalm, we've got to know the story there.
[00:01:50] And this story you can find in Samuel, to keep it short, not to make the introduction super long, Saul was the king of Israel at this time, and David had been anointed to become king. And Saul wasn't super impressed with that idea.
[00:02:18] Saul wanted his son Jonathan to become king, and ironically, even Jonathan wanted David to be king.
[00:02:32] So Saul was put out by all of this, so frustrated, in fact, that he did his best to get rid of David in any way that he could. He hunted him, he tried to kill him, he tried to trap him.
[00:02:51] And so, as you can imagine, David is running around all over the place, hiding in various areas, sometimes in Israel, sometimes out of Israel, sometimes in cities, but generally not in cities, generally out in the wilderness.
[00:03:12] And the ziphites were a couple of cities near where David had ended up hiding out in the wilderness.
[00:03:26] So David is out hiding, but he's got a band of men with him too.
[00:03:38] And so like any army, even though it's a small army, they're pretty hard to hide long term.
[00:03:47] You can confuse your enemies in the fog of war, but they know you're there.
[00:03:55] And so the people who were near where David was Hiding, knew that there was a group of men somewhere. They knew they were close by.
[00:04:06] They had to.
[00:04:08] They had to be seen at times.
[00:04:12] And so these men, the Ziphites, went and betrayed David to Saul.
[00:04:20] They told Saul exactly where David was hiding.
[00:04:29] That's terrible.
[00:04:31] David had done nothing against the Ziphites, but he had certainly been hiding near them.
[00:04:44] But more than that, it's terrible because the Ziphites were from the tribe of Judah.
[00:04:53] And if you remember, David is also from the tribe of Judah. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah.
[00:05:02] Right. Actually a small picture of the fact that Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
[00:05:12] So this is not just people who lived nearby betraying David. This is people from his own tribe betraying David to King Saul. And everybody knew that Saul was trying to kill David.
[00:05:32] If you think about Jesus as he's betrayed, he's betrayed by someone who's close to him.
[00:05:40] Judas. Right?
[00:05:46] And Judas knows that these are men that are trying to kill him, just like the Ziphites know that Saul is trying to kill David.
[00:05:57] Now, they might regret their choice after the fact. They may regret their decision, but what they've done is terribly wicked.
[00:06:07] Betraying innocent blood because David was indeed innocent.
[00:06:18] So this is the context, this is the story, this is the history of, and this is the psalm that David writes in response to that betrayal. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word?
[00:06:35] Psalm 54.
[00:06:40] Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your power.
[00:06:48] Hear my prayer, O God.
[00:06:51] Give ear to the words of my mouth.
[00:06:54] For strangers have risen against me, and violent men have sought my life.
[00:07:00] They have not set God before them. Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
[00:07:09] He will recompense the evil to my foes, destroy them in your faithfulness willingly I will sacrifice to youo. I will give thanks to youo name, O Lord, for it is good.
[00:07:23] For he has delivered me from all trouble, and my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.
[00:07:32] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please sit down here.
[00:07:40] Here we are.
[00:07:44] We don't live on the East Coast.
[00:07:48] Some of you might be from the east coast, but here we are in the Midwest.
[00:07:52] And we like being neighborly in the Midwest, right?
[00:08:02] We like the hard work, self reliant men.
[00:08:10] And we also generally live comfortable lives.
[00:08:20] We don't really face serious oppression. So it can be hard for us to connect with psalms like this. There are many psalms like this where it can feel initially difficult for Us to really feel like we're making a connection, Right?
[00:08:36] When have you ever been hunted for your life, other than in your dreams, a nightmare?
[00:08:46] I've never been afraid for my life because someone was hunting me. I've imagined that someone was hunting me.
[00:08:54] I've dreamed that someone was hunting me. But I have never been hunted like David.
[00:09:03] I have been betrayed.
[00:09:06] Betrayed by someone who was close to me and who I would then.
[00:15:26] Go on to call a stranger because I was so distanced from them after the betrayal that I felt like I didn't even know them.
[00:15:40] This is what David says about the Ziphites, people in his own tribe. He says, strangers have risen against me.
[00:15:56] But many of us have never been betrayed, not in any serious way.
[00:16:06] And so, again, it can be difficult for us to see ourselves in this psalm, to feel like it really has anything to say to us.
[00:16:22] Well, there are things that I think are important for all of us to get out of this psalm. And my hope is that we can all connect with this by the end, even though we may not be facing anything similar to what David faces at this time as he writes this psalm.
[00:16:46] There are things that can hurt that are a betrayal.
[00:16:52] Maybe a good friend gossips about you or shares a story that you had shared with them in confidence.
[00:17:06] Or maybe a family member cuts you off.
[00:17:14] Or maybe, and I think this is the case for some of you here, you've come to realize with some sense of shock how much the broader culture has turned hostile to your faith.
[00:17:34] And that may be something that's close to what is bothering David.
[00:17:44] You realize the intensity of the hatred that the world has for Christians that might bring you something similar to what David is feeling.
[00:18:02] But regardless of whether you feel like you can empathize or sympathize with David in this particular where men from his own tribe betrayed him to Saul and the outcome is likely to be death.
[00:18:25] What you can see is your need of a Savior.
[00:18:32] You can certainly see your need to be able to say, along with David, save me, O God, by your name.
[00:18:45] Vindicate me by your power.
[00:18:50] By your name, by. By your power.
[00:18:57] In this psalm, David models for us how a believer responds to betrayal, yes, but also to powerlessness.
[00:19:14] Powerlessness is the thing that I think more of us are able to feel similarly to David about.
[00:19:24] And how does David respond to these things? He doesn't scheme.
[00:19:31] He doesn't retaliate.
[00:19:35] He doesn't despair.
[00:19:39] He also doesn't put his hope in the fact that someday he's going to be king, and then he can take care of all of them.
[00:19:52] In other words, he does not look to future power.
[00:19:58] What he actually does is throws himself entirely on the sovereignty and character of God.
[00:20:07] This is how he responds. So if you're feeling powerless, you might be feeling powerless about any number of different things. You might be feeling powerless about those who have betrayed you. You might be feeling powerless about some situation in your life. You might be feeling powerless about some situation in the life of someone you love.
[00:20:28] You might be feeling powerless because you've realized that your life is short, That your days are numbered.
[00:20:47] The cry that David gives can be your cry.
[00:20:53] Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your power.
[00:21:03] This psalm is not about David's sin.
[00:21:07] And yet is not your sin the place where you often feel most powerless?
[00:21:20] Isn't it when you have found yourself once again in the depths of your sin that you are most likely to remember your need to cry out, save me, O God.
[00:21:35] Save me by your name and vindicate me by your power.
[00:21:49] You know, there are times that David tries to save himself by going to foreign countries. He tries to save himself a variety of different ways, but ultimately God is the one who rescues him.
[00:22:06] When he's in Gath under the Philistine king, when he is in the cave near the ziphites, God is the one that he is appealing to.
[00:22:23] David doesn't appeal to his own innocence.
[00:22:29] He doesn't appeal to his resume.
[00:22:38] I mean, these are things that you might say, but look at me, right? But seriously, look at me.
[00:22:47] I don't deserve this. Or look at me. Look at what I've done. Look at what I've accomplished.
[00:22:52] You remember that there are people who speak this way to God at the judgment.
[00:23:01] Have we not cast out demons in your name? Look at my resume. I was the pastor of a glorious Bible church.
[00:23:16] He doesn't appeal to his own strength. Certainly he doesn't look to his own strength. He knows he's strong. He knows he has a band of mighty men around him, But he knows he needs God's salvation.
[00:23:39] And so it is to God that he cries out and he cries out to God. And he appeals to God in two ways.
[00:23:48] First, he appeals to God's name.
[00:23:52] Now, someday I hope to be able to spend several months studying this very idea of the name of God, because there's so much in scripture about the name of of God, and it has such deep meaning that it's hard for us to comprehend when we just hear it. Read from this psalm.
[00:24:27] I have not spent several months studying Just this. And therefore I will not be able to do justice to actually simply explaining what it means.
[00:24:40] But what I want you to realize is that the name of God has meaning.
[00:24:49] That's a phrase that's used intentionally here.
[00:24:53] And specifically, it is talking about God's character.
[00:24:59] It's talking about his revealed character, who God is at his core, Right? Who God actually is.
[00:25:14] What is God's character?
[00:25:18] Well, this is part of why it would require us spending several months studying it to really even begin to touch the surface. There's no end to the studying of God's character.
[00:25:33] The whole goal of the Christian life is to learn to know God better and to know ourselves better.
[00:25:40] Right?
[00:25:42] And so any studying of God's character is growing in knowledge of what his name is.
[00:25:55] God is love.
[00:25:59] How long could we spend dwelling and thinking on that?
[00:26:04] God is love. How could you apply that to the circumstances that make you feel powerless in your life right now? And when you remember and you truly believe, yes, God is actually love, then doesn't that change everything about your attitude towards your circumstances?
[00:26:26] Don't you suddenly have hope?
[00:26:30] God is love.
[00:26:33] And so I can continue to face this. This thing that's painful, that's tough, that's hard, day after day after day. Yes, I can continue to fight my sin day after day after day. Because God is love.
[00:26:53] He cares about me. He cares about my family. He cares about his people. He cares about what is going on in the world. He cares about his church.
[00:27:04] But care is like, not even beginning to get at the depths of love, is it?
[00:27:09] Save me, O God, by your.
[00:27:15] Save me, O God, by your name. What else can we say about God's character?
[00:27:21] He is faithful and he's not forgetful.
[00:27:31] He has not forgotten you.
[00:27:37] He is continuously accomplishing his will in your life.
[00:27:45] His plan is good.
[00:27:48] It is for a hope and a future. Think about these things, and they flow directly out of the character of God. They flow out of who he is, his name. Your name is who you are.
[00:28:00] God's name is who he is.
[00:28:04] And so when David appeals to salvation by the name of God, he's saying to God, remember who you are.
[00:28:14] Not remember who I am.
[00:28:17] Remember who you are and keep being you, and I'll be okay.
[00:28:25] Keep being God and I'll be safe.
[00:28:34] And then he appeals to also from the very same verse, from the very beginning of the psalm, save me, O God, by your name and vindicate me by your power.
[00:28:51] Well, vindication is a little bit different than salvation.
[00:28:56] Vindication in this case is going to Be connected, certainly with salvation.
[00:29:08] But to be vindicated is to have all of the false accusations washed away with truth, right?
[00:29:23] To show that your actions were correct and that there was nothing wicked that you had been doing in it, but actually you were simply loving your neighbor regardless of the accusations.
[00:29:39] And so you think about the world looking at the church, and the world looks at believers. The world looks at you, and the world says, you are terrible.
[00:29:52] You don't love anybody.
[00:29:56] You're not loving. You're hateful.
[00:29:58] Your rhetoric is hateful. Your God is hateful.
[00:30:02] You don't love.
[00:30:04] This is what the world says.
[00:30:07] This is what the world believes.
[00:30:10] Now, what does it look like to be vindicated when that's the accusation against you?
[00:30:23] When David talks about vindication, he brings in the power of God.
[00:30:29] So the character of God and the power of God, his sovereign ability.
[00:30:36] So think about.
[00:30:39] Excuse me, think about God vindicating by his power.
[00:30:48] He makes clear not just who he is.
[00:30:52] Right.
[00:30:54] But who his people are.
[00:30:58] This is not to declare us.
[00:31:04] Sinless apart from the blood of Christ, right?
[00:31:09] But to be vindicated ultimately is to have shown that our hope was not pointless, that our faith was not in vain.
[00:31:29] You remember that the apostle Paul says that if there isn't resurrection from the dead, then we are of all men, most to be pitied, right?
[00:31:42] If our hope in the resurrection was actually a false hope, if our faith in the forgiveness of sins that comes through Jesus Christ was actually a false hope, if it was in vain, then not only will we not be vindicated, right? But we will have been the stupidest people who ever lived, most to be pitied. What a waste of life to run after an empty promise.
[00:32:29] It's like running after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
[00:32:36] You spend your whole life chasing rainbows and never finding the gold.
[00:32:43] This is you guys.
[00:32:46] That's the way the world looks at us.
[00:32:49] You guys are the stupidest. I mean, you would have to be truly mentally in order.
[00:33:00] I can't even.
[00:33:02] It's like the great spaghetti monster in the sky.
[00:33:07] This is how they speak of God and of you and me, okay?
[00:33:14] And meanwhile, all you do is destroy things and destroy people in hate.
[00:33:20] This is the accusation.
[00:33:23] You are stupid in your faith, you are stupid in your hope.
[00:33:29] There is no vindication that could possibly come for you.
[00:33:33] And David just says, not only God is your character, what my hope is in, but your power to vindicate that. When I place my hope in you, I will not be ashamed, but I will rather be vindicated because I Put my hope in you.
[00:33:54] I can just rest knowing that you are accomplishing what you have promised.
[00:34:02] And it doesn't matter what the world thinks, but vindicate my hope.
[00:34:07] Vindicate my faith.
[00:34:09] Show that I'm not the stupid one here.
[00:34:13] Because my hope is in you. My hope is in your name. My hope is in your power.
[00:34:19] And all who put their faith, like David, in God's character and in his power in this way, who cry out to God, will be saved.
[00:34:38] So if trouble comes to your life, and I look around and I think of the troubles that I know are in your lives, some of you I don't know, but many of you I know precisely the things that trouble you.
[00:34:58] And most of you have realized that there's no hope that you, in your own strength and in your possessions and in your money can.
[00:35:10] Can reach for.
[00:35:13] That's why it troubles you.
[00:35:18] What can money do for a disobedient child?
[00:35:22] Nothing.
[00:35:32] David doesn't care about the fact that he's got a sword or a band of mighty men or a nice hidden cave.
[00:35:46] He strips all that away and he begins his prayer with the most important thing.
[00:35:56] The appeal is for salvation and vindication by God's name and by his power.
[00:36:10] Now then, he begins to cry out to God that God would hear him. Right?
[00:36:21] It's just a continuation, this reminder that David has cast himself utterly on God. If God does not vindicate him, he will not be vindicated. If God does not save him, he will not be saved.
[00:36:37] But in verse three, he begins to speak of his particular trouble.
[00:36:46] Strangers have risen against me. Violent men have sought my life. So the strangers are the Ziphites who are his tribe. Right.
[00:36:55] Violent men have sought my life. That's Saul and his soldiers.
[00:37:00] They have not set God before them.
[00:37:05] Now, there's a contrast here between David, who has set God before his eyes, and these other men who have not set God before their eyes. Right.
[00:37:16] But the point here is not so that David can say, see God, I'm being good.
[00:37:25] The point is simply to show that they don't have the hope that David does have.
[00:37:37] Yes, strangers have risen against him. Violent men have sought my life. Those men have not set God before them. But verse four, behold, God is my helper.
[00:37:46] They don't have God as their helper.
[00:37:49] David has God as his helper.
[00:37:51] The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
[00:38:01] What's going to happen?
[00:38:04] His soul will be sustained.
[00:38:08] But what will happen to those who have not set God before them?
[00:38:14] Verse 5. He will reckon evil to my foes. He will repay the evil to my foes.
[00:38:30] God. I mean, David looks around him. He looks around and he sees the Ziphite cities, right? He looks around and he sees Saul's armies coming.
[00:38:41] And remember, Saul does catch up to him here in the story.
[00:38:47] Saul catches up to him.
[00:38:53] And David is in a cave, and Saul goes and takes a dump in the cave, and David has a chance to kill his enemy.
[00:39:09] It's very interesting to pull this psalm into that story, because David doesn't kill Saul.
[00:39:20] David doesn't kill Saul.
[00:39:23] And if you look at this verse 5, he will recompense the evil to my foes.
[00:39:30] David is not going to recompense the evil.
[00:39:37] He's trusting God to do that.
[00:39:49] Recompense, repay the evil that his foes have done.
[00:39:58] If you think about evil, Evil always boomerangs and comes back.
[00:40:13] I was actually, I can't remember the name of the commentator that talks about the boomerang effect of sin.
[00:40:26] But the boomerang effect of sin is evident here in how David talks about what will happen to his foes.
[00:40:38] He doesn't have to do anything.
[00:40:41] They have assured their own destruction by the evil that they have done.
[00:40:47] Why?
[00:40:48] Well, because God's character is holy and just.
[00:40:56] And so the moment the enemies of God and enemies of God's people pursue them and seek to persecute them, their evil will come back on themselves. This is a common theme in the Psalms as well as in Proverbs in the wisdom literature. You see this reminder that they'll get caught in their own nets.
[00:41:19] The trap that they have set will trap them. They will fall into the pit they have dug for others.
[00:41:25] You'll see this theme over and over and over again. And I want you to think about it now in a broader picture in scripture as a whole.
[00:41:39] Evil, what does.
[00:41:45] Let's use the example of Judas again.
[00:41:50] Judas betrays his master, the one who's loved him, the Savior, the Son of God.
[00:42:01] Judas betrays.
[00:42:06] And what is the effect?
[00:42:10] Yes, Jesus does die, but so does Judas.
[00:42:18] And Jesus is raised again.
[00:42:25] You see God's power and his character displayed in this ultimate picture of betrayal of the innocent, the righteous, those beloved of God.
[00:42:39] It doesn't mean that nothing bad will happen. It just means that God will use it for good.
[00:42:49] And the wicked will be punished.
[00:42:55] The wicked will be punished. This is why Jesus said it would have been better for Judas if he had never been born.
[00:43:03] It's so terrible, the results of sin coming back on yourself.
[00:43:13] So if you think about the wicked and you think, oh, man, Nothing's ever going to happen to them. This is another theme that you'll run into in psalms that doubt, that fear.
[00:43:32] But if you remember who God is and you remember who man is, you won't be shocked by the depravity of man, and you won't be hopeless about the salvation that God has promised.
[00:43:59] David calls therefore in the end of verse five to God.
[00:44:05] Destroy them in your faithfulness.
[00:44:10] Destroy them in your faithfulness.
[00:44:13] What I want you to see is that this is a continuation of the prayer that we saw in verse one.
[00:44:19] Save me, O God, by your name and vindicate me by your power.
[00:44:24] It's both of those things brought together.
[00:44:28] The name of God is faithfulness.
[00:44:31] His character is faithful to his people, to Himself, to His word, to his promises. He is faithful. You can always rely on Him. He is always faithful.
[00:44:49] Destroy them.
[00:44:53] Why?
[00:44:55] Because they are your enemies. They have not put God before your eyes. And because they have attacked Me, your servant.
[00:45:03] And so to vindicate me by your power looks like to destroy those who are seeking to destroy me.
[00:45:11] Because there is only one choice.
[00:45:15] It's who is going to live, who is going to survive.
[00:45:28] When you look at the promises of Jesus concerning the future, his work on the cross of justifying us is complete.
[00:45:42] But when you look into the future, he says that he will destroy the wicked completely and utterly from the face of the earth.
[00:45:52] To pray for this to come is not somehow wicked on our part or on David's part.
[00:46:01] It is to put our hope in the promises of God that he will vindicate his people and his name will be over, all raised up.
[00:46:19] So don't be afraid to pray with David.
[00:46:23] Destroy them in your faithfulness flows right out of the character of who he is and right out of his power.
[00:46:34] Who is going to live?
[00:46:37] God's people will live.
[00:46:39] And who is going to be destroyed? Who will die?
[00:46:42] Who will face the second death?
[00:46:45] God's enemies.
[00:46:47] And even death itself will be abolished in the end.
[00:46:55] You couldn't ask for a greater promise.
[00:46:59] And isn't it ironic that we see the same boomerang effect of sin right at that point of the betrayal of Jesus Christ?
[00:47:11] It's through the death of Jesus Christ that death is abolished.
[00:47:20] It's through the betrayal of Jesus Christ that all of God's enemies are destroyed.
[00:47:34] Don't be afraid.
[00:47:37] Verse 6. Willingly I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. What is God's name? Good.
[00:47:46] Right after we got done praying about him destroying the wicked in his faithfulness we say God is good.
[00:47:57] His name, who he is, his character is good.
[00:48:03] Why?
[00:48:04] Because he has delivered me from all trouble and my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.
[00:48:13] Now, with satisfaction is added there.
[00:48:17] I like to point out it's implied by the text. That's why the translators decided to add it in. But my eye has looked upon my enemies.
[00:48:31] That's what it says. And I just want you to see the multiple meanings that are included in there, aside from just with satisfaction.
[00:48:39] Because David is writing this, still looking to the future.
[00:48:47] This is a prophetic future.
[00:48:49] When he says, he has delivered me from all trouble. Remember, he's writing this while he's in the middle of his trouble.
[00:48:58] But he writes by faith and says, he has delivered me from all trouble and my eye has looked upon my enemies.
[00:49:08] What I want you to see there is simply that the looking upon enemies is not the end of the world.
[00:49:20] To see enemies is to recognize that one day they will be destroyed.
[00:49:29] To look at enemies is to recognize that God's power and name are going to be displayed even through their lives.
[00:49:41] Their lives will demonstrate who God is in a very different way than your life will demonstrate who God is.
[00:49:51] But if you give yourself to running after the evil, if you say, I can't rely on God to save me, I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands.
[00:50:08] Then your hope is not in him and he will not deliver you.
[00:50:13] This is meant to draw us back to the beginning and to remind us God is the one who vindicates. God is the one who saves. God is our helper. God is the one who will recompense, who will repay.
[00:50:31] God is the one we pray to.
[00:50:37] David is not bargaining with God.
[00:50:41] This is not David saying, God, if you save me this one last time, I'll start going to church.
[00:50:50] Many people have prayed prayers like that, right?
[00:50:57] Willingly I will sacrifice to you is simply David praising God, looking to the future and saying what a joy it will be to worship God with his people, to make sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. He's still looking. He's looking forward, knowing I will be saved and I'll be able to go and give thanks in the tabernacle for this salvation.
[00:51:31] So can we praise God for his character even when our circumstances haven't resolved yet?
[00:51:39] That's what David is doing here.
[00:51:41] Can we look into the future by faith and say, he has saved me, he has delivered me from all trouble, hiding in a cave, enemies surrounding him.
[00:52:02] This is David's claim.
[00:52:05] Is it your claim?
[00:52:08] He has saved me. He has delivered me from all trouble by his name, by his power.
