E03: Psalm 3 - My shield and sustainer

0:00    Praise the Lord.

0:02    I want to thank God this morning for each one of you and for the way that the Lord has sustained you.

0:10    I want to thank God for the privilege to be able to share God's Word with you this morning.

0:18    I want to thank God for the gift of his Word.

0:23    There is so much to to share in the Word of God, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to continue speaking only from the Book of Psalms.

0:37    We'll be going through different scriptures every other podcast.

0:44    But for the benefit of those who are hoping that would do some Psalms Chapter three, I will actually do Psalms Chapter three this morning.

0:55    A beautiful psalm, a prayer for deliverance.

1:02    One of the ways that you'd know that David actually strengthened himself in the Lord.

1:10    And so today we'll be reading Psalms chapter 3.

1:15     I pray that the Holy Spirit will give us a clear mind so that our minds will not wander to and fro an understanding heart, a heart that is receptive, a heart that is drawn to God's Word.

1:34     So we are going to read through Psalm Chapter three, and then we'll pray together and then we'll share some of the things that we pick out of Psalms chapter 3.

1:48    This is what the word of God says in Psalms chapter 3.

1:52    It says, Lord, he's actually praying.

1:56    He says, lord, how are they increase that trouble me?

2:02    Many are they that rise up against me.

2:07    Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God.

2:15    But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head.

2:26    I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.

2:35    I laid me down and slept.

2:38    I awakened, for the Lord sustained me.

2:43    I will not be afraid of 10,000 people that set themselves against me round about.

2:52    Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God.

2:57    For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone.

3:03    Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

3:07    Lastly, verse 8.

3:09    Salvation belongeth unto the Lord.

3:13    Thy blessing is upon thy people.

3:18    Selah, let us pray.

3:23    Father, we thank you so much for the privilege of being children of God and for the opportunity to share the word of God with the congregation of your people.

3:36    What a blessing.

3:38    What a privilege to wake up to your word, lord.

3:43    In Psalm 19, the Psalmist talks about how your word is as sweet as honey from the honeycomb.

3:52    And that is true.

3:54    Your word is life.

3:56    Your word is water that washes away our iniquities.

4:01    As we hear your word, our bones are strengthened, our flesh is healed.

4:07    Your word is life.

4:09    Heaven and earth will pass away, but your word will stay forever.

4:14    What a privilege to be able to sit at your table and feed from your word.

4:20    We give you praise and glory and we pray that you give us receptive hearts, hearts that are drawn to your word, which will not be just hearers of your word that will be doers of your word.

4:33    We pray for an understanding mind.

4:36    We pray that God, all destruction that the enemy may want to bring as we share the Word will be cut off.

4:42    In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I pray for each and everyone who listen to this, your word, that your blessing rest upon them, upon their children, upon their spouses, upon their businesses, upon the works of their hands, upon their ministries, upon their entire lives, that your blessing will extend even to cover their families and friends.

5:09    Lord, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus that it shall be well with us as we share your word.

5:15    In Jesus name we have prayed.

5:18    Amen.

5:21    So this particular psalm is about the different things that David was going through.

5:30    Actually, I tend to imagine that this psalm was written by David at the time.

5:37    I think it's at the.

5:39    The things that were happening in 2nd Samuel, chapter 15, where David was being attacked by or his.

5:49    His kingship was being attacked by his son Absalom.

5:53    Absalom had gotten a group of people and they were taking over Jerusalem.

5:59    David had to flee out of the city.

6:02    We talk about his chief advisor, Ahithophel, had lined up or had come together with David when a person he had trusted this a person he had put confidence in.

6:14    And now Ahithophel had joined with Absalom.

6:17    And now David was fleeing because of those kinds of betrayals.

6:22    And on his way, while he was fleeing, one of the men from the tribe of Benjamin, remember Benjamin is the tribe where Saul came from, the first king of Israel.

6:33    Those people were not really close to Judah.

6:37    They were like against the fact that David had become king of Israel and of Judah.

6:45    And so when he was fleeing from the takeover by Absalom, this man rained curses upon David and David.

6:57    In fact, instead of accepting one of his soldiers to like either beat up the man or kill the man, he said, no, you leave him.

7:07    Maybe it could be that I've sinned against God and he has allowed these things to happen to me.

7:13    So David was going through a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.

7:19    Things were not going well for him.

7:22    And so I believe that in fact it is written up here, they say a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son.

7:36    I'm Just giving you an overview of what happened at that time.

7:43    And so he fled and he went away.

7:45    But we thank God because at some point he prayed and said, God, let the counsel of Ahithophel be turned into foolishness.

7:54    And in fact, when Ahithophel was given Absalom council, Absalom didn't take it.

8:01    And he took the counsel of the spies that David had put in the palace.

8:08    And those spies brought word back to them and David was able again to go back into the kingdom.

8:16    Of course, Absalom died at the hand of David's warrior and warrior soldier, and David went back and reigned as king over Israel.

8:33    But now we, as he's fleeing, David is saying, lord, how are they increase that trouble me?

8:43    You know, sometimes when trouble comes from strangers or foreigners or people who are far from you, they are not related to you somehow, it is easy to stomach.

8:57    But where, when trouble comes from within the family or from people who are close to your spouse or your child or your parent or your brothers, like people who are really close to you, uncles, aunties, sometimes it's very painful and very hard to deal with.

9:16    And so David, instead of fighting his son and you know, he decides to first cry out to the Lord, he cries out to the Lord, and you know, the other day we were reading Psalm 2, and I'm just looking here at verse 10 of Psalm 2, saying, Be wise now therefore, O you kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

9:45    Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

9:50    Kiss the sun lest he be angry, and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

10:00    Blessed are all who put their trust in him, or to be envied are those that put their trust in him.

10:10    And so when you look at.

10:16    David, David is a man who feared God.

10:19    David is a man who trusted God.

10:22    David is a man to whom God was everything.

10:29    And so in the midst of this conflict, David cries out to the Lord and he says, God, there are so many people increased against me who trouble me.

10:41    He says, many are they that rise up against me.

10:45    He says, many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God.

10:53    Actually, why he's saying there's no help for him in God.

10:55    He's talking about that Benjamite was raining curses upon him.

11:04    They, they looked at him.

11:06    How can your son be the one to take over your reign?

11:10    How can your son be the one to stab you in the back?

11:13    And these things happen.

11:15    Actually, when I was.

11:18    There are things that happen in the world where you find that a son of a person, I remember, like President Kabila is president.

11:26    And then the son comes and takes over, and you're like, oh, my God, like, of course the father died and stuff like that.

11:33    But, you know, there are things like that that happen.

11:36    There are people in the family that stab one another.

11:40    There are people who are looking at you and they are not happy with you.

11:43    They are thinking, how can she have this?

11:46    Or, why is she the way she is?

11:48    Or why is he the way he is?

11:50    Why.

11:50    Why is he the one who graduated?

11:52    Why is he the one who built a house?

11:55    Why is he the one who has such a large business, sometimes even very small things like, why is this person dressed so well?

12:03    And things like that.

12:04    So he says, they are asking, they are saying, there is no help for him in God.

12:12    But David says, me, I know you, father God, you know, and this is where we have to come to a place where I have a personal relationship with God.

12:20    That even when other people doubt whether we have help in God for us and God, because this thing is personal, you know that you and God, you have a relationship.

12:34    David says, they are saying, there is no help for me in God, but thou, O Lord, at a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head.

12:45    See, David knew that it had to take God for him to become king.

12:51    It had to take God to lift his head up.

12:54    It had to take God to put glory upon his head that even him as a child, one of the neglected sons of Jesse, a shepherd boy, could rise from being a shepherd boy, would rise from the smallest community, and God would make him king over Israel.

13:17    He.

13:18    He said, me, I'm confident that you are with me.

13:21    Why, you are the glory.

13:23    You are the lifter up of my head.

13:27    You are my shield from shame.

13:30    And he says in verse four, I cried unto the Lord.

13:33    He's recalling.

13:36    He's recalling the many times he cried out to the Lord.

13:40    And you know this.

13:41    Let me just read it.

13:43    I cried unto the Lord with my voice and.

13:46    And he had me out of his holy heel.

13:49    And he said, I laid me down and slept.

13:53    I awakened, for the Lord sustained me.

13:56    See these two verses, verse 4 and verse 5.

14:02    They are words of David recalling how God protected him during the time when he was on the run from Saul.

14:13    King Saul chased after David for over 13 years.

14:20    He was in the wilderness on the run.

14:24    He hid in caves.

14:26    At some point, they said it is written that he carried his parents and took them to Moab.

14:32    The Moabites were like an accursed people.

14:35    They were not supposed to be in touch with the Israelites.

14:40    You can read that in the Book of Ruth.

14:42    Moabites were not, in fact, not the Book of Ruth.

14:44    But all through the first five books of the Old Testament talk about how the Moabites are not supposed to be in the camp of the children of Israel.

14:55    That's why the story of Ruth is such a beautiful story.

14:58    Because God brought people who are passing as an outcast and brought him into the house of Israel and put her into the lineage of Jesus Christ.

15:08    It's a story of redemption.

15:10    But at that time, they were looked at as an accursed people.

15:14    And David carries his own parents and family and takes them to live in Moab, away from King Saul.

15:22    Because King Saul was looking, looking for them, to destroy them.

15:29    And so.

15:29    And he took refuge in different caves and places.

15:35    I remember there's a place called Masada.

15:39    It is said that David hid there for quite some time, away from the armies of Saul.

15:45    Talk about place, times.

15:46    When Saul came to him in the cave and when he was trying to ease himself, David cut off a part of his robe.

15:53    At some point, David had Saul.

15:55    He could have put a spear through Saul, but he did not do it because he trusted not in his strength, not in the chances that he had gotten his.

16:05    His trust was in the Lord.

16:07    David trusted God.

16:09    David knew if it was not God.

16:11    And now he's recalling in verse four, he said, at that time I cried unto the Lord with my voice.

16:19    And he heard me out of his holy hill.

16:22    I laid me down and I slept and I awakened.

16:26    For the Lord sustained me.

16:28    God is one who kept me there in the wilderness, on the run.

16:32    They talk about the time when he went to even live in Ziklag, in the land of the Philistines.

16:38    At that time he had even already killed Goliath.

16:41    They could have killed him.

16:43    But the king of the Philistines gave him to stay in the land of the Philistines, in Ziklag.

16:51    And there he found refuge away from King Saul before he would return after the death of King Saul.

16:59    And said, all through that time when I was in the wilderness, all through that time when I was on the run, it was you, O God, who sustained me.

17:06    Night after night I slept and I woke up.

17:09    He remembered how when Saul was sleeping, he, as David, had an opportunity to thrust a spear through him.

17:16    And he said, it could have been me.

17:18    I could have been sleeping and saw soldiers fall upon me and kill me.

17:24    But God, when I slept, I woke up because you sustained me.

17:28    This has a teaching point for us that is good to look back where we are coming from.

17:34    The times when God sustained sustained us.

17:36    The times when God kept us.

17:39    And to take courage in that.

17:40    Because in verse 6 he says, I will not be afraid of 10,000 people that have set themselves against me, roundabout.

17:52    I will not be afraid of 10,000 people that have set themselves against me.

17:58    Roundabout.

17:59    Fear is a great enemy.

18:02    Do not fear.

18:04    There are times the enemy brings so many people rise up against you.

18:09    Some people even in the church, some people in your family, some people at the place of work.

18:15    And you feel like you have been set up to be destroyed.

18:21    But David said, me, I will not fear.

18:24    I will not fear.

18:25    The Moabites would have killed him, but they did not.

18:28    The Philistines would have killed him when he was in Ziklag, but they did not.

18:32    God caused him find favor before his enemies.

18:36    Absalom, his son, would have killed him, but he did not manage.

18:40    The Benjaminite would have killed him.

18:42    There was so much that was against him.

18:48    Joab, his army commander, would have killed him because Joab even killed his son Absalom.

18:55    And it was to help David.

18:56    But you can imagine a person who can do that.

19:00    And you know David had even given a command to Joab that make sure I don't kill my son.

19:05    But Joab disobeyed the command of David and made sure he killed his son to help David.

19:10    And David mourned.

19:11    And I remember Joab going back to David and said, how can you mourn after all these people have suffered so much because of you and because of Absalom.

19:20    I had to do what I had to do.

19:22    Don't wipe your tears.

19:23    Do not mourn like that.

19:24    You discourage the soldiers.

19:26    But you imagine if Joab could do that to David's son, he could have done it to him.

19:32    But David said, me, I'm not afraid.

19:35    Don't fear.

19:36    Fear opens a door for the enemy to come in and hurt you.

19:40    And he says, now that he has encouraged himself in the Lord, now that he has looked back and seen what God did for him, he now speaks to God and says, arise, O Lord.

19:52    Save me, O my God.

19:55    Arise, O Lord.

19:56    Save me, O my God.

19:59    For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone.

20:04    Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

20:08    But God, you see, you now.

20:10    Save me.

20:11    Save me from this boy Absalom.

20:14    Save me from this mutiny.

20:18    Save me from this plan of this boy.

20:22    Takeover.

20:22    Let me not be ashamed because you have delivered me in the past, from the Philistines, you've delivered me from King Saul.

20:31    You protected me at Masada, as in, God come through for me.

20:36    I have seen what you have done to my enemies.

20:39    And many of us.

20:41    God has dealt with people whom we did not even have the ability to deal with.

20:47    God dealt with them, and he brought them down.

20:49    And that is why he says, thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

20:58    God has broken the teeth, the ability of the enemy to tear us apart.

21:06    The devil will not be able to tear us apart.

21:09    The people who are set against us will not be able to tear us apart, will not be able to destroy.

21:14    Destroy us with their weapons, with their teeth, with the.

21:19    With the.

21:19    You know, when you look at teeth, you.

21:21    Those are like where the strength of the enemies come from.

21:26    He's referring to this because he remembers the lion and the bear.

21:30    And he said, you saved me from the teeth of the lion, from the paws of the bear.

21:34    You will save me from this Philistine.

21:37    And then he delivered him from.

21:40    From Goliath.

21:42    And then he delivered him from the other Philistine wars, the wars that he fought against the Philistines.

21:48    And God will deliver him, saying, you have broken the teeth of my enemies.

21:53    You have removed the strength of my enemies to tear me apart.

22:00    And that is why he ends by saying, salvation belongs unto the Lord.

22:06    Thy blessing is upon thy people.

22:09    And he says, selah, meaning, think about it.

22:12    Don't meditate on this, think about this.

22:15    Salvation belongs to the Lord and the blessing of God is upon his people.

22:23    And so I just want to encourage you this morning that you will not be discouraged by the 10,000 people who have set themselves against you roundabout, that you put your trust in God, the same God who has delivered you from things in the past.

22:45    Be like David said, the God who delivered me from the teeth of the lion, from the paws of the bear, the same God who delivered me from Goliath, the God who delivered me from King Saul, the God who protected me in Ziklag until Saul died.

23:03    And then the one who is the glory and the lifter up of my head, the one who has set me in this position that I am in, who has lifted me from obscurity and has put me in the light, that I may be seen, that I may have a position of influence, that I may be the mother that I am today, that I may be the wife that I am today, that I may be the CEO that I am today, that I may be the business owner that I am today, that Same God.

23:34    He will protect me.

23:36    Salvation belongs to him and his blessing is upon me.

23:43    His blessing is upon his people.

23:46    Meditate on these things.

23:48    Meditate on these things.

23:50    Actually, when I'm.

23:51    When I read this psalm, I remember a song.

23:53    It is actually exactly as this particular reading is.

24:01    Maybe let me just sing a small bit of it.

24:05    Just.

24:06    I pray that you'll be blessed by it.

24:10    Many are they that rise up against.

24:15    Me.

24:19    Many there be that say the Lord won't save me But Thou alone art a shield for me My glory and the lifter up of mine head.

24:46    For Thou Lord at a shield from me the glory and the lifter up of mine head.

25:05    I cried unto the Lord with my.

25:09    Voice.

25:12    And he helped me out of his holy He.

25:22    I laid me down and I slept and I waked for the Lord sustained.

25:30    Me.

25:32    Yes, he sustained me.

25:37    For Thou alone are a shield for.

25:44    Me.

25:47    Thy glory and the lifter up of my head.

25:55    For Thou, O Lord art a shield for me the glory and the lifter up of mine head For Thou, O Lord art a shield for me the glory and the lifter up of mine head.

26:30    For Thou, O Lord art a shield of me the glory and the lifter up of mine head.

26:47    I pray that God will help each and every one of us to remember that it's God who lifts us.

26:55    It's God who shines his glory upon us.

26:58    And so today, even as you go out to face this day, I pray the blessing of God upon you.

27:08    If there is anyone of you who has not given your life to Christ, I call upon you by the mercies of God that you give your life to Christ.

27:21    You could just even say this prayer with me.

27:24    The Bible says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us.

27:30    The Bible also says says that the Lord Jesus Christ told a parable.

27:36    He talked about how someone lost a sheep out of their hundred and he left the 99 to go and find the one that is how great the love of God is.

27:48    He will leave the 99 righteous to come and look for you, the one who has not known him.

27:55    I want to let you know that the Lord loves you.

27:58    The Lord cares about you, no matter what you have been facing or what you are facing.

28:04    Even if you have 10,000 people that are set up against you.

28:09    If you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and give your life to Him, God himself will fight your battles for you and he will free you from the power of your enemies.

28:20    So you just say this prayer after me.

28:22    Lord Jesus, I thank you.

28:25    Because I know that you love me.

28:29    And I can tell that you love me because you left your glory in heaven to come to earth to die on the cross for me to pay the penalty for my sin.

28:40    To shed your blood, that through this your blood I may receive salvation.

28:45    And I may be.

28:47    I may be forgiven of all my sin.

28:50    Lord God, I surrender my life to you.

28:53    I ask you to come and be the Lord and the Savior of my life.

28:59    Forgive me for all my sins, my transgressions, which are the sins that I have committed myself, the iniquities of my peoples, which are the sins of my bloodline, the sins of my forefathers.

29:16    I give you my heart and I ask you to come and build your throne in me.

29:21    Give me the power of your Holy Spirit so that he can come and live inside of me.

29:27    And give me the strength that I need to live a life that will be pleasing to you.

29:34    Lord God Almighty, I give you my heart.

29:38    I give you my life.

29:40    And I accept your lordship and authority over my life.

29:45    In Jesus name I've prayed.

29:47    Amen.

29:48    This is the best decision you've ever made.

29:51    I want to say congratulations.

29:54    Welcome into the family of God.

29:56    And I know that heaven is in your future.