Blessed be the LORD! - JOSH ADENT
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Notes
Transcript
Short Introduction,
READ THE TEXT
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?”
And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.”
Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!
By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
Intro
Intro
Let’s Pray.
PRAY (Sensitive Hearts, that God’s Word would take root, Encouragement, Conviction, that Jesus would be lifted High)
Now, for those of you who have taken on the responsibility of teaching or preaching, I hope you might agree with me that there is a special kind of worry or fear when approaching some texts. The book of Psalms has been one of those for me. Its not because there aren’t things to say, but because these are so...arsty. The Psalms are poetry, they are song. And they don’t often don’t present arguments or a clear-cut narrative like other parts of Scripture. But the LORD is good, and I believe he has shown me some of the purposes of this Psalm to share with you today.
I don’t have 3 points to make, but what I hope the LORD does in you through this psalm is to give you a particular heart-posture.
This Psalm should stir up Compassion, Hope, Gratitude, and Praise.
I hope that as we examine this text and it’s contours, you will begin to see these attitudes as the natural response to this magnificent God-Breathed Psalm.
Let’s dive in.
The Blessed Man (Compassion)
The Blessed Man (Compassion)
Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
Have you ever opened up your Bible, start reading, and God just stops you right in your tracks? Well that was me with this text. It is so easy to go through our days, in our comfortable homes, with a roof over our heads, heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, food in the fridge, a working car, a decent job, and many other blessings. It can become so routine that we take all these things for granted. It can become easy to forget that there are many who are struggling and poor. And if that is not you and me right now, a day may come where we read a passage like this or experience great struggle in our health or lose our jobs, and we are forced to recognize just how many blessings we have been given, and how fleeting the material things in this life are. Its often personal moments of destabilization or a situation where we come face-to-face with someone in dire need, when God forces us to face the harsh realities of poverty and helplessness that verses like this and the reality they speak of really hit home. This verse reminds us that God cares deeply for poor and the helpless. Now I know some of you are note-takers, but I am going to give you some rapid-fire examples of what God says regarding the poor and helpless. Don’t worry about getting them all down, I think it is important that we just take it in, be affected by God’s heart for the helpless.
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed.
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Therefore because you trample on the poor
and you exact taxes of grain from him,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not dwell in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
God has shown us that he cares so much for the poor, for the widow, for the orphan, for the abandoned, for the hopeless that he commands his people to help and provide for them - to have compassion.
As David Writes in Psalm 41:1-3, he tells us of the way the Blessing of the LORD is shown to the one who remembers the poor. He says:
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. Ps 41:1–3.
David knows this from experience. Some examples of this in David’s life come 1 Samuel. In this part of David’s story, he has experienced amazing victories which brought him great fame, marriage into the royal family, and later served to bolster his claim to the throne of Israel by human reason. But in Much of 1 Samuel, David was on the run, doubtless with some of that time being very poor, in need of help. David, though he was carried along by the Holy Spirit in writing these things, he wrote from his first hand experience - both as the helpless man and the righteous and blessed man who helps others. One example of this comes from 1 Samuel 30. Lets read from this text:
Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.”
David was supposed to join the Philistines in battle against Israel but he was sent home, because the Philistine lords feared he would turn on them, But as we read, upon his return, he and his men discovered their families had been kidnapped and began the search for the Amalekites who had taken their families. Finding an Egyptian in the open country, and David and his men gave the Egyptian food and water. Now, they may have been thinking strategically and hoped this sick and dying man in the wilderness could guide them to their families, and they were right. But this man was helpless. He was a slave who had been left by the Amalekites to die. This man was not only poor and helpless, but was an enemy of David. But what did David do in this case? He took his poor and helpless enemy, provided for his needs, and made him a friend.
If that sounds like a familiar theme to you, it should, because Jesus, as the true and better David, has showed us compassion. Though we were rebels against God, just like every other human that has ever lived, Jesus left his eternal comfort to become a man and rescue us.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
I think this connection right here, is essential. Whether or not we are the poor, the helpless, in the financial or physical sense, we all are in the spiritual sense. We were dead spiritually. We had no hope, we could not help ourselves. What we needed was spiritual-life breathed into our souls, and Jesus accomplished that for all who believe that he is the only way of escape from judgment for our rebellion against God. and According to James 1:27, one key evidence of belonging to Jesus, or as he says it, “pure and undefiled religion” is caring for the helpless.
David cared for that Helpless Egyptian. He provided for the crippled son of Jonathan. He provided a place of belonging for, and steered his band of outcasts toward righteousness, and God delivered David from his trouble again and again. God kept him alive and helped him escape from his enemies! The LORD restored his health time and again until the day he died. David speaks from experience, that God wants us to have compassion toward the helpless, both physically and spiritually. And he tells us that the LORD is faithful to his compassionate people.
A Cry for Help
A Cry for Help
And David explicitly references his own experience in the next movement of this Psalm:
As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
while his heart gathers iniquity;
when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.
They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.”
Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
As we start reading this section, we should notice a few things: David first approaches God with a confession of sin, but then quickly transitions into a cry for help. We see that He has enemies who are seeking his downfall, there are many who are speaking to each other about their hatred of David. They imagine the worst kinds of trouble and fate for him. But the opposition that David speaks of does not stay in the hearts, minds, and whispers of his enemies. It grows into more open speech culminating in his friends acting in open betrayal.
This cry for help most likely reflects a tumultuous period in David’s reign over Israel: The events concerning his son Absalom. If you are unfamiliar with the story, this is how it goes:
David, the man after God’s own heart, sinned against God. In the beginning God had given the pattern for marriage and spoke of marriage as one man and one woman. God even put rules around taking a second wife in the Mosaic Law. Further, God had warned that one day, when Israel would have a king, he should not have many wives - especially from foreign nations. But did David listen? No he did not. In fact, by the time we reach the end of 1 Samuel, David had at least 3 wives! One of his sons, Amnon, began to lust after his half-sister, Tamar, and through deceit carried out a plan to violate her. But David did not carry out justice on behalf of his daughter. He did not enact the death penalty against Amnon as God’s law said he should in the case of rape. Two long years went by, and Absalom, the full-brother of Tamar and half-brother to Amnon, took matters into his own hands: he murdered his half-brother and fled. Did David deal with this either? He sure didn’t.
Eventually, Absalom returned and hatched another plan: This time, he would take the throne from his father, David. Through deceit and whispers, he eroded the trust of the people in their king. He set himself up as the man that cared for them. He even caused one of David’s closest advisors to betray his King. Both this advisor and Absalom had lifted their heels against King David. David was forced to flee to avoid further death in his family, and some of his once loyal subjects began to openly curse him as he fled and sought help.
David was certainly in need of help, just as he cries out to the Lord in Psalm 41. But just as before, David had a soft-spot for his son, Absalom, and desired to show him mercy, regardless of the chaos and death he had caused through his attempted takeover of Israel, again displaying David’s need to confess his sin before God by dealing with his family in an unjust way. However, he did not show the same sentiment of forgiveness toward others who openly cursed and betrayed him, which seems to fit well with his cry, “But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!”
David knew what it was to be betrayed. He knew what it was like to have friends and family turn against him - some like Absalom betrayed him as a sinful response to David’s sin, and others simply because they saw an opportunity for gain and glory.
And if this passage reminds you of another person who faced great betrayal, you would be right. For this psalm does contain prophecy regarding Jesus, as he even says in John 13:18
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
Jesus, who is the true and better David, was the rightful king of Israel and being God, he is the rightful king of all creation. During his ministry, even though he ministered to the poor, healed the masses, taught the people, and pointed them to true holiness, enemies still began to desire evil for him, whisper their hated, imagine his downfall, then overtly plot against Jesus. Even Judas, one of his 12 closest followers, betrayed him, selling Jesus to his enemies to be tortured and put to death. All he ever did was Good, he did not sin as David did nor as we do - and yet he was betrayed.
So, if you are facing trials, enemies, or betrayal, remember that you are not the first, you are not the last, you are not the only one. In fact, you are in good company. As we have seen, David faced these things, and so did Jesus. In fact, Jesus promised us that we will have troubles and tribulations:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
And he even said that families will turn on one another because of Him:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
So if you find yourself, whether today, tomorrow, next week, next year, or in the next decade to be facing trials, enemies and betrayal, take heart, for this was promised. Take heart, for we have been given a model for how to cry out to God when our enemies become more and more aggressive and our friends turn on us.
And just like David, don’t lose hope.
Don’t Lose Hope
Don’t Lose Hope
Not only does David ask God to be gracious to him and give him victory over his enemies, he displays confidence that his prayer will be answered. In this next part of the Psalm David declares:
By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
David, while a sinner, was a man after God’s own heart. David, while a sinner, was still a man of integrity. David knew God delights in his people, in his king. He knew that God’s king would be victorious. He knew that he, as a devout follower of God, was, and will be, in God’s presence forever.
And Jesus, as the true and better David, the rightful king of Israel and all creation, the only begotten Son, well-loved by that Father also had the same confidence. This was declared by God the Father as he spoke from Heaven: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
John the Baptist declared this: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus, beloved of God, and the man of ultimate integrity trusted His Father and as he sang this Psalm with his disciples and all Israel, He knew that his enemy would not shout in triumph over him.
But, wasn’t Jesus betrayed, and not delivered? Wasn’t he tortured and killed? Didn’t his enemies feel satisfaction and his disciples scatter in fear? They certainly did. And yet, Jesus promised that he would rise from the dead on the third day, and so he did. The supposed victory of Satan, death, and Jesus’ earthly enemies was not an actual victory! Not only did their evil plans not have the desired effect, but they were the very means by which Jesus brought salvation to his people!
They thought that they had triumphed over Jesus at his death, but Jesus, defeated sin and death by his sacrifice and resurrection! It was through death that Jesus attained victory over all his enemies! It was through his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven that He has taken his seat at the right hand of God the Father, to be in His presence forever!
It was power of God to win a complete victory that gave David this confidence. It was the faithfulness of God to his people that gave David confidence that the LORD would come through for him!
So, if you find yourself this morning to be going through suffering, if you are surrounded by enemies, if you have been betrayed, do not lose hope. David reminds us we have a strong and capable God who delivered him in many days of trouble. God is strong to deliver you!
If you feel like there is no way out from your trouble, that you have no idea how God could deliver you, well, look to Jesus. He was not delivered from his enemies, pain and death, he was delivered through them. It was after dying that he was raised, being the first man to be resurrected, live bodily and never die again. It was through death and resurrection that he was able to sit down in the presence of God, forever. Perhaps if you or a family member have a grim diagnosis, looking to Jesus’ deliverance is exactly what you need. Perhaps the LORD is delivering you or a loved one from this world of sin and death through Death. Paul tells us that when a Christian dies, he or she is present with the LORD, because of the work of Jesus. Death will not shout in Triumph over you, because of Him! You will be in the presence of God forever, because of HIM! Turn with me to Revelation 21;1-8 and see what God tells us this about the life of his people after death.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
With that kind of victorious end, God has given us so much reason not to lose hope, no matter our circumstances.
Now, if verse 8 of revelation 21 describes you - if you say to yourself, “I am not a man of integrity like David. I am not good enough, I am not religious enough.” Well, I have good news for you, neither was David. David was deeply flawed. David had sinned, and he knew it! That’s why he begins his cry for help with a confession of sin! He knew he needed rescue not just from his circumstances but from the wrath of God toward his sin! And he knew, as 1 John 1:9 tells us, that if we confess our sin, if we repent, meaning turn away from it, that God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you think you’ve sinned big, David did it better and more frequently than you! And yet, he is a hero of the faith, a hero of old, a man of integrity, a man after God’s own heart. If you, like David, will admit that you are a sinner in need of rescue, God will rescue you from the power of sin and death, and you will too, be embraced by God and set in his presence forever, just like David, just like Jesus, and just like all of God’s people who have come before.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So, let this Psalm stir up in you compassion for the poor and the helpless, both spiritually and physically. Let it stir up hope no matter the circumstances that you face, for God will deliver his people. Let it stir up gratitude for the deliverance from sin that Jesus has accomplished and that he has won eternal life for us. And finally, Let it stir up praise, just as David did, as he cried out “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.”
But let us frame this praise in light of Jesus as the fulfillment of this Psalm
Jesus has shown us poor and helpless sinners such compassion.
Blessed be Jesus our LORD!
Though enemies rose up against Jesus, and his friend betrayed him, he was raised from the dead, that he might save and come in righteous judgment!
Blessed be Jesus our LORD, the God of Israel!
And the Father has given Jesus the eternal seat at his right hand, where he reigns over all things and intercedes for us before the Father forever!
Blessed be Jesus our LORD, the God of Israel, from Everlasting to Everlasting! Amen and Amen.
Let’s pray
