Psalm 3 - Faith in Fear

 Remember Psalms 1 & 2? The intro to the Psalms, you’ve walked through the entrance, and now this is the first thing you see: Battle. Tide Swelling Against You You’ve lost the hope of almost everyone – friends and enemies. David’s reasons for terror: Bathsheba, one of his sons (Absalom’s half-brother) raped Absalom’s full sister. Absalom: father (God) is peace/salvation. David did nothing. Now, have we been in a similar spot? Knowing there is reason for our overthrow, reason for our downfall, reason for our defeat Selah It is Psalm 1 and 2 that David now remembers and sets his feet upon to face the desperation. Past experiences: Shepherd, Warrior (how many of us men can handle our jobs, handle our battles, but struggle when it comes to family and relationships). Look, what David is saying though – Goliath  Greatest enemy already defeated. YHWH’s enemies without and within delighted to see the downfall of YHWH’s king (like critics that come out of the woodwork when you lose a game). Prefer the ba’als in their hearts, Want a god they can control with rituals and who would follow the transactional model – if i give you this, you give me that; wanted a god like them, not infinite, unchangeable, independent, and holy, yet personal. One who is not beholden to any passion but rather who creates passion. Shield, Glory, Lifter (2 levels of fear) How possible? 1. I cried aloud and he answered: God’s presence in prayer 2. oath/covenant – God’s faithfulness, not David’s. It’s for His own glory and name’s sake: Isaiah 48:9-11 9 “For my name's sake I defer my anger;     for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,     that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;     I have tried[a] you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,     for how should my name[b] be profaned?     My glory I will not give to another. Piper: “The foundation of God’s love for us is his commitment to his own glory.” Ps 23: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 2. Holy Hill – Jerusalem, Temple – not just the palace, not just David’s house that’s at stake, God’s house. And, what can David see when he sees the temple, the smoke that continually rises from it which is the animal sacrificed by the priests for the atonement of the people. It would be like you looking up and seeing a church with a cross on it. Selah again: retune again build on what’s already been declared David’s rest: not from palace bed but while in flight probably in some field or cave somewhere just barely within earshot of Jerusalem. What kind of pillow must it have been? To Know God: 1 Jn 2:12ff 13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. 14I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, To Know God: Confident living: to be able to sleep knowing that from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD shall be praised. That the same God who created the day also created the night, both he light and its absence. That your weaknesses and needs, he knows and has always known. It is a confidence amidst persecution – that when enemies surround you on every side and the tide is swelling against you … God also creates the tide. Those same enemies depend on God for their existence and have weaknesses too, their breath and life depend on my God even if its unacknowledged by them. Even Satan himself is a creature not the creator and his very existence is ultimately a dependent one. He could not even be your enemy unless God willed it, and so even his existence serves the two great purposes of God’s glorification and our sanctification (his glory, our good). So why should I fear? I fear God, not man. Psalm 118 and Heb 13: the LORD is with me (my helper), I will not be afraid, what can man do to me? Paul in Romans: If God be for us, who can be against us? Jesus: And, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Death: Also true of the grave: the sleep of death. For this reason Christ and the NT authors speak of the death of believers as falling asleep. Death is the last enemy and Christ has already dealt death a death blow. Along with the other enemies, we need have no fear of death. Truck Illustration. What is prayer, why pray? Why say this given what’s already been declared? Isn’t this superfluous? Why pray if it’s all done, if God is faithful and all, if he’s committed to you based on His own glory? How about this: Since it’s all done, pray?! Since he’s committed to you and his glory, pray?! We are taught to pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Why not weekly/yearly/lifelong bread? The Bible does not teach a fatalistic resignation and stoicism. NO, it teaches a living faith that works, that works itself into your heart and through your mouth and hands. It is because there is an infinite grace and store of blessings in Christ that we pray daily for them. It is because there is an infinite amount of forgiveness that we are able to confess and ask for forgiveness at every turn of our lives which connects directly to our actions with others and their sins against us. So, with David we preach to ourselves about our God, and then we call on Him to do what we know His is able and desires to do and according to who we know Him to be. We pray, Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Note that we cry this aloud (see v4). Though silent prayers are most certainly heard, there are times when we need to let our voice rise above the rest, the voices of our enemies, if for no other reason than to hear it ourselves, to feel ourselves praying and pleading, to experience our falling on Christ for salvation. God will Punch them in the face: When they rise against you, God will punch them in the face (he will shame them and shock them). He is better at it than you, which is why we pray our fears. We don’t ignore them nor do we let them control us, no we pray them and lay them before God. Those teeth that these enemies bear and snarl at you to cause you fear … the teech of this material world that may cause us pain do not touch our soul. No teeth: Think about your fears: Spiders, Snakes, Sharks, Lions, etc … How scary are any of those things if they have no teeth? Toothless lion is a fun kitten. Reknowned Journalist Eric Sevareid (back when journalists could be renowned): “The biggest business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement, and distribution of anxiety.” Anxiety is BIG business. Think about how much of what you do is based on fear. 1972 warning about climate change: “We simply cannot afford to gamble. We cannot risk inaction. Those scientists who [disagree] are acting irresponsibly. The indications that our climate can soon change for the worse are too strong to be reasonably ignored.” The author of the statement was not speaking of global warming, but of global cooling. In the 60’s we were worrying about a population explosion. In 1973 a warning predicted that by 1993 the world would exhaust its supply of gold, mercury, tin, zinc, oil, copper, lead, and natural gas. Remember Y2K? A lot of things we hear and read are geared toward making us fearful, to make us pay attention to something. While some things are legitimate causes for concern, let us not give our anxiousness away so easily. Summary: Reformed theology: what it means to be a Reformed Baptist (just Baptist until last century), reformed charismatic (yes they exist), Anglican, Presbyterian. Knowing that it’s all of God. It is His not ours. Salvation does not come ultimately by my will or choice though that plays a part, that is not at the bottom of it. Salvation is by God’s will and choice. Rom 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or effort, but on God, who has mercy. He will overcome my enemies – and do you know who that includes?? It includes me! Sometimes David was his own worst enemy and David’s will was for David. God’s Spirit overcomes that in a man. He will overcome me, my win, rebellion, desire for my own glory, break down my defenses, and open my eyes to see Jesus in His power, majesty, beauty, and love. This will be the source of my faith through which salvation tomes to me deposited in and entrusted to Christ. God’s will overcomes my will. This is all my Calvinism, predestination, election, Total Depravity, Unconditinal Election, Limited (Definite) Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.” Quote: [Simeon] Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions. Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart? [Wesley] Yes, I do indeed. [Simeon] And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ? [Wesley] Yes, solely through Christ. [Simeon] But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works? [Wesley] No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last. [Simeon] Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power? [Wesley] No. [Simeon] What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms? [Wesley] Yes, altogether. [Simeon] And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom? [Wesley] Yes, I have no hope but in Him. [Simeon] Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things where in we agree. David’s heart for his people: His blessing be on his people: A prayer for us! My sheep know my voice. I am the good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. Christ died to save and bless His people, as the answer to this prayer of His ancestor David. This blessing is from the word “barak”, an enabling to live, flourish, be productive, fertile, an identity and purpose with ability to fulfill it. David knows it’s not just about him. It’s about all of Israel. His kingship is not for himself it is to bless God’s people. Go to this Psalm and be not alone. Thou O Lord are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I laid down and slept and awaked for the LORD sustained me. Arise O Lord and save me! You break the teeth of the wicked! Salvation belongs to the Lord, your blessing be on your people! Why should I fear?