Salvation Belongs to the Lord

So we decided that we want to teach a Psalm when we come out here to the park and this morning we are going to look at . So if you have your Bible, open up to , and if you don’t, we have put the text right there in your folder for you to be able to follow along.

English Standard Version Psalm 3

3 A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM HIS SON.

1  O LORD, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

2  many are saying of my soul,

“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

3  But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4  I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5  I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

6  I will not be afraid of many thousands of people

who have set themselves against me all around.

7  Arise, O LORD!

Save me, O my God!

For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

you break the teeth of the wicked.

8  Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people! Selah

In order for us to dive into this Psalm, we need to remember the circumstances that surrounded David when he writes this Psalm.

is the story of Absalom and his rebellion against his Father David, who was King of Israel.

If you have your Bibles, turn over to 2 Samuel 15

So to set up, David’s Son Absalom, kills his brother Amnon for forcing himself on their sister Tamar.

After Absalom kills his brother, he runs away to Geshur (Geh Sure) and He stays there for 3 years.

So after 3 years, Joab convinces David to let Absalom come back to Jerusalem, and David says fine, but he better stay on his side of the castle, and better never come across me. And this goes on for Two years.

Then Absalom contends that he wants to be before his father, and he comes in and falls at his feet, and the end of chapter 14 says that the King kissed Absalom. So the king has forgiven him, and restored him to fellowship.

That all leading up to what we are going to read here in Chapter 15.

English Standard Version Chapter 15

15 After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4 Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” 5 And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 And at the end of four years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron. 8 For your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the LORD will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the LORD.’ ” 9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, ‘Absalom is king at Hebron!’ ” 11 With Absalom went two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited guests, and they went in their innocence and knew nothing. 12 And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

David Flees Jerusalem

13 And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

So that is where we are here at the beginning of . David has been betrayed by the son he forgave, who then schmoozed and flattered and politicked the men of Israel.

Absalom sends to David’s counselor, and he joins the rebellion. This is the guy who is supposed to be wise and close to the king, and he betrays David.

So lets look again at verse 1

English Standard Version Psalm 3

O LORD, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

2  many are saying of my soul,

“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

English Standard Version Psalm 3

1  O LORD, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

So we understand this cry from David, because literally almost all of Israel is against him! Many of us have been in that situation, where we think everyone around us is out to get us!

One thing we want to note here is that this situation is not due to sin on David’s part. This isn’t because of something he said, or a way he has acted, or some wrongdoing on his part. This is the evil doing of his son, Absalom.

And we need to identify that, because a few weeks ago, we talked through sin and church discipline. And that person also may feel like everyone is out to get them. But what’s the key distinction?

The person who is confronted by a brother or sister is confronted due to their own sin! David isn’t in that situation. This is not the natural consequence of wrongdoing, it is unjust treatment due to the sin of another!

So David writes and cries out to the Lord and says, they are all against me, and I have done nothing to deserve that!

Look at verse 2

English Standard Version Psalm 3

2  many are saying of my soul,

“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

David’s enemies are confident that they will be victorious. They are so sure of themselves, that they are claiming that God will not deliver Him.

This is that age old, God is on our side business.

A host of books have been written about the evil things that are done in the name of God. Go check out the crusades. Go check out how Native Americans were treated when Europeans landed here in America. History is full of this battle cry.

And yet, all of this stems back to the scheming and the lying of Absalom.

Remember what it said in , Absalom would sit at the gate and talk to people, and he would say, “Your claim is valid, but the king doesn’t care! If I were in charge, I would care!”

“God cares about Justice, and David doesn’t, so God can’t be with him. But God is with me, because I want to see justice done!”

So what we see here is the manipulation of the people, where they think they are doing good, but have been led astray by a liar who has fed them a false narrative, and turned them against their king.

Who has fed them a false narrative, and turned them against their king.

So David has been slandered, attacked, maligned and run out of his own city. This is a deep betrayal. Many of these people are very close to David, and yet, have turned their backs on Him.

And how does David react? Look at verse 3 and 4

English Standard Version Psalm 3

3  But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4  I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

You see, David knows that his enemy is powerful. They are many. They are formidable in front of David.

And yet, David knows intimately, that they are no match for the Lord.

Why is the Lord David’s shield? Because the Lord is powerful enough to protect him.

Why is the Lord David’s glory and the lifter of his head? Because while man can be swayed by convincing arguments and falseness, God knows the truth and sees the heart.

Verse 4 says he cries aloud to the Lord.

David is throwing himself before the Lord!

You see, David knows that the Lord is powerful. He knows that the Lord is able to protect him, but as we have seen before, just because God can, does not mean God will. David saw that very thing work out before his eyes when Saul was king and yet, God was not with him, and did not protect him.

If you go back to , you see that David’s loyal servants begin to bring the Ark with him, and David sends them back into Jerusalem. See for David, God wasn’t a talisman, not a list of assets that he could count in his favor.

David says

“If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place.”

David knows that the outcome of this does not depend on him, or on his enemies, but rather the whole of it depends on God. And so he throws himself at God’s feet and begs for mercy.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

And God hears him. Look at verse 5 and 6

English Standard Version Psalm 3

5  I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

6  I will not be afraid of many thousands of people

who have set themselves against me all around.

How many of you have thought about your sleep as dependence on God?

David is in the midst of a coup, and the nature of a betryal like that is you have to question not only those who have revealed themselves as enemies, but everyone around you. Who is a spy? Who is here to tell them where I go? Or kill me when I am vulnerable?

Remember, David is a man of war. He thinks tactically. And the nature of that mindset here would be to assess everything. Am I in the right position? Am I far enough? What happens if I am attacked in the middle of the night? Where is my escape route? Who do I trust to put on watch?

All of this is going on in David’s mind at the same time, while he is also having to process the grief of betrayal.

Now I don’t know about you, but that would be more than enough to keep me up all night. I would probably be sitting there with my trusted advisors, planning everything out, working through the plan, trying to bury the emotional pain I was in.

But David doesn’t do that. David isn’t trusting in himself. He has called out to God, and He leaves it in the Lord’s hands. He lays down, and he sleeps.

Not only does he sleep, but he recognized that he wakes up in the morning only because God sustained him. It isn’t because he made good choices on who to trust that his throat isn’t slit in the night. It is because Jehovah God has allowed him to live.

And He wakes up renewed. Look at verse 7 and 8

English Standard Version Psalm 3

7  Arise, O LORD!

Save me, O my God!

For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

you break the teeth of the wicked.

8  Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people! Selah

David wakes up, knowing that God has sustained him through the night, and knowing that he has thrown himself at the feet of the Father, and the Father is with him. The Lord has seen his plight, and because God is a God of justice and righteousness, He will destroy David’s enemies.

Not because David uses God like a talisman to justify himself, but because the Holy God who sees everything will enact justice.

Because Salvation belongs to the Lord.

And the good news this morning is that is still true today. Salvation belongs to the Lord. The same God that sustained David, sustains you if you are a believer in Christ.

So when we are in those situations, and we can feel ourselves surrounded by the enemy, and we feel like we have been cut off and abandoned, we have the ability to do exactly what David did.

We can throw ourself at the feet of Jesus, and we can trust in Him to judge righteously.

What would our lives look like if we did this?

How many late nights trying to micromanage every detail of our lives could we spend in sweet sleep if we really gave everything over to the one who sustains us?

What if we didn’t just say that we trusted God, but actually trusted Him?

If our faith depends on our own effort or on our emotions, then we have faith in ourself, not in Christ.

If you look at the computer in the church office, on my profile there is a quote by Charles Spurgeon, it says

“To trust God in the light is nothing, but trust Him in the dark- that is faith.”

Thats the example David sets here. To be able to let go, and allow God to do with us any way He pleases. That is faith.

Faith in the in the only one who is good. Faith in the only one who is worthy. Faith in the only one who can save us.