Psalm 27

Psalms in the Key of Life  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  37:22
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Intro

When I was 8 or 9 years old my family took a summer trip to Ruidoso, NM. My grandparents had a late 80s model Van that I remember looking a lot like this one:

SHOW VAN OUTSIDE SLIDE

one of the cool feature was that all the chair could swivel all the way around and lock in place so you could ride down the highway backwards!

SHOW VAN INSIDE SLIDE

It also had a table which screwed in the middle of the seats so they could all reach it.
My Grandpa, grandma, my uncle Lee, my cousin Tuesday, My mom and me all climbed in this sweet ride and headed to the mountains.
At the campsite my grandparents slept in the van, because the back seat folded out into a full bed.
My mother and I had a tent and my uncle Lee and my cousin slept in another tent.
The first day we were there we found a stream a little ways down from our camp.
My cousin and I splashed around in it and had a blast! It was only ankle deep or so but we loved it.
The next day when we went to the stream we decided to see where it went.
We started jumping from rock to rock and wading in the water.
Pretty soon it was very wide but also very shallow.
Then it was very narrow and pretty deep, coming up to our knees.
As we went it would get shallow and then a little deeper.
We weren’t worried about what was ahead because we knew our parents were right behind us, so we kept running.
I was following my cousin at one point and she was running ahead and I was trying to keep up.
Then I passed her and was looking back and running.
At that point the stream widened and as we ran suddenly there were no rocks under our feet,
we were floating neck deep, carried along by this stream’s current.
If it veered right, so did we, if it dipped down so did we.
There were plenty of adventures to explore to the right and left into the woods of Ruidoso.
But as soon as one of us would start to go off from where the stream was leading and then the other would say “no, let’s keep
following it to see where it goes.”
At some point we began to realize our parents weren’t right behind us any more.
In fact, we didn’t know where they were or where we were.
It felt as though the river betrayed us.
We were so caught up in it’s flow we were miles from camp.
We were afraid we might not get back, but then we realized the same stream that lead us to that point would lead us home.
Though we felt abandoned, we knew the stream would get us home.
So we decided we should head back, the sun had just started to dip past the top of the tallest trees.
As we finally started back, we had a long way to go.
But we had gone that way before.
We knew when the water would be up to necks, we knew when the stream barely trickled that it would it flow again.
Even though it was much more difficult to go back against the flow, we knew where we would end up.
When we got back close to camp we found my mom and my uncle.
They were a little upset we had been gone so long, but they were glad we were safe.

Teaching

Much like our excursion in the backwoods of the Ruidoso mountains, God is taking each of us on a journey.
Today we our going to consider part of David’s journey through Psalm 27.
Psalm 27 is part of the first Book in Psalms.
Book 1 of Psalms traces David’s rise to power, so these Psalms start somewhere after Samuel anoints David as King but before He is anointed officially as the King of Israel.
I want to read it as one unit so you can hear it all together then we’ll look at it section by section.
Psalm 27 ESV
Of David. 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

1. Our confidence comes from the Lord.

My cousin and I were running as fast as we could.
It didn’t matter what we encountered because we knew our parents were right behind us to protect us whatever we faced.
Look at what David writes:
Psalm 27:1 ESV
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
The word translated “Lord” is the Divine name Yahweh.
This is the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush.
It was the name God used to establish His covenant promises to Israel.
David uses this name through out this Psalm to remind himself that God will always keep His promises.
We can have confidence in Yahweh.
Look at what David says about Yahweh:
He is light, salvation, and a stronghold of life.
So Why fear?
The Lord as light illuminates the next step when we need it.
The Lord as salvation rescues from trouble, He is our deliverer.
Why be afraid?
The Lord as stronghold provides a safe place so that we can endure the hardships of life.
Look at the next two verse:
Psalm 27:2–3 ESV
2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
When evil doers draw near, adversaries and foes, even though an army encamps against me—my heart shall not fear.
David is describing “ever-increasing numbers’ of enemies: evil doers, adversaries, foes, even an army, but his confidence in the Lord is not reduced!
(Geoffrey W. Grogan, Psalms, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 79.)
It’s not that David is some spiritual giant of faith, or that he laughs at danger.
No David is confident in God because of what God has done.
The Lord has proven himself over and over!
(Goldingay, John. Psalms, Volume 1: Psalms 1-41. Edited by Tremper Longman III. Vol. 1. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006, 393.)
When we look at verse 2 and 3 with verse 1 we are reminded of the Israelites at the Red Sea, where the Lord was both a light to walk by and an impassible barrier between Pharaoh’s army and the Israelites.
(Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72. Kidner Classic Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008, 138.)
Exodus 14:19–20 ESV
19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
Exodus 14:24 ESV
24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,
Just as my cousin and I knew our parents would keep us from danger, so we too can trust the Lord.
He has proven Himself faithful.
Despite our circumstance or whatever we face in this life our confidence come from the Lord.
Lets look at the next section of Psalm 27:
Psalm 27:4–6 ESV
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
“One thing” expresses one of the “most single-minded statements of purpose to be found anywhere in the OT.”
(Peter C. Craigie and Marvin E. Tate. Psalms 1-50. 2nd Edition. Word Biblical Commentary 19. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004, 232.)
If David could have only one thing in his life it would be to dwell with the Lord.
This is the second point for us:

2. The single goal of life is to dwell with the Lord.

As my cousin and I were running there was one point where the stream widened.
We were running and suddenly there were no rocks under our feet, we were floating neck deep, carried along by this rivers current.
If it veered right, so did we, if it dipped down so did we.
We were immersed in the stream’s flow.
We were drenched, from our heads to our feet, not one part dry!
This idea is what David is expressing.
An immersion in the Lord.
All aspects of life saturated with the Lord.
In a very real sense, this is the goal of all life.
Look at what Jesus says is the greatest commandment:
Matthew 22:36–38 ESV
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
We are to love the Lord with all of us!
Heart, soul, mind—what we feel, what we think, what we do—dwelling in the presence of the Lord.
This is also the hope of heaven:
John 14:1–4 ESV
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
David is seeking two things as he dwells with the Lord, look at the verse again:
Psalm 27:4 ESV
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
To gaze at the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Throughout the OT, we hear over an over that no one can see God and live.
I just don’t think our bodies are meant to handle the glory of the Lord.
In these verse, we hear the word temple and the word tent.
Each of these, the Tabernacle, which was a tent, and later the temple, allowed the Lord to dwell with His people without the people dying because of the glory of the Lord.
We can get the sense here that David is saying I want to be as close to you as I can.
I want to know Your goodness to your people.
Moses asks to see God’s glory in Exodus 33, the Lord tells Moses He can’t see his face and live but He will pass before Him:
Exodus 34:5–7 ESV
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
The Lord “reveled his perfections of love and compassion”—these are the beauties David is asking to see!
(Exodus 33-34 connection and quote Willem A, VanGemeren. Psalms. Revised. Vol. 5. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008, 283.)
Side note: do you see what looks to be a contradiction in verse 7 of Exodus 34?
Exodus 34:7 ESV
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
The Lord will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, but he will not clear the guilty.
He’s going to show love by forgiving iniquity, but he will visit, which means punish, the iniquity.
How can God simultaneously forgive and punish iniquity.
Jesus’s disciple Thomas had a similar question right after the verse we read above:
John 14:5–6 ESV
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Apostle Paul explains it this way:
Romans 3:23–26 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
That is such good news!
David understood that confidence comes from the Lord.
And that the single goal of life is to dwell with the Lord.
We know that faith in Jesus takes away our sin and allows us to dwell eternally with the Lord.
But how do we dwell with the Lord in the here and now?
I’m so glad you asked!
David gives us the answers to this question in the remainder of Psalm 27.

3. Seek the Lord first.

Sometimes my points seem so elementary. Seek the Lord first.
Wow! so insightful! But really this is the whole point of the this Psalm.
David has structured this Psalm so it points to verse 8.
Psalm 27:8 ESV
8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
This is David’s main point.
When my cousin and I were following the stream there were plenty of adventures to explore to the right and left in the woods.
When one of us would start to go off from where the stream was leading, the other would say
“no, let’s keep following it to see where it goes.”
We kept seeking the direction of the river.
How does David seek the Lord?
He’s praying, he’s listening to what the Lord might say, how do we know?
Look at verse 7:
Psalm 27:7 ESV
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
These petitions are positive.
Hear me, be gracious to me, answer me!
But he repeats a similar set of petitions this time in the negative in verse 9:
Psalm 27:9 ESV
9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
He sandwiches verse 8 between positive and negative petitions so we can begin to see the main point: we must seek the Lord first.
Jesus made the same point in Matthew 6:
Matthew 6:25 ESV
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:33–34 ESV
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
We see the same theme as this Psalm: do not be anxious, have confidence in the Lord.
Dwell with Him by seeking Him first.
David wants us to see something else as we dwell with the Lord.
We must

4. Recognize that the Lord determines our path.

Look at Psalm 27:11-12
Psalm 27:11–12 ESV
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
Only the Lord can lead us out of the difficult and dangerous parts of life to safety.
David submits himself to God’s guidance through the ill will of his enemies, their false words, and their violence.
King Solomon, David’s son makes the same point in Proverbs 16:9:
Proverbs 16:9 ESV
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
There is even a clearer picture of David’s dependence on God to lead the way when we look at verse 11 in light of verse 10.
Here they are together:
Psalm 27:10–11 ESV
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
The word for “take in” has the idea of gather as one would gather and welcome his family.
But we see how the Lord gather’s David in, in the next verse, when David asks the Lord to teach and guide him.
Teaching and guiding was the relational role of the father and mother.
Solomon again is helpful here as he confesses his father taught him and his mother guided him using the same Hebrew words:
Proverbs 4:3–4 ESV
3 When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, 4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
Proverbs 6:20–22 ESV
20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. 21 Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. 22 When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.
(All discussion of verse 11’s tie to verse 10’s parent motif from Nancy L. deClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014, 270-271.)
As my cousin and I began to realize our parents weren’t right behind us.
We realized we didn’t know where they were or where we were.
It felt as though the river betrayed us.
We were so caught up in it’s flow we were miles from camp.
There was fear we might not get back, but then we realized the same stream that lead us here would lead us home.
Though we felt abandoned, we knew the stream would get us home.
As David understood the Lord was taking him in, teaching, and guiding him, so the stream had carried us along and would lead us back home.
So as we confidently dwell in the Lord, seeking Him, and recognizing his guidance, there are two other things of which David wants to remind us.
We must

5. Respond to the Lord with trust and patience.

Psalm 27:13–14 ESV
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
David believes, he is confident that he will taste the Lord’s goodness.
The Lord’s goodness will come “in fellowship, protection, guidance, and victory.”
(VanGemeren, Willem A. Psalms, 286. Aslo next sentence.)
David’s hope is based on God’s fulfilled promises which are tied so closely to the Lord’s divine name: Yahweh.
Yahweh has promised and fulfilled many things to His people.
He is the faithful God.
David not only trusts the Lord will continue to be faithful he’s also willing to be patient to see the Lord’s faithfulness.
Look at verse 14 again:
Psalm 27:14 ESV
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Be strong and take courage.
Be strong and courageous, does that remind you of another Scripture?
These words will always be linked with the Lord’s words to Joshua:
Joshua 1:6–7 ESV
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 ESV
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:18 ESV
18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
These verse are from the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua as he prepared for the upcoming battles for the Promised Land.
The very fact that David is writing this Psalm “in the Promised Land—makes David’s confidence unshakable.”
(Edward T. Welch. Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2007, 156-157. Emphasis Original)
David gives us a glimpse of what true confidence looks like in this Psalm.
Ed Welch walks through this Psalm in his book “Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest.”
He has this to say about verse 14:

SHOW WELCH QUOTE SLIDE

“Once again, we are taken into the mind of God in that, while anxiety prefers immediate deliverance, God might delay it, giving us time to trust him and wait by faith.”
(Welch, Running Scared, 157.)
We must respond to the Lord with Trust and patience.
When my cousin and I finally started back, we had a long way to get back.
But we had gone that way before.
We knew when the water would be up to necks, we knew when the stream barely trickled that it would it flow again.
Even though it was much more difficult to go back against the flow, we knew where it would end up.
In the same way, the Lord has been faithful at different times in your life, He will be faithful to see it through.
Even when things are difficult, we know our confidence rests in Him.

Application

We can be confident in the Lord as we dwell in His presence, seeking Him first, recognizing the path He is guiding us on, as we obediently walk in trust and patience.
The Apostle Paul sums up the confidence we have best in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 8:31–39 ESV
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Have you received the forgiveness of sin that comes only from Jesus?
If not, you are already separated from the Lord and condemned by God.
Jesus died—more than that—He was raised to give you new life, free from sin.
Will you receive His forgiveness today?
I’d love to help you with that.
We are going to take a few minutes to pray and confess our sins.
If this is the first time you are confessing your sins, you can pray through Psalm 27 as a guide to ask the Lord to be your light, salvation, and stronghold.
I will be down here during the last song if you’d like me to help.
Let’s go to the Lord, confessing our sins, and dwelling in His presence.
προσευχωμεθα

Communion

Jesus we thank you that your body was pierced and torn to heal the separation between us and the Lord God. We eat this bread to declare your great love for us.
Jesus we thank you that by your blood we are gathered into the family of God. We drink this cup as a testimony to your death, resurrection, and return!
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