"Track 18: Great Praise in Response to Great Victory! (Psalm 18)" | 7/21/24
Psalm 18 | 7/21/24 | Mike Pijut
In 1989, France was in the process of converting all of its manned lighthouses to automated ones. So a photographer named Jean’ Guichard started photographing them to preserve the nostalgia.
Here is one called La Jument.
FIRST LIGHTHOUSE PIC
It’s about 15 stories tall.
Jean’ chartered a helicopter when he caught this next photograph
SECOND LIGHTHOUSE PIC
of one of the lighthouse keepers. This is a pretty famous photo that some of you might recognize when we zoom out a little. This lighthouse keeper named Theodore Jean’ Malgorne was tending the lighthouse this day along with a co-worker. A recent storm had left the seas dangerously rough. These 2 men were seeking refuge on the upper level (the lower levels had windows broken and flooded by earlier crashing waves) waiting for their rescuers. Theodore believing that what he heard was his rescue helicopter came down signal them and get drawn from the rough waters. Here’s how rough they actually were
THIRD LIGHTHOUSE PIC
When it wasn’t who he thought, he went back inside this tower of strength and closed the door and climbed back up his stronghold. The wave finished closing in and looked something like this.
FOURTH LIGHTHOUSE PIC
Obviously if he hadn’t gone back into this manmade rock when he did, he certainly would have been crushed by the massive wave. For these 2 men, this lighthouse was clearly their reliable shield and fortress.
“PSALMS THE SOUNDTRACK OF FAITH” slide
As amazing as this image is, it pales in comparison to the reliable Rock of Salvation that God is for us.
We’re in Psalm 18 this morning which is a God is our Rock and Salvation…so there’s Great Praise in Response to Great Victory.
GREAT PRAISE IN RESPONSE TO GREAT VICTORY title slide
As we look, we’ll see that MPS: God is steadfast/reliable/powerful! He is our refuge from evil who brings us to salvation… and we can rely on Him.
Historical BACKGROUND reminder:
God had annointed Saul as the first king of Israel. It was During this time, that the famous David and Goliath victory…because of David’s strong faith, he knew that the Lord God of justice and righteousness was a giant on his side that dwarfed even Goliath.
God named David to eventually become the 2nd king. But Saul resented it and tried to murder David & failed… so he ordered his armies to murder David… and they couldn’t…all because of God’s protection.
David had chances to kill Saul in self defense…but he didn’t. He knew that Saul was king because God ordained it, he wanted to remain faithful to God’s plan… and as he says later in our Psalm today, “keep the ways of the Lord and not depart from my God.” So he waited on God’s timing for the provision his future position as king… So throughout multiple battles against multiple countries who had more armies than David…because as God's servant He relied fully on God, “…the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went”
David wrote this psalm very soon after seeing so much what God had done. This history gives context to the intro:
READ INTRO (1 SLIDE)
This Psalm is very long so we’re going to just read shorter bits as we go through rather than standing for the whole Psalm at once.
As we dig in, we’re gonna see that David bookends this entire Psalm by giving God glory on both start & finish. Reminds me of how we are to praise Him in the morning and in the evening!
In between the bookends, we hear of Davids’ difficulties… & cry out to God, God’s power & justice, David’s obedience to…and rescuing by… God.
-
READ v 1-3 (2 SLIDES)
#1 WE PRAISE GOD’S SALVATION
David describes God as the ultimate protector MY strength…MY rock,…MY fortress…MY deliverer…MY YAWEH…(again) MY rock…MY shield …the horn (or power) of MY salvation… am SAVED from my enemies. Can it be any clearer where David’s trust lies…certainly not in himself!! (That’s important to note for later). His first words to God are “I love you.”
He clearly sees that God is steadfast, reliable, trustworthy…in other words David has full confidence in God when facing enemies. Psalm 119:50 “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.” So He praises Him…when he calls on Him,… How? How does calling on God praise Him?….because it means he trusts GOD to handle it. This isn’t a last ditch effort. It’s calling on God to….BE God and show your promises trustworthy!
v. 3 is the summery of this whole Psalm
Who do we call on? I often am I’m self-reliant. I also have trouble asking for help. It’s clear here that God doesn’t want either of those. From these verses…we know for certain we can call on Him He WANTS us… to call out to HIM!.
READ v.4-19 (8 SLIDES)
#2 Because God is our Rock and Salvation…WE CRY OUT FOR GOD’S MIRACLE-WORKING POWER
Then he describes some of the things he had been facing from these enemies. He’s being pursued by the king all over the region!! Imagine the resources!!! David proclaims that he was in dire situations that could appear hopeless and inescapable.…surrounded by complete death & destruction…I mean “he’s got traps of cords ready to snare and entangle him??!!!”
I know I got my comb tangled in my hair once…that was pretty scary. I had one little worse though. I’m a rock-climber. I was doing some advanced rappelling techniques when part way down, I got caught up in a huge entanglement of the ropes. As my body weight caused me to drop a few inches at a time, the knot was cinching down on my chest tighter and tighter so I could hardly speak or breath. My arms were pinned over my head. No one had a knife to cut the ropes. I had to get untangled before I suffocated. I didn’t see any way out and thought it was over. It took quite some time, but I finally figured out how to get some pressure off one rope so it could be untied from the anchor above so I could drop to the ground below. It was terrifying!!
David describes his…, “This is Sheol!”
So again he cries out to the Lord.
When is the last time you were floundering coming up for your last drowning breath and said, “I need to get through this”…or “this’ll be tough but I gotta figure this out?!” When’s the last time you instead, CRIED OUT to God? …We’re ALWAYS to cry out to Pappa FIRST!
Then God hears… and COMES DOWN . Actually comes down!!! Why? I see 3 Things:
To show David that He hears his pleas,
to BE with David,…
and to show His power.
Why show His power? Look at v. 7 “because He is angry.” Yes God gets angry!!! When?…Whenever evil opposes him. God wanted king David to rule and these enemies came up against Him. Since David was God’s anointed messenger,… it was also an attack on God.
He wants enemies to see the power and know that He is God… He ALSO wants David to be comforted by the power… and rely on God.
v. 15 reminds me of when God parted the Red Sea for his chosen people and then closed it in on His enemies saying in Exodus 14, “…and I will get glory…and all the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
So we’re NOT talking about God’s people stumbling in sin that makes God angry.
What we’re talking about is apostates-those who try to overthrow and remove God. V.10 tells us that He flew; came swiftly and showed his might power; fire from his mouth, controlled hailstones, thunder, lightening;
and he rescued David OUT FROM MANY WATERS, from STRONG enemies… who were TOO mighty for him. Can you picture any mightier power than what’s described here?…and it comes in David’s desperate moments? That’s the kind of power I want coming to my rescue.
It’s a little hard to picture, So look at it like this….let’s say I’m lost at sea in a storm at night, I wanna see NAVY seals or Coast Guard pilots who fly into hurricanes, and not a guy on a paddle board.
God wants us to see this display so that we know that He is the only one powerful enough …to care for us like we need to be cared for and rescued…to draw us out of the waters of the evils of this life….AND carry us to the next life.
(Lauren Daigle song) In the middle of the darkest night, the hardest fight… I will NEVER stop marching to reach you. I will rescue you.
Because God is our Rock and Salvation…we have faith in His power to rescue us even when it looks hopeless…INESCAPABLE (seems hopeless to us… it’s a piece of cake for God)
READ v. 20-24 (3 SLIDES)
#3 WE OBEY GOD’S HOLINESS
At first this might look like David’s tooting his own horn.
2 Things going on here at the heart…: His faith…. and his abiding actions.
First He’s talking about the righteousness given to Him by God through faith in God. Not by his own earnings or action.… just like we learn from Rom 4:3 Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Second, think of the Psalm as a whole…in the beginning v. 2 remember I said this will be important later?.… David attributes any and all success to God’s strength and might not is own. He was favored by God because he was ABIDING…. …this was as Will said a few weeks ago…”not about being sinless, but about soundness of character.”…David’s a tool cooperating and following…and so being used by God…for God’s purposes
God’s purposes… his will CANNOT be thwarted!
So what looks at fist like bragging is actually proclaiming God’s greatness as it is displayed… in David. ”Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”(2 Cor 10:17). Hosea 6:6, tells us that God doesn’t want empty sacrifices and offerings. He wants our heart. Ya see… because David walked with God closely, God made him into “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Sam 13:14).
Matthew Henry stated it like this, “Those that forsake their Lord, depart from God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God’s commands. Constant care to keep from that sin…which most easily besets.” One of the sins that David kept from… was taking Saul’s life every time that he easily could have, as 1.) a desire to patiently wait….and walk in obedience…and 2.) v 21 “keep the way of the Lord and not wickedly depart from God.”
All these obedient works from David would not be a means to righteousness, but a fruit of the righteousness that God gave him due to his faith.
The important point is that God was seeing to it that His will was fulfilled. The enemies were watching it play out…that God’s plans for David were fulfilled while the enemy’s were thwarted…EVERY time! And God’s desire is 2 Peter 3:9 “…not wishing that any should parish, but that all should reach repentance.” God desires that all would be saved.
Let me ask this in regards to obedience. What do others see played out in us? They’re watching…Do they see a white-knuckled, begrudging obedience?…. or a living manifestation of God’s love and work inside us….leading us…like David…to joyful obedience? Does watching us in obedience…cause them to want a relationship with Christ for themselves?
READ v.25-30 (3 SLIDES)
#4 WE TRUST GOD’S MERCIFUL CARE
Once Again David gives all the credit…all the glory to God!!
This time it’s when he sees God’s justice.
…listen to the unquestionable ways in which God mercifully cares for his own… For those who are with God,… he is merciful…blameless…pure…, saving…, gives light…, strength to run against a troop… leap over a wall…He is a protective shield….all this v.30 “for those who take refuge in Him”…
How many times has God knocked at your door and invited you to be one of His own? I can guarantee that He is knocking right now. Will you open it?… Or decline it?….God’s perfect justice here in this Psalm is the same in the NT and NOW. Those who accept Christ and believe He paid for their sins …and so love and want to be near Him and accept the forgiveness that’s offered to them …are saved…and given this compassionate merciful care.
READ v 31-36 (3 SLIDES)
#5 WE RELY ON GOD’S ALL-SUFFICIENT STRENGTH
David realizes his strengths for battle…that he is well trained…has a command of weapons of war and that it all has resulted in greatness. But in is humility…he attributes ALL of it to God…that he would have nothing without God allowing it. He repeats in v31 that God “is a rock” remember that massive unshakeable lighthouse of protection that provided sheltered?
Since David relied on God’s strength …and not his own… God protected and provided… Very different if one is left out in the middle of those massive waves without a tower of strength …just bobbing around trying to stay afloat… David was CONFIDENT with God’s solid footing that didn’t slip… Not only was God strong enough… but He is the ONLY one strong enough to fulfill it all!
David knew that when he said, “Who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock except our God?” NO ONE!
I need this lesson. I’m guilty of taking credit for my abilities. I often need to be reminded that God is the one who gave me the brain that allowed me to graduate college, gave me the hands that perform the skills I learned there, to earn the money that has provided a home and buys the meals… ALL my strength comes from HIM…. And. Him alone….So often I need that reminder. So please hold me accountable, ask me if I’m relying on my own strength or His… Phil 4:13 says “I can do all things ??with enough hard work by my self??? NO! through Christ who strengthens me.”
READ v 37-45 (4 SLIDES)
#6 WE COMMEMORATE GOD’S VICTORY
Since David abides in God and is aligned with His will, in this scene David’s enemies are actually God’s enemies…so they are wicked, constantly opposing God and his plans. They refused to make God their Lord, yet then they cry out with their lips for his help to defend against David….but their heart…was far from Him. They treated God like a genie to call on to grant wishes.
David is able to crush them to bits. And he tells God, that “you gave me the strength, you were my shield, it was your right hand. You gave me a wide space, You equipped me, You made them sink, You made them turn, You delivered me, You made me the head of nations.
God will see to it that evil is destroyed and the righteous are rewarded,…Why?…. because it is God’s war… not David’s war. God’s plan was for Israel to be his messenger to all the world…so that ALL would know that HE is God…
Yes over history, God saw to it that Israel lost some battles…when they were stumbling and straying from Him….as correction to bring them back to Himself. But when they’re working for His kingdom, He sees to it that they have victory.
Charles Spurgeon: “These ancient Israelites did not forgo their shields and swords and bows, but they also didn’t place their trust in them. We must use all appropriate means… but our confidence must rest in the the Lord alone—He is the sword and shield of His people. The great reason for their extraordinary success lay in the fact that the war was of God (1 Chron 5:22) Beloved, in fighting with sin both outside and inside yourself, with error both doctrinal and practical, with spiritual wickedness in places both high and low, with demons and the devil’s allies, you are waging Jehovah’s war—and unless He himself can be defeated, you don’t need to fear… losing.”
Like David…against wicked enemies…we are called to battle our sin and not stop until it is crushed to dust. Any victory over evilness (our inborn sin and our willful sin) is a gift from God for His kingdom plan. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have trials and opposition in this life. We will.
But the good news is that if you have faith in Jesus, … there is victory over all…there’s salvation from death and sin…and there’s no fear of losing.
Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So what’s His plan? Believers will be saved to eternal paradise….When Jesus comes back, Satan and ALL evil will be permanently destroyed. And as a result…God will get all the glory!
We’ve seen here David’s praise of God, his dire difficulties & cry out to God, God’s powerful response, David’s obedience to and rescuing by God, victory over …and total destruction of… wickedness .
READ v 46-50 (3 SLIDES)
So here’s David’s bookend of praise again. Giving God the glory!!
#7 WE (ONCE AGAIN) PRAISE GOD’S SALVATION!!
After recounting just some of the ways that God was with him, he’s even more aware and grateful.
It’s powerful thing to look back at all God has done.
One of our friends started this. These are prayer requests. The ones that God answers, get crossed off with a pink highlighter. Seeing ALL those answered prayers, strengthens my belief that my cries reached God’s ears, He answers and is supremely in control of all the universe. Powerful to look back at God’s works!!
… calls Him “my Rock!” The Rock who handed out justice, who rescued David, who exalted David highly, and…delivered David.
Deliver comes from Hebrew word ‘palat’ which means “to escape.” A similar word was used when cows gave birth to calves to “escape the womb.” I’m guessing it’s why we use the word “delivery” when referring to a birth.
Not only was king David delivered from death…but the King of kings Jesus was saved GREATLY from death… and conquered it….and sin….by God’s resurrecting power. And it was not only FOR Jesus…but also THROUGH Jesus… to US!!! So now we too can be delivered… rescued from sin and Hell and death.
WHY? Because God showed steadfast love to “His anointed”. to Jesus. And again not just love TO him, but THROUGH Him to us….BECAUSE “God so loved the world that He gave His SON!”
It’s so clear here at the end that the promise is NOT JUST for David….but for his offspring…that’s Jesus who was from the line of David. Jesus is the ultimate recipient of God’s love and salvation…and the one through whom WE now share in that love and salvation as well!
“GREAT PRAISE IN RESPONSE TO GREAT VICTORY” TITLE SLIDE
There is great praise for great victories!!! We want everyone everywhere to see God’s power …and SALAVTION for his own… and so He can be glorified by ALL people!
..and how long does it last? The very last word of our Psalm tells us….FOR…EVER…
CONCLUSION
Again v.3 is the summary for us to take away. “I call upon the lord who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”
…SALVATION
He still offers that saving power to every person. Today it’s through the saving power of Jesus. Without Jesus’ conquering payment for sin, we’re NOT God’s people and we’re on our own to fight the battles…we will lose every one of them.
In a day when society encourages us to “find our own truth…” and so many are wandering around looking for something solid to believe in and hold onto,…Thank God almighty that he gave us Psalm 18 as solid truth of being our Rock of Salvation…
and if you are a believer, you can be comforted that God knows your battles whatever they look like now (persecution, illness, broken relationships, financial, legal). Sometimes he allows these in our lives to teach us to depend on Him more and more and see His strength.
Do you remember what it was like before knowing God? What it felt like being without hope and forgiveness from Jesus? ….
Now remember what it was like seeing Christ for the first time….understanding in your heart his gift of mercy and grace….you can be comforted knowing that NOW Jesus walks with you through these struggles… and they have all been conquered for you when we’re called home to Heaven. No more sadness…difficulties. All perfection in His presence.
If you’re not a believer in Jesus, or aren’t sure, look at the proof in this Psalm of God’s promise of love and caring protection. Do you have a desire for that security and unconditional love? Then cry out to God and He will come to you. Confess your waywardness “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Rom 6:23 “the wages of sin is death. Invite him to take over your heart. Accept the free gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross on your behalf…and know for certain that you will be rescued and victorious over condemnation…set for eternal joy with Him in Heaven.
“PSALMS THE SOUNDTRACK OF FAITH” slide
MPS: God is steadfast/reliable/powerful! He is our refuge from evil who brings us to salvation and we can rely on Him.
He would love nothing more than for us all to have Great Praise in Response to Great Victory!