You can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. It's the fourth longest psalm in the book of Psalms. So we'll just take up the first part.
I see a threefold division in Psalm 18. Basically, we have the deliverance of the psalmist in verses 1 to 19, which we'll look at this morning. the righteousness of the psalmist in verses 20 to 30, and then finally the fortification of the psalmist in verses 31 to 50. The recurring theme, however, is the deliverance of the anointed king. So we'll just read the first 19 verses, I'll pray, and then we'll look at it in some detail.
So beginning in verse 1, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.
So shall I be saved from my enemies. The pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and flew.
He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place. His canopy around him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered, at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. He sent from above, He took me.
He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place.
He delivered me because He delighted in me. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word.
We thank You that it's given by inspiration of God and that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray now that You would edify, encourage, sanctify, and build us all up in our most holy faith No doubt we have the trials and afflictions associated with life in this present evil age. So we pray that we learn from the psalmist, that we would learn from the Messiah on how to trust in the blessed God who does all things for the good of his people. We pray for the salvation of sinners here.
We pray that you would thunder forth, that your Holy Spirit would attend the word and that you would bring that conviction for sin and set forth Christ and all of his ability to save. And we ask this for your glory, for your honor, and may the Spirit guide us now. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, Psalm 18 is the same as 2 Samuel, chapter 22. There's minor differences in the wording, but Psalm 18 is essentially what David records in 2 Samuel, chapter 22. 21 to 24 in 2 Samuel, there's something of a final assessment of David's life. And as I said, chapter 22 is what we have here in Psalm 18. The Psalm of David is ultimately included here.
And though there are differences in wording, they are the same. The subject of the Psalm is David, but it's also David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I would suggest as well that Psalm 18 is closely connected to Psalm 17, not just numerically, but in Psalm 17, the psalmist cries for vindication. And here in Psalm 18, we see that God does deliver.
God does save. God does vindicate His righteous one. And as I said, the psalm breaks down largely in three parts, the deliverance of the psalmist, the righteousness of the psalmist, and the fortification of the psalmist. It is the fourth longest, Psalm 119, of course, is the longest psalm, followed by 78, 89, 18, and then 106.
So,
The Deliverance of the Psalmist
let's look first at the deliverance of the psalmist in verses 1 to 19 under three considerations. First, the occasion of praise. Secondly, the declaration of praise. And then thirdly, the motivation for praise.
But note the occasion.
Occasion of Praise: The Superscription
Here we're going to look at the superscription, that's the small print, just under Psalm 18, where it says, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, So the author, David, likely sang at least a variation of this psalm throughout the entirety of his life. But as he comes to 2 Samuel 22, he pens it by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then it's included in the Psalter. It's presented to the chief musician, included in the Psalter, such that the church throughout her ages can sing this psalm in praise and adoration to the God of heaven and earth.
We need to follow the psalmist's pattern. We need to lift up our voices in praise and adoration. We need to express our love. We need to understand His great deliverance or His so great a salvation and thus return to Him that glory and that honor that is due for His most glorious name.
So the author is clearly David by inspiration of the Spirit, but then note the occasion. It says very specifically on the day that the Lord delivered him. from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, and he said." So the threat. Notice with reference to the threat, it is against David in his historical context, but it's also with reference to his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in terms of the enemies of David, at the end it says, and from the hand of Saul.
Saul was an internal threat. Saul was in the same kingdom. Saul was upset at David because of his renown and fame, and Saul basically wanted to dispatch David and get him off the face of the earth. So David had to contend with enemies from within, but he also had the external threat of Philistines.
He had the external threat of foreign invasion. He had the external threat of perhaps defeat in military battle. So there's both external and internal threat facing David the psalmist. Matthew Henry makes the observation, it has often been the lot of God's people to have many enemies and to be in imminent danger of falling into their hands.
David was a man after God's heart, but not after men's heart. Many were those who hated him and sought his ruin. And that is precisely what he writes about in this particular psalm. It is true, of course, as well of David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
There were many that hated him. There were enemies from without. There were enemies from within. He had to contend with unbelieving Israel.
He had to contend with the threat of the Roman Empire. He was besought by enemies through and through each and every day. That's why the prophet refers to him as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now, in terms of David penning this particular psalm, this particular chapter in 2 Samuel 22, remember that David's life was marked by adversity.
But David recognized that the deliverance that he had was because of the power of God. In fact, chapter 22 in 2 Samuel and Psalm 18 could be the autobiographical report of a great king. David was a great king. He wasn't marked by perfection.
David lost. David sinned. David transgressed God's holy law. But in terms of human earthly kingship, David did pretty well.
He managed to consolidate the kingdom of Israel. He managed to garner the support of the people broadly. He managed to make the city of Jerusalem both political and religious capital of Israel. So he could take pen to paper and write an autobiography on his great exploits, on how he felled Goliath the giant in the Valley of Elah, and how he defeated Philistines, and how he outsmarted Saul.
But that's not what David does in 2 Samuel 22. That's not what David does in Psalm 18. He doesn't parade his autobiographical exploits. He praises God for deliverance.
He praises God for so great a salvation. What we have is the theological goings-on in the victories and deliverance of David. He wants us to understand that the victories he'd achieved, the exploits he was successful in, were not ultimately owing to his prowess, to his ability or to his savvy, but ultimately to Yahweh, his God. So David teaches us here something about adversity in our lives and how we're to depend upon and trust in the living and true God to see us through that adversity.
In fact, in 2 Samuel 4, verse 9, he says, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity. 1 Kings 1 29, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress. It's kind of bookmarking David's life in 2 Samuel 4 and 1 Kings 1, and he understands that all the adversity that had fallen to him, it was Yahweh that delivered him. That's what Psalm 18 is about. That's what 2 Samuel 22 is about.
It's not praising David time, it's praising the God of David who has delivered His servant from every possible difficulty in terms of threat to His person. So it's the enemies of David, but it's also the enemies of Christ. Verse 2 of Psalm 18 is quoted in Hebrews 2.13 and seen as the words of Jesus Christ. Psalm 18, verse 49 is quoted in Romans 15, 9 and seen as the words of Christ.
When we consider the righteousness of the psalmist next week, God willing, in verses 20 to 24, the righteousness there is impeccable. It's the righteousness of the Psalm 15 man. It's certainly imputed to David. It's received by faith alone with reference to David.
He celebrates such an occasion in Psalm 32. But the righteousness described in verses 20 to 24 can only be the holy, harmless, and undefiled man of Psalm 1. In other words, what we're dealing with is David, but it's David's greater son. David is functioning typically here to point forward to what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to accomplish.
In fact, Spurgeon, who's a bit more conservative with seeing Christ in all of the Psalms, has this to say about the 18th Psalm. And that's not a dis or a dig, it's simply an observation. He says, if it be remembered that the 2nd and 49th verses are both quoted in the New Testament as the words of the Lord Jesus, it will be clear that a greater than David is here. If you know Jesus, you will readily find him in his sorrows, deliverance, and triumphs all through this wonderful psalm.
The triumphs ultimately, with reference to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, is the resurrection. It's the ascension. It's the exaltation of the right hand of the Father. It's the triumph associated with the blessing of having fulfilled all that the Father had given Him in order to accomplish.
So, the occasion, he speaks concerning the difficulties and the trials that befall him and his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's ultimately an inscription of praise to the God who had delivered him. On the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
Declaration of Praise: Verses 1–3
That brings us then to the declaration of praise in verses 1 to 3. Good news, brethren, the clock has stopped, so I have no earthly idea what time we're at, and if we go for a few hours, we'd probably do the whole psalm today under the guise of a broken clock. But notice in verses 1 to 3, and there's two things I want to observe here. First, the affirmation of His love in verse 1, and then secondly, the attributes of His God in verses 2 and 3.
Knowing our God, understanding His nature, shapes the way that we praise. Knowing our God shapes the way that we live. Knowing our God shapes the way that we cast ourselves upon sovereign grace and mercy. David is a theologian.
David comes to consider his God when he comes to praise his God. But first note
Affirmation of Love for God
the affirmation of his love and this is absent in 2 Samuel 22 not suggesting he didn't love God in 2 Samuel 22 but this makes it into the Psalter for public worship as the people of God gather together. Notice in verse 1 I will love you oh Lord my strength. That's not a love in the future as if I'm not presently loving you but I plan to in some time to come. No I love you and I will love you.
In other words, there's nothing that can shake me off the tree of God's love. There's nothing that can upbraid me or stop me from expressing this love. And I think this should mark and punctuate our public worship of God. We're appreciative for His grace.
We're appreciative for His mercy. We're appreciative that He has saved us and not dealt with us according to our sins and transgressions. We speak in terms of the Heidelberg Catechism with reference to guilt, grace, and gratitude. What's the chiefest expression of that gratitude but love?
What's the chiefest expression of our faith? The preeminent sort of fruit of faith is love to God. John tells us we love Him because He first loved us. So the very declaration of 1.1, this affirmation of His love for the Father is predicated on the fact that the Father first loved Him.
Again, that's Davidic. With reference to praise and worship, brethren, let us never forget that love motivates, love actuates, love is the principle upon which we enter into the house of God. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Now there's a must and a get to with reference to worship.
We must worship. We must. But never lose sight of the get to. Yeah, we must go to church on Sunday.
We get to go to church on Sunday. We must express gratitude to God. We get to, clothed in love. Why?
Because he first loved us. This love that David had for the living and the true God is the love that the people of God need to have today for that one who is altogether lovely, that one who is chief among 10,000. Let us never forget Love for God, love for one another to be sure, but love for God. I love the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication, the psalmist will later write.
This is the preeminent fruit of faith, this is the consistent response in public worship, and this is precisely what David expresses as he comes to praise his God for so great a salvation. I will love you, O Lord, my strength. So that's the affirmation of his love.
Attributes of God as Protector
Now note the attributes of his God in verses two and three. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies.
He speaks concerning the perfections of God. And he's using metaphor to be sure. When you read, the Lord is my rock, that doesn't mean God is a big static piece of granite. It speaks of his stability, it speaks of his unchangeability, it speaks of his constancy, it speaks of divine steadfastness.
David says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. The horn of my salvation, the idiom is drawn from the goring horn of a charging ram or a bull. David is looking around the creation. David is observing the natural phenomena.
And David's theological mind is connecting it in an anthropomorphic way to God. God's not a rock. God's not a goring ram or a charging ram. But God is like that improperly speaking to show us something of who God is in His very nature.
So the use of metaphor or what we call in theology improper predication speaks truth concerning God most high properly. The Bible comes to us in the manner of men. God accommodates himself to our ability to understand. And this convention, the Lord is my rock, the Lord is my fortress, the Lord is my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
All these things in the natural phenomena, David's able to look at that, reflecting upon God and praising God who has delivered him and who has saved him. And he says, My God is that! With reference to rocks, listen to Kyle and Dalich. The two epithets are borrowed from the natural character of Israel, where steep and almost inaccessible rocks afford protection to the fugitive.
Remember David was on the run from Saul. Where did he hide? He hid amongst the rocks. He went into caves.
He was hunted like a dog. And so David ran. As David had often found at the time when Saul was pursuing him. But whilst David took refuge in rocks, he placed his hopes of safety, not in their inaccessible character, but in God the Lord, the eternal spiritual rock, whom he could see in the earthly rock so that he called him his true fortress.
Christopher Ashe says the images are geographical and military, and they all speak of absolute safety. You see, as the psalmist comes to praise God for deliverance and salvation, it's natural that he does so under the guise of protection, under the guise of safety, under the guise of provision. And listen to Plummer with reference to this description of God as protector. He says, necessary is belief in the stability and unchangeableness of the divine nature and counsels.
Let me just say that again. I think at times in theology or in the study of theology or in our confession of faith, we hear these abstract comments or observations on who God is. He's simple. He's infinite.
He's eternal. And it seems sort of out there and ethereal. We can't really sink our teeth into it. We can't really get our minds wrapped around it.
Well, you can never ultimately get your mind wrapped around God. If you figured him out, you'd move on to the next thing. But with reference to God Almighty, the abstract is very practical in terms of why we're going to get out of bed tomorrow morning. because the Lord our God does not change. It's because the Lord our God is stable.
It's because the Lord our God delivered David from all of his adversaries and enemies, because the Lord our God vindicated his only beloved son by raising him from the dead and exalting him to the right hand of the Father. So listen again to Plummer. Necessary is belief in the stability and unchangeableness of the divine nature and counsels. David found encouragement.
David found steel for the soul. David found everything he needed in his God in order to undergo the various exploits. And then notice, after having said that, Or in verse 2, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust. This is the only God you can or should trust.
You don't trust Baal. You don't trust Asherah. You don't trust the unstable and the changeable. But the stable and the unchangeable, of course you trust Him.
To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life. Where else can we go? I don't want all these other so-called gods that only ultimately let me down.
You're going to trust in mammon as a god? You're going to trust in sex as a god? You're going to trust in alcohol as a god or drugs as a god? You're going to trust in that which is completely unstable and completely changeable?
It is the immutability of God Most High that invites us to trust in God Most High. And again, this is Hebrews 2.13 applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not just God's perfections in verse two, but it's his works as well. Notice in verse three, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised.
Any other so-called God is not worthy to be praised. The dunghill deities of the heathen are not worthy to be praised. It's this God and this God alone that is worthy to be praised. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.
See how the attributes of God or the perfections of God are consistent with the works of God? So shall I be saved. I call upon this one who is immovable. I call upon this one who is gracious.
I call upon this one who is lovely. And I have the sure foundation and confidence that I shall be saved. In other words, our salvation is tied up in God's glory, God's stability, and God's immutability. God would stop being God if He was unable to save us or to deliver us.
It's the idea that a person could be genuinely saved and then lose their salvation. That doesn't reflect on the badness of the sinner, which everything does reflect on the badness of the sinner, but it reflects on the impotence of God Almighty. You mean to tell me Jesus came to save His people from their sins, actually save some, only for them to be fallen away? No.
The God of unrivaled, unparalleled, unmitigated glory, sovereignty, and power is the God, if you come by grace, is able to save to the uttermost. This is the will of Him who sent me. This is what Jesus says very clearly there in John chapter 6. They who come will not be disappointed.
He that comes will not be cast out. And then notice,
Motivation for Praise: Verses 4–19
he moves then from the declaration of praise to the motivation for praise in verses 4 to 19. We could add the word for, not the number for, but the word for before verse 4. In other words, this is the explanation or the motivation for the praise of verses 1 to 3. I praise God.
I know that he has saved me. I know that he will save me. I know that he will keep me. And for proof positive, I want to point back to my own experience and the things that I have undergone in terms of adversity, both with reference to external and internal threats from enemies.
So the for there before verse four could be read for the pangs of death surrounded me. So in verses four to six, he speaks of the desperation of his situation, the desperation of his situation. And again, I think this is very encouraging. If you're not a believer here this morning, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that your life as miserable as it may be, isn't quite as dangerous as what we see in verses four to six.
The desperation of one's situation, when you see somebody that has gone through these fires of trial, this opposition from enemy, and has come out on the other side victorious and triumphant in their God, it's a great encouragement to you. So the desperation of his situation in verses 4 to 6, and then the deliverance from his affliction in verses 7 to 19. So you see, this is the reason for the praise of verses one to three. So let's look at this.
Desperation of the Psalmist's Situation
Note the desperation of his situation. He describes it in verses four and five. The pangs of death surrounded me and the floods of ungodliness or Belial, the sons of Belial. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me. Certainly the experience of David. Certainly, David understood that.
Again, 2 Samuel 4, 9, 1 Kings 1, 29, who's redeemed my life from all adversity. It's a place in 1st Samuel chapter 20 where David is talking to Jonathan and basically telling Jonathan, your dad wants to do me in. Your dad wants to kill me. Your dad wants to liquidate me.
Your dad wants to remove me from the face of the earth. And David's words are very specific. Truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. So notice in verses 4 and 5, the pangs of death surrounded me.
The floods of ungodliness or Belial made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me. How does that apply to our Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry?
Go with him to Gethsemane. What does he say to his disciples? My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. How does he pray to the Father?
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Does Jesus in his earthly ministry experience what we see here in verses four and five? The pangs of death in the garden, the floods of ungodly men around him, the sorrows of Sheol, the snares of death.
Certainly all those things were true, according to what we find in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and in the rest of the Psalms. The Bible tells us that he was a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with grief. He tells us, the gospel writers tell us that the birds have nests and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Have you ever gone somewhere where you think, expect that people should just love you?
Cause you're gray, right? Right? You go home to visit your folks, or you go home to visit your kids, and they should meet you with rose petals on the carpet, because you're you, right? You should just sort of sail in, and everybody just attend you with good gifts.
Here's an iced tea, here's slippers for your feet. We kind of get geared to expect that. You're all looking at me like I'm nuts. Maybe I'm the only one that expects that.
He came to his own and his own received him not. Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Of course Psalm 18 verses 4 and 5 are about the Messiah. Of course much of the Psalter is about the Messiah. the predication of verse 2 in Hebrews 2, the predication of verse 49 in Romans chapter 15.
As Spurgeon says, makes it evident and clear that though David is in the psalm, David's greater son is much more in the psalm. And notice what happens for both men, David and his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in light of the adversity of verses 4 and 5. Look at verse 6. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God.
He heard my voice from his temple and my cry came before him, even to his ears. The psalmist's petition indicates to us that desperation should always lead to cries for deliverance. What do you do when you're desperate? What do you do when you're miserable?
What do you do when you're downcast? Follow David and his greater son and cry out to God most high. So I think we get paralyzed. We get whiny.
We get grumbly. We get complaining. Oh, the distress. Oh, the affliction.
Oh, the hardship. It's OK for us to vocalize to others we think it's okay to vocalize to others, but what we find in David and Christ is vocalizing it to the most high and crying out for deliverance in the midst of it. And note the blessed response of Yahweh according to verse 6. The psalmist cries out in his distress, Notice he heard my voice from his temple and my cry came before him even to his ears.
David Dixon says no straight is such but God can deliver out of it. No case is so desperate as to make prayer needless or useless. Let me just read that again. No strait is such, but God can deliver out of it.
No case is so desperate as to make prayer needless or useless. Again, I think that gets at some of our logic at times. My troubles are such that there's no help. There's no hope.
Sinners can feel that way. You don't know what I've done. You and Pastor Porter stand up there and tell me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not sure he wants me.
Knowing my past, knowing my history, knowing my wretchedness, knowing my wickedness, there's nobody that can help me. God? Speaking of the holy, harmless, and undefiled man in Hebrews chapter 7, the apostle tells us he is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him. John the Baptist calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Aren't you comforted in the reality, Christian brother and sister, that when you came to Jesus in faith, Jesus didn't look at a checklist and say, you know, I can take care of 90 of those sins, but, you know, there's 10 there I just can't handle. I can take care of 99.9% of those sins, but that 0.1% is enough to send you to hell because my blood doesn't atone for that. That's not what you get. If you're an unbeliever, this is your hope, this is your help, this is your deliverance, this is your salvation.
I love that the psalmist cries out in distress, and the distressed cry goes right into the very throne room of God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears.
Deliverance from Affliction: Verses 7–19
That then brings us finally to the deliverance from affliction in verses 7 to 19. Here we
Manner of Deliverance: Theophany
note the manner of deliverance in verses 7 to 12, the execution of deliverance in verses 13 to 18, and then thirdly, the reason for deliverance in verse 19. Note the manner of deliverance in verses 7 to 12. Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also and came down, with darkness under his feet, and he rode upon a cherub and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place. His canopy around him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire." Again, that's metaphorical language, brethren, that is used oftentimes in the Bible to speak of God's response. But note the connection, verse 6, in my David In my, Jesus, in my church distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled.
Spurgeon says nothing makes God so angry as an injury done to his children. I quite like that. The language points back to Theophany at Sinai in Exodus 19. The language points forward to God Most High shaking the earth at the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The language invokes the imagery of God Most High as divine warrior. And the imagery underscores for us that the divine warrior, God Most High, delivers or saves His people by the punishment of their enemies. In other words, God comes in glory and in power and in might to bring destruction upon the enemies of David and to bring destruction upon the enemies of our blessed Savior. With reference to this, Davis, commenting on the 2 Samuel passage, says, Yahweh both hears and comes, and when He comes, it is as if Sinai happens all over again.
Yahweh is irate that His servant stands in such affliction, and so comes in blazing anger, shuddering majesty, and world-convulsing power to rescue him. You know how I would sort of encapsulate verses 7 to 12? And again, this is an idiom, but it's one that I think we're mindful of. God's going to move heaven and earth to save.
God's going to move heaven and earth to judge. God's going to move heaven and earth to deliver David from all of his enemies, to deliver Jesus from all of his enemies, and to deliver the church from all of his enemies. He's going to shake the very foundations and he's going to bring to bear judgment. His mighty wrath will be expended on his enemies.
Execution of Deliverance: God Scatters the Foe
Notice the execution of his deliverance in verses 13 to 18. He's got metaphorical language, again, borrowed from Sinai, prophetical of what happens at the death of Christ, all throughout the Old Testament in terms of Psalter and prophets, language that shows God's omnipotence, God's justice, God's omnipresence. He was angry. Now there's no movement in God from one state or another.
This is an improper predication to show us something of God's righteousness and judgment in terms of justice, in terms of the judgment of the enemies of His people. But note the execution of deliverance in verses 13 to 18. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. You have something of this in Joshua 10 in the southern campaign at Beth Horon.
It's Yahweh who rooted the enemies of Joshua. It's Yahweh who fought against the enemies of Joshua. You know, one of the ways that Yahweh fought against the enemies of Joshua was dropping hailstones on the enemies at Beth Horon. You see what the psalmist is doing?
He's feeding his soul on previous revelation. He's feeding his soul upon an interpretation of history that is not neglectful of God, but that is theological in its core. He is reflecting and rehearsing upon the God who thunders from on high to come and vanquish His enemies. Notice the Lord scatters the foe, verses 14 and 15.
He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of your breath of your nostrils. Gil applies verses 14 and 15 to AD 70. The Romans sacked and crushed Jerusalem and its temple for having rejected and resisted and ultimately crucifying the Messiah.
In other words, what we have here is David and David's greater son reflecting on the power of the Most High to come and vindicate, to come and protect, to come and deliver, to come and save them from all of their enemies. And then notice the Lord delivers his servant in verses 16 to 18. He sent from above. He took me.
He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong hand, from those who hated me. And I love this last bit in 17b, for they were too strong for me. They were too strong for me.
Isn't that a blessed argument to use with God? Lord, help me with this enemy because it's too strong for me. We'd probably be afraid to admit that, wouldn't we? I'm dealing with a particular loss.
I'm dealing with a particular temptation. I don't want to admit to God that I actually like it as if God doesn't know you actually love it and crave it. Why would we need deliverance except for the fact that the enemy is too strong for us? Who vanquishes the devil? who helps us not to be of the world, who helps us to subdue the flesh.
It's God, it's salvation by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone. If we don't have help from that which is too strong for us, we're gonna perish and die and end in hell. The very motivation of the distress call is that the enemies are too strong. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
What's the logic? If they weren't too strong for him, David would have won. If they weren't too strong for him, according to his human nature, Jesus wouldn't have been crucified. but because they were too strong for them, they need a divine intervention. They call upon God in their distress.
The cry goes into the very throne room of God, and then he responds in a theophanic presence that is majestic and glorious, and he thunders from heaven. He utters his voice, and hailstones and coals of fire come, and then he shoots arrows and scatters the foe. Why does he do that? Because you were helpless without me.
Beautiful. Verse 18, they confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. Isn't that beautiful? The Lord was my support.
The world, the flesh, and the devil will kill you. It will gut you. It will cut your throat. It will gouge out your eyes.
It will leave you laying, bleeding in the street unless the Lord's your support. You lean on God, you trust in God, you rest on his promises, you trust in his blessed word. And then
Reason for Deliverance: Divine Delight
that brings us finally to the reason for deliverance. Notice in verse 19, he also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. He delivered me because he delighted in me.
We could see that true of David, 1st Samuel chapter 16. It's a man after God's own heart, 1st Samuel chapter 13. 1st Samuel 16 is when he's separated from his brothers. He's singled out by the Most High. We're reminded that God doesn't look on the external.
God doesn't look on the outward. God's able to work even if a man doesn't have 18-inch biceps. It's what's on the inside. David was a man after God's own heart based on sovereign grace, based on predestination, based on election, based on God's effectual calling, based on justification by faith alone.
Certainly we can see how this one applies to our Lord. He delivered me because he delighted in me. What do we hear from the father with reference to the son at both baptism and Mount of Transfiguration? This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
He delivered me because He delighted in me. Why is Jesus raised? Why is Jesus ascended? Why is Jesus exalted at the right hand of the majesty on high?
Because the Father delights in Him. Can this be true of the church as well? He delivered me because he delighted in me. Exactly.
Spurgeon says this a whole lot better than I'm about to, so I'll just read what he has to say. Free grace lies at the foundation. Rest assured if we go deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries and the ocean of divine bounty always bring the pearls of electing discriminating love to light.
Why Jehovah should delight in us is an answerless question and a mystery which angels cannot solve. but that he does delight in his beloved is certain and is the fruitful root of favors as numerous as they are precious. That's beautiful. God reminds old covenant Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. I didn't choose you because you were more numerous.
I didn't choose you because you were more righteous. I chose you because I love you. It's another place he says, I love you because I loved you. As Spurgeon says, it's a mystery.
If you go down that path, I wonder why God chose me, and you come up with any other answer than, I'll never know, save for sovereign grace and his good pleasure, you're gonna end up in a mess. He didn't choose you because you were better. He didn't choose you because you were more noble. He didn't choose you because you were gonna make a good decision for his son.
He chose because He chose, according to His sovereign pleasure. For so it seemed good in your sight. Matthew 11, 25 to 28. I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for that it's hide these things from the wise and the prudent, but that it's reveal them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for thus it seemed well pleasing in your sight. That's where Jesus went with it. That's where we go with it, and that's where we praise God for it. He delivered me because He delighted in me.
That's a beautiful sentiment. It's a beautiful statement. It is something the church ought to respond with David in a verse one sort of a way. I love the Lord.
I bless God. I praise him. My rock, my fortress, the horn of my salvation, my very strength. the one upon whom I have support, the one upon whom I cry out in distress, and he thunders from heaven to come and rescue me. David ain't playing games in Psalm 18 or 2 Samuel 22.
He is telling us, there is no God like you. In fact, he's going to say as much in verse 31. For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on high places. He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. All glory is given to God for this deliverance.
But all glory is given to God for David's good kingship. David doesn't write autobiography to praise himself or to build his legacy. He writes 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 to instruct the church in what we have in and through the Beloved, the ultimate subject of Psalm 18, who was surrounded by death, who was confronted. who did understand the pangs of Sheol and went through all that for us men and for our salvation, such that now we know that God has thundered from on high. God has shot His arrows and vanquished the enemy.
He has dealt with our sin. He is dealing with the devil in terms of our own lives and with the world itself. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
The psalmist expresses praise to God which is clothed in love. The psalmist expresses praise to God which is informed by good theology. And the psalmist praises God in response to the great work of God in delivering him from the hand of all of his enemies. The psalmist sets forth a good pattern for us as we get up on Sunday morning, as we continue Monday through Saturday, we think concerning God's great salvation of us, and hopefully it puts us in that praiseful form such that it is never the case that we're not thankful to be God's people, that we're not thankful that He has delivered us, that we're not thankful that He has thundered from heaven to deal with our foes one and all.
As well, the psalmist experiences the enemies of God in such a way as to express true humanity, fear, overwhelming, the reality, the distress, the hardship, the heartache, the struggle, but he never loses sight of God. He never takes his focus off of the Most High. When David's hiding in caves, he doesn't do it as an atheist. When David is running from Saul in the Philistines, he doesn't do it as an atheist.
Our Lord Jesus, when He expresses that exceeding sorrow, when He says to the Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, He doesn't do it as an atheist. He does it with the resolve. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And then the psalmist's encounter with the deliverance of God, he sees God's glory in it.
He sees God's justice in it. He sees God's justice as an occasion of consolation for the righteous. Let me just break that down. Sometimes our protection, sometimes our deliverance, sometimes our salvation, I would say all the time, necessitates the destruction of our enemies.
Right? Jesus dealt with the devil at the cross. Jesus dealt with the sin of the sinner at the cross. Jesus deals with the world at the cross.
He vanquished our enemies. He destroyed our enemies. He destroyed our foes. Listen to Dixon.
He says, the terribleness of God coming to judge his enemies is a matter of consolation to the believer and of praise to God as here is sat down. I think much of the church, or at least some of the church, would be afraid to even utter verses 7 to 15, invoking God to come upon their enemies in such a way that God actually wins. Oh no, heavens no, we can't say things like that. We can't ask God to scatter his enemies.
We can't ask God to shoot arrows at the sons of Belial. Well, the psalmist does. And the psalmist finds in it a great consolation. So the righteous rejoice at the demise of the wicked.
That's a recurring theme in this altar, as I'm sure you've probably heard thus far in our time thus far. And then the grace of God. To one who is helpless, verse 17, for they were too strong for me. To one who is supported by divine grace, verse 18, but the Lord was my support.
To one who is the object of God's delight because of sovereign grace, verse 19b, he delivered me because he delighted in me. Believer, there's much in Psalm 18 to encourage us, to reflect upon, and then to invite us to praise God and to express that praise clothed in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
Application
And for unbeliever, listen to the psalmist specifically in verse 2. The psalmist in verse 2 says, "...in whom I will trust." The psalmist, David specifically, isn't afforded this protection, this blessing, this graciousness, this goodness, this kindness, this provision, because David's a great guy. No, it's because in whom I trust. David says in Psalm 2 to unbelievers, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, may I encourage you to believe, to look to him, to come to Him in faith and receive the benefits, the graces, the mercies, the promises, all of the blessings that He has secured for everyone who comes, justification by faith alone. Your sins are forgiven. You get a righteousness by which you now can enter into the presence of God.
You get sanctification, which means you don't have to continue to serve your bales. You don't have to continue to bow down to Asherah. You'll be free to worship the living and the true God who you were made to worship. You've got the promise, the blessed promise and encouragement of glory to come.
When the believer dies, when the believer breathes his last, he enters into the presence of the Most High. There's no greater promise, there's no greater joy, there's no greater thought than to entering in to the presence of Him who loved us. and died for us and was raised again for us. To be in Emmanuel's land is everything. So don't tarry, don't resist, don't refuse, don't reject, but by God's grace come to him in faith and you will have everlasting life.
Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for Psalm 18. We thank you for the experience of David, the experience of our Lord Jesus, the experience of the church since. We know, we have tried and proven that you are a faithful God, that you are a rock, that you are a fortress, that you are the horn of our salvation. We give praise and glory and honor to you and express our love to you.
Help us to never tire of these things. Help us to celebrate and rejoice in your loving kindness to us. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.