Introduction: Psalm 18 Overview
Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 18 as we complete our exposition of Psalm 18. Remember, it's the fourth longest psalm in the Psalter, so we broke it up into three parts. The first part deals with the deliverance of the psalmist in verses 1 to 19, and then secondly, the righteousness of the psalmist in verses 20 to 30. We take up the last bit, verses 31 to 50, the fortification of the psalmist.
I actually think what we have is in verses 1 to 19, the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ during the time that He came to earth. He assumed our humanity. His earthly ministry was punctuated by sufferings, by hardship, by pain. We see in the second part, it's because of the righteousness of Christ that He is resurrected again from the dead.
He's exalted. to that position of highest authority at the right hand of the majesty on high, and then the latter portion deals with that exaltation, that current session, and that our Lord of glory rules and reigns over all men, all men in all places. So picking up at verse 31, The psalmist writes, You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great.
You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them so that they could not rise.
They have fallen under my feet. For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me.
They cried out, but there was none to save, even to the Lord, but he did not answer them. Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind. I cast them out like dirt in the streets. You have delivered me from the strivings of the people.
You have made me the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they obey me. The foreigners submit to me.
The foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
It is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man.
Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. great deliverance He gives to His King and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that we have it, that You have blessed us with ears to hear and hearts to receive it. We pray now that the Holy Spirit would guide us and illumine our minds as we look once again at Psalm 18 to see how it applies to David and then how it applies to David's greater son. even our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for all that He has done for us.
We thank you for that incarnation. We thank you for His sufferings and His death and His resurrection and for His current session now at your right hand where He has all authority in heaven and on earth. And may you indeed encourage our hearts, forgive us of our sin, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Well,
Introduction
as I said, the particular emphasis in this psalm is the deliverance of or the salvation of God's anointed King. You see that emphasized in verses 2, 27, 35, and 50. And of course, it applies to David. We have in the superscription to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord who spoke to the Lord the words of this psalm.
But it's also in 2 Samuel 22. At the end of David's life, David puts pen to paper and he writes this composition concerning God's mercy to him and deliverance of him. And then it's given to the chief musician, included in the psalter, so that the church can sing and celebrate throughout her ages. But we've also seen how it is directly applicable to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 2 is quoted by the apostle in Hebrews 2, and it's applied to Christ. Verse 49 is applied to Christ in Romans 15, verse 9, in terms of the gospel going out to the Gentiles. So it's David, and it's the true David. It's David and his greater Son.
And I would suggest that the most obvious way is the emphasis on righteousness in verses 20 to 24. The psalmist there doesn't describe a decent righteousness. David had a decent righteousness, but it wasn't a perfect righteousness. His life was punctuated by sin.
He committed adultery. He committed conspiracy to murder. He engaged in lawlessness and transgression. But the righteousness described in verses 20 to 24 is perpetual.
It's exact. It's entire. It is that righteousness that was done by our Lord Jesus, who is our whole and sole righteousness. So David is musing on that. and he is worshiping the Savior as a result.
The Fortification of the Psalmist
So as we come to this final section, there are four things we want to observe with reference to the fortification of the psalmist. First, the power behind the king in verses 31 to 42. Secondly, the people in submission to the king in verses 43 to 45. Third, the praise offered to the king in verses 46 to 49, and then finally the promise that advances the king in verse 50.
Let me just make clear the third point, the praise offered to the God of the king in verses 46 to 49. So the power, the people, the praise, and the promise. But note first the power.
Power Behind the King
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 my high places, and
Instruction and Power of God
he teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze." Now, I should just say at the outset, David is describing David here, but David is describing his greater son, the Lord Jesus. But with reference to historical David. With reference to David, the king of Israel, when he says that God blessed him with military strength to best his enemies, when he says that God brought the necks of his enemies before him so that he could crush their heads and necks, we need to remember David wasn't a private vigilante, roaming the streets of Toronto with six shooters in hand. David was the king of Israel.
And one of the primary emphases with reference to a king or anybody in civil authority is to protect the kingdom and the subjects. And so when David celebrates that God empowered him such that he was able to break bones, such that he was able to drop his foot upon the necks of his enemies, such that it was God that subdued his enemies before him, This is rejoicing in and praising God for the strength David experienced on the battlefield. David doesn't come in 2 Samuel 22 to write his autobiography about what a great warrior he has been. He doesn't come in 2 Samuel 22 to write about his exploits on the battlefield.
Now in 2 Samuel 22, which is here in Psalm 18, David comes to exalt God. David comes to celebrate God. David comes to praise God, and David does so at the very practical level. When I was able to jump over a fence, when I was able to evade a troop, when I was able to bring the hell of God upon the enemies of God, that was God.
That wasn't me. And as David comes to celebrate here with reference to God's power, he tells us very specifically of that power in verses 31 to 36.
Singularity and Incomparability of God
He speaks of the singularity and incomparability of God. Notice verse 31, who is God or for who is God except the Lord, and who is a rock except our God? All these nations have their so-called gods. The pagans have Baal, they have Asherah, they have Moloch, they have all those things that they swear fidelity to and they think is bettering them on the battlefield.
But David asks very clearly and unequivocally, for who has God except Yahweh? In other words, there is no other God. There is but one only, the living and true God, this God that exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. David rejoices in that reality, and David sees that as the power behind him when he's on the battlefield, exercising the destruction of the enemies of Yahweh.
He speaks of the strength and grace of God.
Strength and Grace of God
Notice in verse 32, it is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. Again, he's not saying, you know, it was my training, it was my shepherding, it was my fighting lions and bears, it was my observing of other kings and how they led their armies. No, that's not what David gives credit to. That's not who David praises.
David praises God. For any strength that he had, any abilities that he had, any prowess on the battlefield that he had, he gives all glory to God. So that strength and grace that God gives is the provision of God to David for military battle. But it's also the provision of strength to Christ for battle.
Christ always lived in dependence upon his Father. He was filled with the Spirit above measure. The Lord Jesus leaned on divine resources when it came to His earthly ministry. David Dixon makes the observation, the man of God must resolve to be a man of war and to yoke with adversaries of one sort or other, such as was David and Christ and His followers represented by Him.
As David describes battles with the Philistines and battles with the Hittites and battles with the Amorites and all the other ites that Canaan had, we need to remember that it's not just the physical battles that are in view here. Christ were preeminently spiritual. When he goes into the garden, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Our battles in this present evil age most likely aren't going to be, I can't say definitively, going to be taken with guns and bombs and tanks and F-16s and whatever it is that we might lean on.
More often than not, they're spiritual battles. This is why the apostle addresses us in Ephesians chapter 6 and tells us to put on the whole armor of God. We need to understand that the Christian life is oftentimes a battlefield. There is great opposition, the world, the devil, our own flesh.
There are many things that rise up against us and we need to understand that as David made it through the grace and provision of God, as Christ made it through the grace and provision of God, so will we make it through the grace and provision of God. We must not lose heart. As David serves as a wonderful example of God delivering him out of all of his adversities, and as God had raised his son the third day and exalted him to his right hand, so God promises to each of his beloved. That doesn't mean there's not going to be hardships.
In fact, the Psalm argues contrary to that idea. But in the midst of the hardship, we lean on God. We have divine aid. As Davis says, David's kingdom rests on Yahweh's muscle.
That's the way we need to approach life. Our goal, our lives, our warfare, our soldiering on is dependent upon Yahweh's muscle. It's not our own resources, it's not our own strength, that's why Paul casts us upon that full armor of God. We want to be like David and like David's greater son.
Kindness and Blessing of God
Notice as well that God's kindness and blessing is seen in verse 33. He makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on high places. Nimbleness, ability and agility on the battlefield. I've heard it said of George Washington that he knew not only on beating enemies, but he knew when to retreat.
There's a tactical advantage on knowing when to retreat. If you're retreating so that you can marshal your forces for a later excursion that brings ultimate destruction upon your enemies, that's a good retreat. There are times where David ran. There are times when David hid.
There are times when David understood that nimbleness of foot was most necessary when it came to engaging the enemies. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we see him with nimbleness of foot. He deals with people according to where they're at. He upbraids the scribes and the Pharisees.
He calls them hypocrites. He pronounces woes upon them. He turns over the tables of the money changers. He casts them out with a whip made by his own hand.
And then with that Samaritan woman, he deals in great compassion. Great kindness, great mercy, great love. The Lord God fit him for that earthly ministry wherein he meets all sorts of various people. But then notice the instruction and power of God in verse 34.
He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. I wonder how effeminate Christianity that surrounds itself in Jesus is my boyfriend type songs could ever sing Psalm 18. He's talking about killing people. He's talking about destroying enemies.
He's talking about God equipping and enabling and empowering him to actually kill his enemies and destroy them. Again, a limp-wristed Christianity probably can't sing Psalm 18. That effeminate kind of Christianity that sings, as I said, Jesus is my boyfriend type songs, can't embrace what the psalmist is telling us here, can't embrace what we see in the glory of the empty tomb, the power of the resurrection wherein Christ is declared to be the Son of God, or the glory of Christ enthroned at the right hand of the Father where He must reign till what? till all of his enemies are made his footstool. If we are offended by what David says in this particular psalm, especially at verse 40, you've also given me the necks of my enemies, then by logical necessity we should be offended with Psalm 110.
One, which is everywhere picked up in the New Testament and applied to our Lord Jesus, and him lowering the foot on the enemies of his throne. What David sings and celebrates here is God's blessing and God's equipping, both David and true David. Ash says, he trains my hands for war. It's repeated in Psalm 144, 1.
It means that Messiah is perfectly equipped for his battles. Absolutely. Second London Confession, Chapter 8, Paragraph 3. After talking about the glory of this person in Paragraph 2, the one person, two natures, what we call in theology the hypostatic union, 8.3 comes to say that the Holy Spirit came upon him without measure.
God blessed him and sustained him and enabled him to carry out the work of mediation according to his human nature wherein he lived for us, he suffered for us, he died for us, and he was buried for us. Spurgeon comments here, the Holy Spirit is the great drillmaster of heavenly soldiers. I quite like that. The Holy Spirit is the great drill master of heavenly soldiers.
Again, verse 34, He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. And then, of course,
Protection and Provision of God
the protection and provision of God in verse 35. You've also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great.
You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. God's sustaining power, God's sustaining grace, God's presence in the midst of David and true David. When Jesus goes into that garden and says, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death, the Father is there to comfort him. The Father is never abandoning the Son.
When Christ cries on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We're not to conclude that the Father, as it were, hid his face from the Son. The son, according to his humanity at that particular time, did not know the favorable smile of God as he stands in our place to satisfy divine justice in order for God's glory and for our salvation. The Father never abandoned him.
The Father never left him destitute. The Father never took his hand away, just as David testifies in 2 Samuel 4 and 1 Kings 2. The Lord has delivered me from all adversities. This man tried and proved as God.
The Lord Jesus has tried and proved as Father. And at times, brethren, we walk as if there is no God. At times, brethren, we walk as if God is just an abstract concept that has no sort of meaningful purpose to our lives. You don't get that from David.
You don't get that from true David. What we need is to feed on the promises of God in Psalms like Psalm 18 and to understand that whenever it may look like we're losing, whenever it may look like things have gone awry, whenever it may look like that we're being butchered, The God of David, the God of David's greater Son, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and the one who began this good work in us is going to complete it unto the day of Christ. In other words, we have great confidence for the battles that we face. If we are to be soldiers in this spiritual warfare, if we are to don that armor according to Ephesians chapter 6, we need to do so basking in the promises of God that are yea and amen in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
David is celebrating the power of God.
David's Triumph Over Enemies
Now he speaks specifically concerning his triumph in verses 37 to 42. His warfare, notice in 37 and 38, I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them so that they could not rise.
They have fallen under my feet. Whatever you may say about David, and I've already said it, he didn't have a perfect life, but man, he had a relentless life when it came to fighting for kingdom and subjects. Again, the politics of scripture in terms of what it's supposed to be, so far removed from what it is. Do you look to your government to protect and defend you?
And I don't mean, you know, sad face on the radar gun that tells you you've gone three kilometers over the posted speed. That's not the kind of safety and protection I'm talking about. That's not even a campaign item. That's not even an issue of discussion in any political party.
The fundamental nature of kingship is the protection of kingdom and the subjects that make up that kingdom. Pretty simple. I think the job description should be like that. For David, that was everything.
The honor of his God, the rule over his kingdom, the protection of his subjects meant everything. So when he comes at the end of his life to muse upon these things, he gives glory to God. he won, that he was successful, that the Lord prospered his hand when it came to defeating all of the various contenders, not only to his throne, but to his kingdom. The relentlessness of David and the destruction of his enemies, verses 37 and 38, I pursued my enemies and overtaken them. It doesn't take much to jump over to true David.
There's a relentlessness in Jesus as well. Remember Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 9? He set his face steadfast to go to Jerusalem. I must go to Jerusalem.
I must be tried at the hands of godless men. I must be crucified. Why must you be, Lord? Well, it's the very purpose for which I came.
There was a relentlessness and a purpose that marked the ministry and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's announced at the outset at His nativity. You shall call His name Jesus. Why?
For it is He who will save His people from their sins. It's not hypothetical. It's not out there for anybody to grab. It is efficacious and definite.
He will save His people from their sins. There's a relentlessness in the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. There was a must-ness placed upon Him wherein He must suffer, He must die, and He must be raised again. Why?
For us men and for our salvation. Notice as well God's blessing upon David in verses 39 and 40. For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
You have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. So essentially what he is saying here, verses 37 and 38, is not owing to David. David's ability, David's savvy, David's training, David's experience. No, it's you have armed me with strength for the battle.
It's you who've subdued under me those who rose up against me. It's you who have given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hate me. Beautiful, isn't it? He was victorious on the battlefield and didn't try to take the glory for himself.
He didn't pat himself on the back as to what a great king he had been. contrary to modern authority in the civil realm, building legacies to themselves, ascribing praise and honor to themselves. Remember that scene in Acts chapter 12, Herod, they were all crying out, the voice of a God and not of a man, the voice of a God and not of a man. How did God deal with that? How did God rectify that situation?
He was eaten with worms and died before them. Nebuchadnezzar looking at his kingdom, looking at his empire. Look at what I built. Look at all the things that I made.
How did God deal with that? Sent him out to live like a beast in the field until he came to the knowledge that it's the Most High who rules. It's the Most High who raises men up and puts them in particular places for a time. You see, David, having accomplished many battles, or many successful battles, says it was God.
Not my biceps. Not my mind, not my training. Those things are important. God doesn't bypass biceps and minds and training.
God uses that. But it's God's glory that David is musing on. This imagery, notice verse 40, you have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. I've mentioned Psalm 110, 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
There's a historical reference in Joshua 10 in verse 24, after the southern campaign in the conquest, when they do what they're supposed to do, they go in and dispossess the land, they kill people and they break things. It says, so it was when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. Total subjugation, total ruination, total victory over these kings.
If you're a king and you've got another king's foot on your neck, you've lost. You lost. Take the loss. So that I destroyed those who hated me.
And that destruction of the enemies is developed in verses 41 and 42. Notice they cried out, but there was none to save. Why? because their gods are dunghill deities. That's Puritanese for Baal.
If you're ever reading your Bible and you see Baal, sometimes you'll see a note in the margin that calls him Lord of the Flies. So dunghill deity is probably one of the best identifiers for Baal that you can ever get, a dunghill deity. So notice what David says in verse 41. They cried out, but there was none to say.
Why? Because Baal's fake. Moloch's fake. Dagon's fake, Asherah's fake, all the gods of men are fake.
Verse 31, for who is God except Yahweh? Verse 46, the confession of confessions, the Lord lives. We read that and we say, well, that's so simple. That's foundational.
God is described as the living and true God in contradistinction from that which isn't God, dead things, inanimate things, things that have never been God. So notice in verse 41, they cried out, but there was none to save. But they stepped this up even one more, even to Yahweh, but he did not answer them. Imagine David's enemies hearing him call upon Yahweh and then seeing victory on the battlefield.
They might be inclined to call upon Yahweh too. Not in truth like David, but pragmatically. Pragmatically. It's kind of like when the Israelites bring the Ark of the Covenant out to the field of battle in 1 Samuel chapter 4.
Why do they do that? It's not for the presence of God. They schlep it out like it's a holy horseshoe. They schlep it out as if it by itself is going to bring destruction to the Philistines.
The Philistines think that way, and I'm not saying that's okay, but it kind of is okay because they're Philistines. Israelites shouldn't think that way. They shouldn't think the Ark of the Covenant is a holy horseshoe, trot it out and you'll get a victory. This formulaic approach, what does God show them?
Not a holy horseshoe, my presence that is absolutely crucial. The Ark represents that, but you've misplaced things and you think the Ark intrinsically or inherently has the power to be able to help you to defeat the Philistines. What does God do? Philistines capture the Ark.
They take it into Philistine country. And then they want to get rid of it because God brings judgment upon them. Do you see what David is saying? My enemies.
They cried out, but there was none to save, even to the Lord, but he did not answer them. Dixon says that whosoever looked for release out of their trouble and that not through Christ shall have no release at all. And then he speaks of the utter destruction of his enemies in verse 42. Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind.
I cast them out like dirt in the streets. Again, I don't think it's tough to make a new covenant application to true David. And what we see in the pages of the New Testament, they cried out, but there was none to save, even to Yahweh. Didn't the unbelieving Jews say that they were of the true God?
Didn't the unbelieving Jews arrogate to themselves that God was their father? Of course they did. John 8, we're not born of fornication. We have one God, or one Father, even God.
Jesus says in John 16, they're going to kill you thinking they're doing service to God. They're going to cast you out of their synagogues. They profess to have this relationship with the Father, but as Jesus unequivocally asserts in John 15 at verses 21 and 23, that he who does not have the Son doesn't have the Father. He says, if you hate the son, which they were presently doing, then you hate the father as well.
They cried out, but there was none to save, even the Lord, but he did not answer them. Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind. I cast them out like dirt in the streets. David, seeing his enemies vanquished.
True David, seeing his enemies vanquished. What happened to Jerusalem in A.D. 70? They were surrounded by the Roman armies and destroyed. What happened to the Roman Empire?
Is it still around? Has it continued? What happens to any people group that rise up against Yahweh and against his Christ? Ultimately, that foot of the Savior will lower on their necks and they will be scattered as much as dust.
People in Submission to the King
Notice then the people in submission to the king in verses 43 to 45. It occurs to me we might not get through all of this, so we'll do what we can here with verses 43 to 45, which if you've not been convinced the psalm is about Jesus primarily, 43 to 45, hopefully we'll do that. Notice the people in submission to the king in verses 43 to 45.
The Internal Threat
I think that first bit in verse 43 speaks to internal threat. I've mentioned it many times, Old Covenant Israel, New Covenant Church, we always are faced with two enemies. We've got the external threat. For David, it was the Philistines.
For David, it was the Hittites. For David, it was the Hivites. For us, it's all them plus. It's false religion.
It's bad government. It's external threats, things out there that threaten us, not in here as if this room is sacrosanct or something, but it threatens the lives of the people of God. External threat, it's a reality to the kingdom. So is that internal threat.
That's pretty pesky, isn't it? For David, he had problems with Saul. For David, he had problems with those intimately associated with him. Ish-bosheth, the house of Saul, was a pretend king according to 2 Samuel 2 and 3.
You had the usurpation by his own son Absalom later in 2 Samuel, and then you had the rebellion of Sheba in 2 Samuel 20, which was essentially civil war. David understood what it was to kill Philistines, but David also understood what it was to have to contend with malcontent Israelites jockeying for position. Same with our Lord. Same with the Lord Jesus Christ, those internal threats.
Judas Iscariot? The Sanhedrin, the highest religious and political court of Israel at that time that should have welcomed Messiah with opened arms? No, they hated him. They despised him.
They orchestrated offense in such a way that Pilate was necessitated to execute him. And then you have the multitudes. He came to his own, his own received him not. That comes to a fever pitch in the Passion Week when they say, away with him, away with him, crucify him.
Those pesky internal threats. David had to deal with them. True David had to deal with them. And guess what?
The church ever since has had to deal with them. It's the best way the church can do that, by maintaining fidelity to God's Word. By endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. by focusing on those things which are absolutely crucial for all matters of faith and practice. We need to be about the kingdom.
We need to be about that priority. We need to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, knowing that all other things will be added to us. That internal threat, we need to face it with scripture. We need to make sure that our pulpits are protected.
We need to make sure that what we do in terms of public worship is protected. We need to make sure that as we catechize and raise our children we're doing so under the training and the admonition of the Lord. Are we going to be the generation that fails to pass on the truth to our children, our spawn, and then wonder why the church is so messed up? I remember years ago I used to participate in the Chilliwack ministerial.
And they had this session that they called the gray beards. And that meant the older guys that were proven and had wisdom, they were going to serve on a panel. At the time, this was, you know, early part of the 2000s. My conclusion was somewhere along the line, those gray beards dropped the ball.
I don't want to be that guy that complains about all the churches, but man, there are some serious problems going on. Some serious problems. When it's debatable as to whether or not women should be elders or deacons, really? That's just foundational 1 Timothy 2 stuff.
Whether, you know, we should be okay with sodomy in terms of man on man, woman, woman, marriage and all that. Why are these things debated? Because these gray hairs didn't hold the line. They didn't stand fast.
Maybe there were some of them. Maybe that's just my horrible prejudice coming out. But I figured, you know, I'll sit in my office and read one of the real gray hairs and probably learn a bit more. My point is simply this, brethren.
If we are to deal properly with the internal threat, it necessitates us knowing the Bible and good theology. Win-win for a church like ours. We have a confession of faith that spells out that theology very clearly. very beautifully, very wonderfully. You see, it's not just the doctrinal challenges that can present internal threat.
It's the practical challenges. It's the gossip. You want to destroy the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace? Keep gossiping.
That does not further the interests of Christ in terms of building his kingdom. Don't forgive one another. Don't be kind to one another. Don't be gracious to one another.
I mean, there's a billion ways we could go on to speak of the internal threat that at times cripples churches because we just don't do what God says. For instance, Matthew 18, if your brother sins against you, avoid him for the rest of your life Treat him like he's a pariah. Cry out unclean thing when you see him. No.
Go to him. Well, that's hard. I'm sorry. Do hard things then.
Go to him. If he hears you, you've won your brother. Isn't it much better to seek reconciliation and resolution than to avoid and treat like the plague? The internal threat was a reality for David.
The internal threat was a reality for our Lord, and the internal threat is a reality for the church of our Lord.
The External Threat
He then moves on from that to the external threat, specifically that he's been delivered from. Notice in verse 43, you have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me.
As soon as they hear of me, they obey me. The foreigners submit to me. The foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts." The victories of David. He dealt with the external threat pretty handily.
Goliath at the Valley of Elah. He dealt with Philistines, 1 Samuel 18. Jebusite, 2 Samuel 5. Philistines and Moab, 2 Samuel 8.
Toy, the king of Hamath, according to 2 Samuel 8. David understood what it was to beat his opponents. But notice again, verse 43 at the latter part, you have made me the head of the nations. This transcends historical David serving in Israel in that time frame.
Spurgeon says, surely there is far more of Jesus than of David here. Remember Psalm 2 that talks about the begotten son of the father? What does he rehearse for us? Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
Brethren, there is no reading on earth that can get that out of 1st and 2nd Samuel relative to historical David. But it's true of Messiah. It's true of David's greater son. It's true of our blessed Savior.
And the psalm ends on that note. The psalm points past David to his seed. This is of Christ, brethren. He deals with the internal threat.
He deals with the external threat, and he does so decisively. That bit, verses 44 and 45, as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. The foreigners submit to me, or they feign submission even. Why do you think they're feigning submission? because there's such an overwhelming influence of true religion that they feign it to at least be counted externally involved with it.
In other words, the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Those outside, they're going to conclude, you know what, it's better to be on the inside, so I'm just going to even fake it. I think that's what he's saying. As soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
The foreigners submit to me. The foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts. Augustine says, though they did not see me with their own eyes, by receiving my preachers, they have heard me and obeyed me. The blessedness of our God in terms of this particular psalm is to deliver His anointed King, David in his time frame, but David's greater son in his earthly ministry.
We'll summarize here, we'll continue or pick up the latter parts, verses 46 to 50 next week, but
Application and Conclusion
just a couple of thoughts before we close. In terms of the deliverance of David, I think it's obvious, If you ask, you know, what's David telling us about David in terms of his war fighting abilities? He won. And we'd say, oh, he's a good general.
He was a good leader. He was a good king. And he is, and he was, and he is. But we're not, that's not what he's saying.
He's saying God is good. God is gracious. God taught me how to beat up Philistines. David leaned on Yahweh's muscle for the protection of his kingdom and subjects.
David's lesson to us in Psalm 18 is to lean on Yahweh's muscle for protection in the midst of hardship and suffering. Pretty good lesson. We see it in our Lord Jesus leaning on his Father in the midst of the difficulties. So the temporal victories and obviously the spiritual salvation of David is at the forefront of David's rehearsal here in 2 Samuel, I'm sorry, Psalm 18, which is 2 Samuel 22.
But as well, the psalm, as I said, traces Christ's earthly ministry, the suffering of the Savior in verses 1 to 19. Notice in verse 4, the pangs of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me.
Psalm 16 told us that He would not allow His soul to decay or suffer corruption in Sheol. Why is that a blessed promise to Jesus according to His human nature? because the sorrows of Sheol surrounded him in his earthly ministry. The snares of death confronted me. Notice in verse six, 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. Let's follow David and true David in this. In our distress, in our difficulties, in our hardship, what should we do? Call upon the Lord?
Yeah, that's right. You call upon the Lord. That's what the psalmist is saying here. The second thing I want to end with here is the righteousness that we see again in verses 20 to 24.
I just want to make this very simple. Psalm 14 is true of all of us. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So I think what we'll see God willing next Sunday in verse 46 is such a stark contrast.
The Lord lives. Who confesses that but the blood-bought child of God? Because by nature, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Psalm 14, 1.
So Psalm 14 portrays man the way man really is. And if I could just summarize it, we're masked up. We're really bad. We're worse than we ever imagined.
We don't even know how bad we are. We don't see the depths, the nooks, the crannies, the filth that is in our hearts. Good that God tells us what it's like in a Psalm 14, in a Psalm 53, in a Romans 3, which basically encapsulates the teaching of those Psalms to show Paul's emphasis that all men everywhere are under sin. They are liable to God's wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come.
Why? Because they've transgressed God's law. It really is that simple. Why is God angry with the wicked every day?
Because they're wicked. Why does God send sinners to hell? Because they transgress His law. They don't do what He calls them to do.
He says don't murder, they murder. He says don't commit adultery, they commit adultery. He says don't steal, they steal. You see, God is righteous and just.
So for lawbreakers, it is righteous and just to punish them. So when we get to this description in verses 20 to 24, and we argue that it's not David, but that it's Jesus, that's good news for David and for us. Based on what Jesus does here in described in verses 20 to 24, That's the glory of the gospel. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The Word lived in perfect obedience to the Father, always doing that which was pleasing to His Father. He did it not simply as an example. Oh, everybody look at me and follow my example. Certainly we should look at him and follow his example.
But he did it as a public person. He did it as a representative. He did it as a high priest. He did it as a substitute.
Such that when any sinner, by the grace of God, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't want to sound too crass, but they get his righteousness. Isn't that amazing? He gives us the righteousness of Jesus. He clothes us with that robe.
And not only that, but we're forgiven of all of our sins. Not just some sins, not just the big sins, but every sin. He washes, he purifies, he cleanses us. And that because of what Jesus does, according to verses 20 to 24, in terms of his obedience to the Father's law, But as well, verses 1 to 19, his life of suffering and death.
And then verses 31 to 50, his resurrection and exaltation. In other words, there is hope to be had in Jesus. We end where we left off in the scripture reading. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Believe on him and you will be saved. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for the psalmist and for his greater son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you would bless and build us up in our most holy faith. Help us to be jealous for your glory, for your kingdom, and for the subjects of that kingdom. Help us to treat one another in a godly way.
Help us to be faithful as individuals and in our families and in our church and our workplaces and in this society as well. May we shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation, holding forth that word of truth, because we know that Christ is stationed at the right hand of the Father, and he has bid us to go and to make disciples of all the nations, to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to observe all things that he has commanded, and he has promised to be with us even to the end of the age. I pray these things would help us, I pray these things would encourage us, and I pray that you'd open hearts of dead sinners to receive the truth as it is in Jesus, that they may come, that they may know the forgiveness of sins and that righteousness that you give and receive by faith alone. And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.