Introduction

Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 18 as we finish this particular psalm, God willing, this morning. We broke it up into several parts as it is a long psalm, 50 verses, and basically the three sections primarily are the deliverance of the psalmist in verses 1 to 19, the righteousness of the psalmist in verses 20 to 30, and then the last section, verses 30, 1 to 50, is the fortification of the psalmist. So I'll pick up reading in verse 31, and then our focus will be on the latter few verses in 46 to 50. So beginning in Psalm 18 at verse 31,

Scripture Reading: Psalm 18:31–50

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. He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

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 until 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. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day.

We thank you that the heavens declare your righteousness. And we thank you that your word declares that righteousness, that mercy, that grace, and that forgiveness that is to be had in and through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We thank you for what is rehearsed in Psalm 18 in terms of our great God, this God who is a rock. who delivers his people, who saves his people, who protects and provides for them every step of the way.

May this encourage us. May you build us up in our most holy faith. May you forgive us for all of our sins and unrighteousness. Cleanse us in that precious blood of the lamb and guide us now by your spirit that we may see Christ in this psalm, that we may see the church in this psalm as well.

And may it be of great benefit to each of our weary hearts. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Bye.

Sermon Introduction

Well, as I said, the overarching concern is on God's deliverance of His anointed King. And that comes out, obviously, in verses 2, 27, 35, and 50. The psalm was composed by David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And it concerns David, to be sure, in his earthly ministry, or rather in his earthly kingdom, but it concerns David's greater son, our Lord Jesus.

In fact, I think we have in the psalm a movement from his humanity, his life, of suffering and sorrow in his earthly ministry, to his resurrection from the dead, his ascension on high, and his exaltation at the right hand of the majesty of God on high. So Jesus is certainly the subject and the object with reference to this psalm. But as I said, it applies to David and it applies to the church of our Lord also. So this last section, verses 31 to 50, as I've described it as the fortification of the psalmist, basically the power behind the psalmist. whether it be David, whether it be our Lord Jesus, or whether it be the church.

Whence is the power behind the people of God? We saw the power behind the King in verses 31 to 42, it is God. Secondly, we've seen the people in submission to the King in verses 43 to 45. And this morning, I'll take up the praise offered to the God of the King in verses 46 to 49.

And then finally, the promise that advances the King in verse 50. As I said, the King, or rather the Psalm transcends earthly David and looks to David's seed or David's descendant, our Lord Jesus Christ. But

Praise Offered to the God of the King

let's first look at verses 46 to 49, the praise offered to the God of the King. Notice in verse 46, the Lord lives, blessed be my rock, let the God of my salvation be exalted. Thus far, the psalmist has referred to God as a rock in verses 2 and 31. And now that turns to an ascription of praise.

Behind the scenes, I think, is the Song of Moses recorded for us in Deuteronomy chapter 32. Several times in the Song of Moses, Moses, under the inspiration of the Spirit, describes God as a rock. Intriguingly, the song of Hannah, which we'll refer to a little bit more along the way in our study this morning, she refers to God as a rock. Now, what is invoked by the image of a rock?

Safety, protection, refuge, fortress, solidity, stability, all those things are captured by this brief indicator of God as a rock. The focus is not on his staticness or inertness or his lack of engagement with the created realm, but rather evokes those images that I suggested. David often ran and escaped and hid amongst the rocks. He understood all too well that in the geography of Israel, there were those natural stable places or fortifications and they were rocks for David.

So when David comes to describe his God as the deliverer, as the stabilizer, as the securer, he refers to him as rock. So does Moses, so does Hannah in 1 Samuel 2. But then notice, he not only ascribes praise to God for being rock, according to verse 46, even prior to that, he ascribes praise to God for being. Notice in verse 46, the Lord lives.

Turn back to Psalm 14, specifically at verse 1, we read, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So if by way of confession, the unrighteous says there is no God, Then by way of confession, the righteous says, there is a God and that God lives, that God is, that God exists. The psalmist or rather the apostle in Hebrews chapter 11 gives us this settled principle in verse six, but without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is. Principally, we must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So when we see here in verse 46,

The Lord Lives: Foundation of All Confession

the Lord lives, that's the confession of a godly David, of a godly David's greater son and the confession of his church, the Lord lives. That's the foundational confession of all confessions because the idols of men are dead. The idols of men are non-extant. The idols of men are futile.

They are dunghill deities. The central confession of the reality of our God is that He lives. that he is, that he is from everlasting to everlasting. There never was a time when God was not. There'll never be a time when God is not.

The stability and security of our rock is that he's with us even to the end of the age. The blessed reality here is that David confesses in contrast to the wicked that the Lord lives.

God's Existence and the Ground of Worship

Charnock says the existence of God is the foundation of all religion. When you look at Romans chapter 1 and you see how Paul treats the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. He starts with ungodliness. And I think the specific link is that what we believe concerning God or what we reject concerning belief in God is intimately connected to how we live before that God.

So his wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. The apostle says, for what is known about God is evident to them, for God has made it evident to them, even His eternal power, His Godhead, the fact that it's righteous and just with Him to damn sinners, according to 132. So it is that rejection of the living and true God that then leads to all of the ungodliness that the apostle highlights there in Romans chapter 1. The same is true in the confession of the godless in Psalm 14.

The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And then what follows subsequent to that? They are corrupt. They have done abominable works.

There is none who does good. And so with reference to this central confession taken up by the psalmist, the Lord lives, again, Charnock says, the existence of God is the foundation of all religion. The whole building totters if the foundation be out of course. If we have not deliberate and right notions of it, we shall perform no worship, no service, and yield no affection to Him.

So what may seem to be an obvious thing for us is central in the confession of the psalmist as he's reflecting upon the power behind the psalmist in light of the great deliverance of the psalmist predicated of the righteousness of the psalmist. The Lord lives And based on that blessed reality, the Lord lives, praise then flows. So the Lord lives, blessed be my rock, let the God of my salvation be exalted. The celebration of God's perfections is a methodology by which we praise Him.

It should occur to you as we look through a psalm like this, as we've looked at the psalms thus far, the prayers of the upright in the Bible are very theological in nature. It's not the, we just love you, we just, just, just, just, just, just come into your presence. No, they rehearse the rockness of God. They rehearse the power and the sovereignty of God.

They rehearse the deliverance of this God. In other words, theology drives their praise and their worship. Now our praise and worship shouldn't be reduced to a systematic theology, just the recitation of certain biblical truths, but those certain biblical truths need to get into our hearts. They need to get into our minds in such a way that when we come to the throne of grace, we bless God because He lives.

We bless God because He's a rock. We exalt God because He has saved us and He has delivered us. In other words,

Theology Drives Praise and Prayer

theology drives praise and prayer as we see it here, evidenced by the psalmist. The Lord Jesus Christ describes the very pinnacle of salvation as the, this is eternal life that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. How does Jeremiah describe the man whose blessedness is in God? Let not him boast in his riches.

Let him not boast in his wisdom. Let him not boast in his strength, but rather boast in this, that you know God. You see, the psalmist and the godly men in Holy Scripture, they took theology into their closets and they took theology into their corporate worship services. They thought on God.

The idea being is that when you think on God, you can't help but praise this God. Blessed be the Lord, blessed be my rock, let the God of my salvation be exalted. So the declaration of praise is very clear there in verse 46, but as he's want to do and as he fills it out with theological sort of performance on behalf of God, Verses 47 to 49 shows us why it is the case that he is praising God. Notice in verses 47 to 49.

And as we've seen, David, this is 2 Samuel 22. It's given to the chief musician, put in Psalm 18, but 2 Samuel 22. Which intriguingly, 1 Samuel 2, the song of Hannah, and 2 Samuel 22. Guess where both Hannah and David end?

They end on Christ. They end on David's descendant. And if you take Mary's song in Luke's gospel in chapter 1, verses 46 to 55, and you compare it with Hannah's song, you'll see some glorious similarities as well. Guess where Mary ends in verse 55?

On Christ. There, the seat of Abraham. Here, and in Hannah's song, the seat of David. How does Matthew begin his gospel presentation in Matthew 1.1?

He links our blessed Savior to who? Abraham and David. There was this expectation in the old covenant about the seed of the woman that would crush the serpent. There was this messianic consciousness amongst the people of God where when they came to praise and celebrate God they look beyond the earthly king or the temporal King David to that one who would come from David's loins.

They look to Christ, Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, David in 2 Samuel 22, and here again in Psalm 18. And what do they do? They present to us this glorious vision of a great God who has promised to save and deliver His people by His Son, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, even our Lord Jesus Christ. So David blesses the Lord, according to verse 46.

Now in verses 47 to 49, as I said, he gives specific reasons for that praise. According to verse 47, I think it's because

God of Vengeance and Victory

he's the God of vengeance and victory. The God of vengeance and victory. Notice in verse 47, it is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me. Isn't that vengeance and victory?

It's God who avenges and it's God who brings victory. It is God who subdues the peoples under me. Again, think of King David and his trouble with Saul. Whatever happened to Saul?

He was shut down. His dynasty ended. What happens with David? David is exalted.

David is the king of a unified Israel. David is the one who sees border expansion in his time. But ultimately, it's David's greater son who is the recipient of all these promises of God. They are yea and amen in him.

With our Lord Jesus Christ, it is God who avenges me. What does the Lord Jesus speak concerning the vengeance of God in his earthly ministry? It's very clear, the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. These are the days of vengeance.

This is always promised by God. Deuteronomy chapter 28, if the people of old covenant Israel were not faithful to the God of Israel, what would the God of Israel do? He would judge them. That judgment oftentimes took the shape of exile.

It happened in 722 under the Assyrians. It happened in 586 BC under the Babylonians. And it happens in AD 70 prophesied by the Savior by the Roman armies. The Lord Jesus describes it as the days of vengeance.

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by our enemies, then know that the time is short. The Lord Jesus Christ was avenged by His Father for rendering up a perfect righteousness and a substitutionary death for all those whom the Father had given Him. And I would suggest not only David and true David, but the church. We need to be able to rejoice in verse 47, it is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me.

Now, brethren, let me just encourage us all that we live in a time of tension. I don't mean stress, headaches, though that's part and parcel of it. tension between the already what we have in our Lord Jesus and what not yet is to be the case. We've not yet entered into the new Jerusalem. We've not yet entered into the fullness of God's glory.

So that interim period, that tension period, there's an already and a not yet. It's not always easy to remember a Psalm 1847. Because we see a lot of enemies of the church out there. We see a lot of wickedness done to the church.

And we might be suspicious about this whole concept of God's vengeance against our enemies. Again, when David's fleeing from Saul, he didn't have an immediate realization of this particular promise. When David is fighting Philistines and at times running from Philistines, he didn't have an immediate resolution to his particular problems. When our Lord Jesus had to deal as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, he came to his own, his own received him not, it wasn't immediately that he understood and experienced rather this vengeance from the Most High.

See the settled principle of the Christian faith is this, that God is for us and that being the case, what can man do? The psalmist shows us his agonies in specifically verses 1 to 19 in this part of the psalm. The tempest, or rather the waters encompassed me. The pangs of death surrounded me.

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. Verse 47 is there for us. It was there for David, it was there for Jesus, but it's there for us. We gotta look past the tension.

We gotta look past the challenges. We gotta look past the difficulties and the hardships and the afflictions, and we gotta soldier forward in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I love what Davis says, commenting on the 2 Samuel 22. Again, it's Psalm 18.

He says, the mention of devoted love He's commenting on the last bits here. Verse 50, great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy or devoted love to his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. I was going to read this toward the end, but I'm going to read it right now because I'd like for this to kind of help shape the way we receive the rest of the message. Brethren, there are hardships and there are afflictions and there may be more coming down the road.

We see brethren vexed and tried in various difficulties throughout the world. We see all kinds of odd things taking place against the church, against Yahweh and against His Christ. We've got to be filled with the mind of the Lord Jesus. We've got to make the Psalms our own in order to find that comfort and to just own the fact that the Lord lives.

Blessed be the rock. May the God of my salvation be exalted. Listen to Davis commenting on verse 50 in the 2 Samuel passage. The mention of devoted love, chesed, David's seed and the phrase forevermore conjure up Yahweh's covenant promise to David in 7, 12 to 16.

We're going to go there in a bit. This last verse reminds us that David's kingdom and its grand finale do not depend on the lucky breaks of history, but on a decree that determines and shapes history. Because God's kingdom rests on God's promise, it is sure. Such certainty is urgent for God's often battered people.

For most of them can keep on trudging through many dangers, toils, and snares, so long as they know their kingdom is invincible and sure. That's what I hope you get out of this. Let me just read that last bit. Because God's kingdom rests on God's promise, it is sure.

Such certainty is urgent for God's often battered people, for most of them can keep on trudging through many dangers, toils and snares so long as they know their kingdom is invincible and sure. That's a settled principle and a settled conviction afforded to us here by David in his original context concerning David's greater son, and it is the prized possession of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that God's kingdom is invincible. God's kingdom is sure. God's kingdom is rooted in and founded upon His promises, vis-a-vis His covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7.

But back to this section in 47 to 49, God is to be praised because he's the God of vengeance and victory, according to verse 47. But notice in verse 48,

God of Deliverance and Destruction

he's the God of deliverance and destruction. The God of deliverance and destruction. Oh, that seems beastly to celebrate God's destruction. Do you know there's an inextricable connection between the deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of the unrighteous?

It's just kind of the way it works. Just kind of the way it happens. It must be that way. Of course, think of the Christians' biggest enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

What does Christ do with the world, the flesh, and the devil? He conquers, he conquers, and he conquers. In other words, God's deliverance necessitates God's destruction upon the enemies. The people of God don't say, well, that's icky.

No, the people of God rejoice in that. When the harlot is cut off or that Babylon whore is cut off in Revelation chapter 18, the scene shifts to Revelation 19. And what are they doing up in heaven? Fourfold hallelujah, praise God, praise God, praise God and praise God.

Why? Because this city that was riddled with the blood of martyrs and saints has been destroyed and cut off. You go back with me for just a moment to the prophet or the former prophet Joshua, Joshua chapter 21. Just to appreciate what the psalmist is doing and what the Bible everywhere does.

It shows that God's deliverance is associated with God's destruction. In order to deliver the righteous, he destroys the unrighteous. In order to deliver the righteous, he destroys the works of the devil. Notice in Joshua 21, it's something of a summary statement that basically provides for us the contents of the book of Joshua in verses 43 to 45.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers, and not a man of all their enemies stood against them. Right? How would they have rest if their enemies stood against them?

How would they have rest if their enemies were there to menace them? How would they have rest if their enemies were there to try and kill them and defeat them? The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all came to pass.

Or consider Revelation 21. Revelation 21, after this New Jerusalem, John sees this vision of the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, the glory of God, the blessedness of His presence. 21.8, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. What's one of the unique features of the New Jerusalem? Well, there's not abortion clinics on every corner.

What's one of the unique features of the New Jerusalem? Well, there's not, you know, places to transition children via mutilation to the opposite sex. That's a blessing. That's a good thing.

The realization of the presence of God amongst his people means the destruction of all those not his people. Look at 22. I'm sorry, 2127, but there shall by no means enter in anything that defiles or causes an abomination or lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. 2214, blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Brethren, heaven wouldn't be heaven if hell was there. It's just that simple. Heaven wouldn't be heaven if hell was there. And that's what the psalmist is delighting at.

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. How does he deliver him from the violent man?

By destroying him. By crushing the opposition of the blessed savior. By crushing the opposition of our blessed brother David. And then

God of Grace and Glory

the third specific is in verse 49. He's the God of grace and glory, the God of grace and glory. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, an acknowledgement of grace. I give thanks to you, God.

Remember David at the end of his life, 2 Samuel chapter 22, comes to write his autobiography on what a great king he has been. He could have done that very simply. I was great on the field of battle. Boy, you should have seen me when I went up against Goliath.

Man, I was awesome, if I must say. I was just killer, great. Everything I did, it was just beautiful. Study me, love me, fawn on me.

He doesn't do that. His autobiography is a vehicle to give praise to his God. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock.

May the God of my salvation be exalted. The only guy in the history of the world that wrote an autobiography to praise somebody else is David. He thanks God. Why?

Because he knows that everything he's received is by grace. Verse 49, therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. Again, this transcends earthly David. It extends to David's greater son, even our Lord Jesus.

Look at verse 43 again. 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.

Verse 49 is quoted in Romans chapter 15, applicable to the Gentile mission under the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that light to the Gentiles and has sent his apostle Paul to preach, to praise, and to glorify Jesus as the one way alone to salvation for anybody, whether they be Jew or Gentile. David is rejoicing in God's grace. David is rehearsing God's glory among the Gentiles. And then

The Promise That Advances the King

that brings us finally to the promise that advances the king in verse 50. He speaks concerning God's mercy, verse 50, great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy to his anointed. The new King James, translates this word hesed as mercy. In the ESV, you've got steadfast love.

In the NIV, you've got unfailing love. None of those are bad translations. If I had to side with one, it would probably be the ESV in terms of the steadfast love, or NIV, even unfailing love. Undergirding this idea of mercy is not just God's goodness and kindness to those miserable people who don't deserve it. steadfastness, unfailingness, dare I say rock-ness, stability, refuge, strength, in some, covenant.

Probably the LSB translates it as covenant love. Does it have that? Looking at the one person I think has an LSB. No, okay.

That wouldn't be a bad translation. He's not just saying, God's mercy came to me, undeserving wretch that I am. No, what undergirds verse 50 is God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. Great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore.

So the mercy of God communicated to David is founded upon, rooted in, grounded in that covenant given by God to David.

Hannah's Song and the Messianic Hope

So just go back with me to 1 Samuel chapter 2 for just a moment to make the Hannah connection. 1 Samuel chapter 2. Verse 1, listen and ask yourself, based on what we've seen in Psalm 18, I know it's been over a period of a few weeks, didn't read the entirety of the Psalm, but does it not sound a bit Psalm 18-ish or Davidic in terms of 2 Samuel 22? Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.

I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who are full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, and she who has many children has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive.

He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ashy to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them.

He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven He will thunder against them.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His anointed." David and his greater son. prophetically set forth again this context going back to Genesis 315 of Israel nurturing this messianic hope and a seed that would crush the head of the devil. Hannah rejoices in that. David rejoices in that.

The linchpin is 2 Samuel 7, and

The Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7

you can turn there. 2 Samuel 7, this is the covenant that God made with David concerning kingdom. 2 Samuel 7, essentially David has achieved a great degree of success. David has been blessed and prospered by God. David is sitting in his palace and he's musing to himself and saying, I'm in a palace and God still lives in a tent. I'd like to make God a palace.

It's a good expression, good desire, but no, it's not for you. It's going to be for your son, Solomon. In fact, God uses that whole convention and says, you're not going to build a house for me, David. I'm going to build a house for you.

In other words, a dynasty. A succession of kings terminating in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's the nature of the Davidic covenant. Notice in 2 Samuel 7, 12, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name. Don't miss this in light of Matthew 16. Remember Matthew 16? Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

What does Peter say? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Isn't that what God's saying? A son will be raised up and he will build a house for my name?

It's exactly Matthew 16. You are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my house. I will build my church.

I will bring to fruition what was promised to David back in 2 Samuel 7. This is why Psalm 18 ends on that crescendo, looking past David to his descendant, to his seed. Notice, he shall build a house for my name, verse 13, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. You hear Luke 1 there?

You hear the nativity of our Lord Jesus? His kingdom will be forever. This is where it goes, or this is where it comes from. I will be his father and he shall be my son.

If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

This is why Psalm 18, 2 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel chapter 2 ends, or 1 Samuel chapter 2 ends, looking past David to David's greater son. This is why Matthew begins his gospel presentation by showing us that Jesus is the seed of Abraham and the seed of David. Jesus is the covenant champion. Jesus is the warrior.

Jesus is the representative. Jesus is the seed that will crush the serpent, that will bring about the vengeance of God upon the enemies of God. So God not only promises David a kingdom here, but he gives him the specific purpose of the kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will forever establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

He says the perpetuity of the kingdom, death will not destroy it. There'll be a succession of kings that come from David, but that's not going to destroy the promise. Sin will not destroy it. It's not a reference to Jesus, but to those subsequent David that were not perfect men.

Remember Solomon, 1 Kings 11? Solomon did a bad, bad thing. Solomon did a horrible thing. You're not supposed to multiply women, and he does.

To the tune of 1,000. And what exactly was promised happened. They took his heart from the living and true God. You see, the nature of the Davidic promise or covenant with David is simply this.

This son of David will build me a house. Death will not destroy it. There'll be a succession of kings coming until that king of kings and lord of lords. Sin isn't going to mess it up.

And time will not exhaust it. In other words, I will build His kingdom and it will be forever and ever. This is the promise of our blessed Savior. Christopher Ashe makes the observation on verse 50 in Psalm 18, And he connects it with Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7.

He says the words king, anointed, and descendants tie back to the titles king, anointed, and son in Psalm 2 and to the covenant of 2 Samuel 7. The singular descendant, like the collective singular of Galatians 3.16, speaks of the Messiah and all who are in him. For God shows his covenant love, and now he quotes Augustine, and I love what Augustine says here. God shows his covenant love to the strong-armed liberator who overcame the world and to those who believe in the gospel whom he has begotten for life eternal.

Amen. This is about Jesus, great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. This is Christ. This is the Lord Jesus.

The psalm traces the trajectory of his earthly ministry or rather as the office of mediator. his death, his sorrows, his sufferings, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of the Father, his command to his disciples to go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Why does he give that command? Because according to Psalm 1843, you have made me the head of the nations. According to Psalm 2, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

The psalmist ends as he traces God's deliverance, God's blessedness, God's triumph to God's son, the only begotten son of his love, that one who is the blessed one who brings to fruition all the promises of God, their yea and amen. in our Lord Jesus. Spurgeon 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. He set the paradigm in his own life, David certainly knew something of that, and it's true for us.

In short,

Application: Perseverance Through Affliction

brethren, we're not gonna be magically delivered from everything that hurts us, right? Why are we going through these sufferings? Because we live in a sin-cursed world. We live in a world that looks like Psalm 14.

Do you really think that as a blood-bought child of the Psalm 15 man, you're gonna live righteously and holyly and godly and not be affected by the miserable wretches on the face of the earth? Do you actually think that regeneration means no more suffering, no more pain, no more trials, no more sorrow? Of course we can't think that. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

We hid as it were our faces from him. He had no form, no calmliness. There was nothing about him by which we were drawn to him and said, look at this blessed one of God. No, he went through it.

For us as his people, we must know something of John 16, 33. In this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. So it seems to me that Psalm 18 captures that ethic.

It seems to me that David got that in 2 Samuel 22 as he comes to end his life, not end it, I'm not suggesting that he was actively ending himself, but as he knows that his time is coming to an end. Autobiography produced to bring glory to God the Rock. David understood as he looked back on his life, through many trials, through many dangers, through many hardships, through many woes, through many afflictions, through much loss and through much pain, God's always been my rock. God's always been my deliverer.

God's always alive. You see, this is what gets David across the river Jordan in a way where God is praised. Brethren, let us be familiar with the Psalms in such a way that they find their way into our hearts and minds so that we don't lose those hearts and minds when bad things rise up against us. Our Savior was able to persevere.

Our blessed David, brother David was able to persevere. The saints of old have been able to persevere. Is it because they were more powerful? They were more magical?

They had more wherewithal? No, they confessed that the Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. May the God of my salvation be exalted.

That's where they found their bread buttered. That's where they found steel for their veins. That's where they found the ability to persevere and to move forward in the fear of the Lord. They did so understanding as well, as did David, the righteousness of Jesus in verses 20 to 24.

This is not David's righteousness in verses 20 to 24. David had a decent righteousness. Inherently, he had a lot of good going for him, but he didn't have perfect righteousness. He didn't have exact, entire, personal, and perpetual righteousness.

David is describing David's greater son, and David rejoices in the imputed righteousness of Jesus in Psalm 32. We know that David rejoices in that imputed righteousness of Jesus in Psalm 32 because Paul tells us as much in Romans chapter 4, verses 5 to 8. Where is our righteousness? Where is our deliverance connected?

Where is our blessing? It's connected to Jesus in verses 20 to 24. Listen to Bonar. It is with our eye on Christ's righteousness imputed and Christ's spirit imparted that we so sing, humbly declaring what he has wrought for us.

And then the last observation, I made it already along the way, is that our praise, our prayer, our worship should be punctuated by our knowledge of who God is. He doesn't come to praise. I don't really know what to praise God about. Praise him that he lives.

Praise Him that He's a rock. Praise Him that He's a deliverer. Praise Him that He's a Savior. Praise Him that His Son took on our humanity, that His Son lived a life of perfect obedience for us, described in verses 20 to 24, and that that Son went to the cross for us men and for our salvation, that He was, in fact, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

You see, theology and Christology and soteriology and all these things, It's not just confined to seminary. It should be fleshed out in the worship of God's people every Sunday morning, every Sunday evening, every Monday through Saturday morning. When you open up your Bible, you want to praise God with the consciousness that God is worthy to be praised and then spell out the specific reasons and give him glory. This is Paul's procedure in Ephesians 1, 3 to 14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Why? Because the Father chose us in Him. Verses 4 to 6.

Why? Because in Him, the Son, the Beloved, we are redeemed from His precious blood. Verses 13 and 14. Why?

Because the Holy Spirit is the seal and the guarantee of our final inheritance. In other words, bless this God for the blessings He has conveyed and for the blessedness that He is in and of Himself. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the example here of the psalmist. We thank You for the reality that it ultimately focuses our attention upon the Lord Jesus Christ that seed of David, that one that does indeed fulfill all of the promises of 2 Samuel chapter 7. We give all praise and glory to you for such a great Savior and for such a great salvation.

May we seek to live in a manner consistent with our high calling in the gospel And may you as well be pleased to save to the uttermost anyone here dead in their trespasses and sins. May they by grace come to the Lord Jesus Christ and know the joy of being found in him. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:15
• Deuteronomy 28; 32
• Joshua 21:43-45
• 1 Samuel 2:1
• 2 Samuel 7; 7:12-16; 22
• 1 Kings 11
• Psalms 2; 14:1; 18; 18:2; 18:20-24; 18:27; 18:31-42; 18:43-45; 18:46-50; 18:50; 32
• Matthew 1:1; 16; 24
• Mark 13
• Luke 1:46-55; 21
• John 16:33
• Romans 1; 4:5-8; 15
• Galatians 3:16
• Ephesians 1:3-14
• Hebrews 11:6
• Revelation 18; 19; 21:8; 21:27; 22:14