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So we'll begin by reading the 
psalm, and then we'll go to our Lord in prayer. So we'll read 
Psalm 61. To the chief musician on a stringed 
instrument, a psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God, attend to 
my prayer. From the end of the earth I will 
cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher 
than I. For you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the 
enemy. I will abide in your tabernacle 
forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings, Selah. 
For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage 
of those who fear your name. You will prolong the king's life, 
his years, as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which 
may preserve him. So I will sing praise to your 
name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. Amen. Let's 
pray. Our Heavenly Father, again we 
come before you now. And Lord, we acknowledge that 
we stand in great need of your Holy Spirit now. We ask that 
you would be pleased to bless us with the power of the Spirit 
from on high to enable and equip in preaching the word and in 
hearing the word. Lord, it is our earnest prayer 
and our desire that this psalm and the exposition of this psalm 
would be a means for edification of the saints here gathered with 
us tonight, those who are listening, whoever may hear this, Lord, 
that it would be a means of encouragement, a means to focus our attention and our thoughts on 
our Savior on your goodness and on and on who we are as Christians 
and and Lord that it would be a means to to bless us to to 
encourage us and to lift us up if there are any among us who 
are in despair, who are suffering, who are going through various 
trials, that it would lift us up and encourage us and fill 
us with the joy, the joy and that peace, the peace that we 
read this morning in Philippians, that comes from you, that surpasses 
all understanding. So Lord, bless us now. We pray 
this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Amen. So this 
psalm, it's always, when we come to any passage of scripture, 
of course, important to understand context and where these things 
are taking place. Now, in the psalms, it's not 
always easy to do, but in this particular psalm, we find, historically, 
it's thought to be written by David when he was, he's clearly 
outside of Jerusalem, away from his, out of his land, so to speak, 
and away from the temple, and so that would, typically then 
is thought to be when Absalom would try to overtake the kingdom 
and to usurp David's authority and to take the kingdom from 
him. So if you remember the story there, Absalom gained the favor 
of the people through just the way that he interacted with them. 
He sat in the gate and he was very good with his words, I would 
imagine, and he gained quite a following. And then at a certain 
point, he decided he was going to take over the kingdom. And 
then David's received news of this, he's frightened, and he 
flees, and he flees out into the wilderness, crosses over 
the Jordan River, and right to the very edge of the promised 
land, up against the edge of the Edomites. And that is where, 
at that point, where David writes this psalm. Now again, it doesn't 
clearly tell us that, but there's several indicators here that 
point to that. The only other time that he's really chased 
out of his land is when Saul is persecuting him, prior to 
that, but we'll see here David is really, he brings to mind 
the covenant that God made with him and which came after he was 
already a king. So quite apparent then that this 
is the historical setting that we find ourselves in here as 
we come to examine this text. And again, it's always these 
things help us to understand what David is doing here. The 
reason I'm preaching this text is, I'm sure you're aware, remember 
that in the group in Vernon, I've been going through the book 
of 1 Peter, and actually several of those sermons I preached here 
as well, but that's going quite a ways back. But this, in 1 Peter, 
Peter really talks about having the hope of glory in our minds, 
and he's telling the suffering believers there to focus their 
thoughts on the hope of glory that they have and this great 
salvation, and he says, honor and glory at the revelation 
of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen you love, though now 
you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible 
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation 
of your souls." So, as I was looking at Psalm 61, we really 
see an example of David doing this exact thing, of what Peter's 
exhorting the suffering Christians to do there. We see David doing 
that exact thing. in this place of despair. And that's really how we see 
the psalm break down into these three parts. Verse 1 and 2, we 
see this cry for help from the brink of despair. And then in 
verses 3 through 7, he refocuses himself on the faithfulness of 
his God. Verses 3 through 7. And then 
in verse 8, that response of joyful praise. We really see 
this process. It's a very practical a very 
practical example for us as Christians, as we go through suffering, as 
we maybe find ourselves in this state of overwhelm, as David 
says here. So we'll look at the psalm in those three sections 
there, those three points. So first then, the cry for help 
from the brink of despair. And that's how David begins the 
psalm here. Hear my cry, O God. to my prayer." 
So this is really a lamentation coming from him. If we think 
of where David is right now, he's out of the city, or out 
of his capital city, away from the nation of Israel, or on the 
edge in the land, so to speak, there, and he cries out in this 
time of deep distress, and, Lord, Lord, incline your ear. Sometimes 
we see that in other songs. He doesn't say it here, That 
same idea, this lament, he's on the edge of despair here. So it's this, Lord, listen, listen 
to me, please, here. And then he says, I'm at the 
end of the earth. So from the end of the earth, 
I will cry to you. So he's far away. He's in the 
wilderness, away from the tabernacle, away from his home here. And 
then he says, and when my heart is overwhelmed. So David's at 
his complete loss now. He finds himself here. He's probably 
heard of the, well, he would have been hearing of the happenings 
in in Jerusalem because he had these messengers that were going 
back and forth. So if you remember what happened there, Absalom 
has gone, he's gained entry into the palace and then he's taken 
his father's concubines and he's slept with them on the rooftop 
in the presence or in the sight of all the people of the nation 
there. So very, this is obviously a very, this is devastating for 
David and it's really, it seems that the kingdom is being torn 
away from him. Now, God promised him a kingdom, and now it's being 
torn away. Absalom is now in the palace. So he's at a loss there, and 
he really can do nothing. And we see that in the narrative 
again back in 2 Samuel. He hasn't given up, but he's 
in this place of despair because when Absalom crosses over the 
river and Absalom is going to come and attack him, David kind 
of sort of orders the people, and then he says, okay, let's 
go out. And the people said, no, you're 
going to stay here. And then he just, he sort of throws up his hands. 
He says, okay, whatever you want, that's what I'll do. And it's sort of, 
David was supposed to be their leader, but you can really see 
in this instant, he's sort of given up. He's overwhelmed, like 
he says here, and basically paralyzed by this fear. And then he says 
here, oh, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Well, 
what is he referencing here? If we turn to Deuteronomy 32 
for a minute, we start to see this idea of a rock. I think 
we know who he's speaking of, of God, the rock of his salvation. And this is where this concept, 
this term, it comes from here. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 
4 is one of the Or verse 3, I guess we can start 
at, "'For I proclaim,' Moses speaking here, "'For I proclaim 
the name of the Lord, "'ascribe greatness to our God. "'He is 
the rock, His work is perfect. "'For all His ways are justice, 
"'a God of truth and without injustice. "'Righteous and upright 
is He.'" And then we see that several times through the rest 
of this chapter, God referred to as a rock here. So David, he's really at the 
point, he doesn't have it in himself to lift himself out of 
this desperate situation, and he knows that that he needs God 
to bring him out of it. So he obviously would have been 
hiding in the rocks there in the wilderness. So David's not 
looking for a higher rock, some sort of a citadel where he can 
climb up and physically escape the clutches of Absalom. But he needs to be led to the 
rock of his salvation. He wasn't able to dig a little 
deeper and just try a little harder. He had nothing left. His heart was overwhelmed. And 
I think we often, we ourselves can come to that point where 
we feel overwhelmed, we feel discouraged, distressed, almost 
in despair. When I look through or when I 
preach through 1 Peter, on this concept, I said that despair 
was sort of a carnal, I didn't use the word carnal, but a natural 
or a fleshly response to trials. And that is true, I think, but 
we see that David has come to this point, and so we often as 
well can come to that point of overwhelm there. We're in enemy territory, as 
we speak. We're in the land of Satan, the 
kingdom of darkness, the prince of this earth. So what can we 
learn from David here, then, as we go through this psalm? 
First of all, then, we need to pray. We need to cry out to God 
for help. Because sometimes, I think, when 
we're in that state where we feel downcast and we feel depressed 
and we feel overwhelmed, We just don't feel like praying. It might 
sound strange, but it's true, and I think we can all relate 
to that. But to do that is to deprive ourselves of the very 
remedy that we need, the very cure for our problems, because 
God hears our prayers. That's very clear. I think we 
all would acknowledge that. And God has also commanded us 
to pray, too, when we're in those situations. James 5, verse 13 
says, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. In other places, 
we find that in scripture. Cast your burden on the Lord, 
and he will sustain you. Psalm 55. 1 Peter 5, verse 7, 
casting all your cares on him. Why? Because he cares for you. 
So think about that. You know, don't try to get out 
of your situation on your own. You know, like David says, we 
need to be brought to that rock that is higher than us, that 
rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ. And we need to direct 
our focus onto him, but we need God's help in doing so. Because focusing on Christ is 
the cure, on Christ and on the things of the heavenly realm, 
that is the cure, but we can't do that on our own strength. 
That's less to try and pick yourselves up by your own bootstraps, to 
use the analogy of Paul Washer there, that we can't grab our 
own boots and lift ourselves up, that doesn't work. So Jesus 
says, apart from me, you can do nothing. So we need to pray 
to God and pray to God for not only to cast the suffering, the 
trials, the struggle that we're in, cast that on Him, that care 
on Him, knowing that He cares for us, but also just asking 
for God to lead us to that rock, to focus us again on our Savior, 
and relying on God to do that. So David, praying for deliverance, 
to be sure, but not specifically here, but casting his cares on 
the Lord, for sure we see that. But then again, asking God to 
lead him to that rock, to bring his attention and his focus to 
the rock of his salvation, Yahweh of Israel. And that's where we 
come to the second part then, refocusing on the faithfulness 
of God. And then in verse three here, 
he says, for you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the 
enemy. So, a shelter being a place of 
refuge and security. But he says, you have been. So 
he's acknowledging that God was the one who protected him in 
the past. It wasn't his ingenuity and craftiness 
that kept him safe when Saul was persecuting him. It wasn't 
his big military and his military prowess that enabled him to beat 
his enemies when he was, you know, prior to this. It was always 
God's provision for him. He recognizes that and he's reminding 
himself of that now. Reminding himself of God's past 
faithfulness to him, that God had never let him down in the 
past. And so his faith has been strengthened by his own experiences. And I think that's the beauty 
of the Christian life as we progress through through our walk as a 
believer, we can never, what true Christian would ever look 
back and say, God has failed me? He never does. Now, there may be those who, 
health, wealth, prosperity, Christian, that's why I say true Christian, 
because if you think that if you have enough faith and then 
God's gonna deliver you a new Lamborghini in your driveway 
tomorrow, and then you wake up and it's not there, you might 
think God has failed you, but that's not, we don't find that 
in scripture. You know that obviously the health wealth prosperity, 
but when I say true Christians You know God they will never 
say God has failed me because God has promised that he never 
will fail you John Calvin says nothing animates our hopes more 
than the recollection of the past goodness of God So nothing 
animates our hopes more than the recollection of the past 
goodness of God So it's very very short very very succinct, 
but very true statement And that is just, and just practically 
speaking as well, that is one of the benefits, the beauties 
of knowing and talking to older Christians, to be able to speak 
with them. Not only have they gained much 
wisdom over the years of their walk with the Lord, but just 
the testimony of the faithfulness of God. I remember many years 
ago, when I was just a very new believer, being here and the 
Beardmores were here, and they were sharing what they were going 
to go do in Australia. And one of his prayer requests, 
I remember this distinctly, he said, ask for that an older man 
or men would be brought into my life there. And I thought, 
what in the world? Why would you ask that as a prayer 
request? But then as I came to grow and 
then start to appreciate the elder Christians, elder brothers 
and sisters that are such a testimony of the faithfulness of God. as 
a young Christian, growing and being able to look to them and 
seeing that faithfulness of God. So just very practically, it's 
a very good thing. I encourage younger Christians 
here, find older Christians, talk to them, learn from them, 
because it's such a blessing to know and to see the faithfulness 
of God in their life. And they will always tell you 
that, you know, God's faithfulness doesn't mean you will not have 
trials, you will not suffer, but what they will tell you is 
that God was there as I suffered. And that's the, they'll say, 
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. And that is the 
testimony of the faithfulness of God. Hebrews, I think Hebrews 
chapter 12 tells us that that great cloud of witnesses, and 
that's that same idea, that witnesses testifying of the faithfulness 
of God. So this, This past faithfulness 
then of God, it's given David the confidence that God will 
always be his refuge and his place of shelter. So he's known, 
David has known experientially Moses' words in Deuteronomy 31 
verse 6. Moses saying, Behold, he will 
not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed. And here David is reminding himself 
of that as a way to find encouragement and comfort in his time of distress 
here. And then he moves on in verse 
four here, and he says, he says, I will abide in your tabernacle 
forever. Now, abide in your tabernacle. Now, some of your translations, 
you might say it says, well, it says, let me abide in your 
tabernacle. But I think the idea here is 
in the Hebrew, it is a let me, sort of statement, but it's not 
a asking God, it's more of a resolve type of idea. We might say, you 
know, let us do this, let's do that. It's a resolve to do that, 
and that's how David says it. So he has this, definitely has 
this confidence that he will be returning back to Jerusalem, 
back to the tabernacle here. But either way, it's important 
to understand what is the significance of the tabernacle for David in 
his time, was the very presence of Yahweh. That's what the tabernacle 
signified. So what David is saying here 
is that I will dwell in your presence forever. And so what 
he's doing now is he's, by saying forever, he's shifting not only 
from the temporal in the city of Jerusalem, in the tabernacle 
there, but to the eternal and to being in the presence of God 
forever. So he's putting his focus Into 
the in the right place and this is again very practical for us 
to see what david's doing here because as believers That's what 
we need to focus on as well the the hope of glory in the presence 
of god Forever we see that we saw that in when we looked at 
first peter there the the the hope that we have as believers 
so so to focus on that to to to understand where we are going 
as As christians and we'll flesh that out a little bit a little 
bit more as we uh as we get to um deeper into this passage here 
And then David goes on here though, and he says, I will trust in 
the shelter of your wings. So if you think of baby chicks, 
that's what comes to mind here. Baby chicks with the mother hand, 
they hide under her wings. I think that's what David is 
doing here. He's doing, it's interesting, 
this week I had a lecture from Pastor Barcelos, and he referenced 
this in regards to something with the doctrine of God. And 
he called this, he said, yeah, He's like, I've got a good word 
for this. It comes from Cam Porter. It's called the ornithomorphism. 
So we talk about anthropomorphism taking human features and describing 
them to God. So Cam had made up the word ornithomorphism, 
which was taking a bird feature and describing it to God. So 
I thought that was... That was good. Apparently I made 
it into his book somewhere, so I'll have to tell Cam. But this 
also could be several commentators I read looked at this could be 
a reference to the cherubim over the ark as well. You remember 
their wings were stretched out over the ark. Now David is not 
trusting in the ark itself in some sort of a superficial way. 
If you remember, not like how the Israelites had done in the 
days of Eli when they took the ark into battle with them because 
they thought the physical ark was going to somehow Save them 
there that you know that they were bringing the presence of 
God along with them. That's not what David is He's doing here. He understands that for sure, 
but he's understands that the that the ark is that it's it's 
the it's over the mercy seat there and what that they were 
the angels were over the mercy seat and what that what that 
signified, you know signifying that God is a God of of grace 
and and a God of mercy. So David, you know, possibly 
he could be, if he has a sin mind, he could be resting in 
the mercy of God, trusting in God for who he is as a God, who 
is abundant in mercy, who delights in mercy. And he's appealing 
to that mercy, trusting in that mercy in this time of difficulty. But again, I think David is mostly 
probably just using this as a metaphor, you know, the same way we would 
speak of the hands of God or the eyes or the ears of God elsewhere. David does that in the Psalms 
as well. So that God is his shelter, God is his protection, and again, 
he's resolved, I will, he says here, I will trust in the shelter 
of your wings. And then, moving on, he says, 
for you, God, verse five, for you, O God, have heard my vows. Now, the word vows there, I think 
John Calvin, John Gill, several others that I read, they said 
it should be taken as prayers. The Septuagint, in fact, translates 
it that way. The Septuagint is the Greek translation 
of the Old Testament. It translated as prayers. There 
are several manuscripts that read prayers as well. So, David, 
you know, so part of his prayers would have been vows, you know, 
perhaps, you know, and maybe even verse 4 as well, but the 
focus is not necessarily on a vow. It's the request here, the petitions, 
the request to which this vow was attached. You have heard 
my prayers, O God." So again, David is just reminding himself 
of that exact thing, that God is there, that God hears our 
prayers, and God cares for us. And he's reminding himself of 
that again. Practically for us, that same 
thing, that God does not turn a deaf ear to us. God will always 
hear when we pray. And then he goes on here, he 
says, you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name." 
Now, in the immediate context, this would have been the promised 
land. So currently, he's on the other side of the Jordan River, 
and he's had to leave the royal city of Jerusalem. He's camped 
in the wilderness, and he's on the very edge, the border, of 
the land of Israel, which was that inheritance which was given 
to the nation of Israel. But he's also looking to the 
future there. And as New Covenant believers, 
for us, we for sure ought to be looking to that future inheritance 
that we will receive. And that is where our focus ought 
to be. And we need to be constantly 
reminding ourselves of that reality. So David is expressing his confidence 
that, yes, in this temporal realm, he will be returned back to the 
promised land because of the promises of God that he would 
always have a son on the throne till the Messiah would come. So David is doing that, but also, 
So should we, based on the promises of God to his covenant people, 
to those who fear his name, as David says here, then we too 
will receive the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven in future 
glory. Turn back to 1 Peter 1 for a 
minute. I didn't read those verses when 
I was there, but 1 Peter 1 reminds us of that inheritance that we 
have as Christians, as believers. Verse four, I believe. Yes, verse 
three. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, 
has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible 
and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven 
for you. So this inheritance that we have, 
not going to look too much into it, but you look at those three 
words that Peter uses here, it's incorruptible. So it's not subject 
to the effects of sin. There's no sin there. There's no sorrow, no sign that 
we see in Revelation as it explains this. And then it's undefiled. 
So there's no presence of evil there as well. And then it does 
not fade away. It's unchanging, not affected 
by time. It's always there, reserved in 
heaven for you. That's the inheritance that we 
as believers have, and the inheritance that we need to be focusing on. And that's exactly what David 
is doing here. He's reminding himself of that very reality, 
of the inheritance that he has. And we'll see this. This is really 
tied into the covenant that God has promised him. We'll see that 
as we get into the next several verses here. Or the next verse, 
actually. In verse 6, he says, For you 
will prolong the king's life, his years as many generations. The Hebrew is actually generations 
of generations or ages of ages. So the idea of forever. And so he's not speaking of his 
own life here, obviously. He doesn't expect to live for 
ages upon ages or generations of generations, but this is referring 
to his dynasty. And where does he get this from? 
Of course, this is from the Davidic covenant that we call it. The 
covenant that God made with him 2 Samuel chapter 7. And in verse 
16 there, God says to him, he says, So David understanding 
there in this covenant that from his descendants, ultimately there 
would come an eternal kingdom, one that's established forever, 
you know, and which a son of David would rule over forever. And that, of course, is the Messiah. 
David understands that the Savior the rock of his salvation. So 
David then, as an old covenant believer, he was looking forward 
to the coming Messiah, trusting in that covenant faithfulness 
of Yahweh to fulfill that promise. And so we too, as new covenant 
believers, we look back on the Messiah. David looked forward. 
We look back on the Messiah in faith to what he carried out 
for our redemption on earth. But then we also look forward 
as well to the covenant, the promises that God has made when 
the Messiah returns, at the consummation of all things, when he vanquishes 
all his enemies for good, and then we become part of that eternal 
kingdom of Christ. So it's the same covenant faithfulness 
of God that we that we trust in to fulfill that covenant, 
that God keeps those promises that he made in the new covenant. 
So we can see what David is doing here then. He's consciously reminding 
himself, you know, through his prayers to God, and as he refocuses 
himself here, reminding himself of the promises of God and that 
covenant that God has made with him, you know, namely, and the 
Messiah King who would come. from his seed. And then in verse 
7, he continues on here in this, speaking of this king, he says, 
he shall abide before God forever. And that's exactly the wording 
that God said when he made the covenant with David. that David's 
son would rule before him forever. So what David's doing is he's 
rehearsing the promises of God. Is this because he thinks that 
God is forgetful and he's reminding God of this and saying, God, 
you said this, here I am out in the desert and I've had to 
flee the palace, I've had to give up the throne. Is that what 
he's doing? No, he's not doing that. He's 
doing this as a reminder for himself and it's based on on 
the covenant faithfulness of God. Look at the next line there. He says, oh, prepare mercy and 
truth, which may preserve him, or that it may preserve him. 
So prepare means to appoint, or perhaps we could say to employ, 
you know, employ mercy and truth. And this word here, so mercy 
and then truth, or sorry, mercy is the Hebrew word If there's 
one Hebrew word that you should know, it is the word chesed. 
I'm sure you've heard of it before, but it's a very special, very 
theologically rich term for the Israelites. You know, the Israelites 
of the Old Testament, that God's chesed is a covenant faithfulness. Our Bibles translate it all differently 
because there's not really one term that explains that word. So some translations will say 
loving kindness, some will say steadfast love, or loyal love, 
or mercy, or sometimes they'll just pick different words. But 
the idea is one of covenant faithfulness, that God is faithful to his covenants, 
and that from his gracious and merciful and truthful character that he 
will be faithful to his covenant people. So David here is appealing 
to God's hesed, to God's covenant faithfulness and to his truthfulness 
to uphold and to preserve or to keep watch over, to protect 
his dynasty, you know, to bring forth the Messiah King as the 
one who would reign forever. So David's looking forward to 
the establishment of this eternal kingdom. Christ the Messiah King, 
you know being raised to the right hand of the Father in glory 
And and so to again should we we should we should we should 
be trusting in that covenant faithfulness of Yahweh the and 
the truthfulness of Yahweh that that he For the preservation 
of that eternal kingdom and the final consummation of it at the 
end of the age so we look forward to that as the covenant people 
of God that this is a This is because of God's covenant faithfulness, 
that these promises that He has made to us, He will keep them. As heirs together with Christ, 
the Messiah, heirs with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. So we 
get to be in glory with Christ because of that covenant faithfulness 
of Yahweh. So again, focusing, David, focusing 
on that eternal reign of Christ, seated at the right hand of the 
Father, that Christ is King. And I think we heard that this 
morning very clearly from Pastor Butler there, that when we focus 
on Christ as King of Kings, as Lord of Lords, eternally sovereign, 
supreme ruler of all principalities and powers and all the powers 
of darkness, that does so much to lift our hearts out of despair. When we look around at this world, 
We have much reason for despair if we thought that was the end 
all this world, but we know that that is not the end all. We know 
that we have this eternal inheritance coming, and that is where our 
focus ought to be, and our focus that Christ is king of kings, 
that Christ is king over all, and then that lifts us out of 
this despair. John Calvin here says, the true 
security for a happy life lies in being persuaded that we are 
under divine government. Again, the true security for 
a happy life lies in being persuaded that we are under divine government, 
that Christ is sovereign. That is such a true statement. experientially true as well. 
When we focus on the Christ seated in glory, reigning and ruling, 
knowing that he is king over all of the chaos around us, that 
lifts our souls out of despair and brings about joy and rejoicing 
in response to that. So just to recap now where we've 
come so far as we've seen David at the point of despair, then 
he calls out to God in prayer, ask God to help him focus on 
the things above. The things above, Paul used that 
terminology. David says here, on the rock 
that is higher than I, the God of his salvation. And then David 
begins to rehearse those things and bring those things to mind, 
to focus his attention on them, to meditate on them, as we saw 
in Philippians 4 this morning, Paul speaking there. So think 
of the faithfulness of God and the presence of God with us. Now, in the presence of God, 
being in the presence of God for all of eternity, and that 
future inheritance of glory, and the eternal kingship of the 
Messiah, and the covenant faithfulness of Yahweh. David is focusing 
on all these things, bringing these things all to mind. And 
then, how does he respond? We see that in the last verse, 
their response of joyful praise. He says, so I will sing praise 
to your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. You know, so he says, the first 
word there, so, so I will sing praise to you. And that's, it's 
a thus, or for this reason, you know, for all of these things 
that he's just brought to mind, for that reason, I'm going to 
respond in joyful praise. In light of all the things that 
he has just recounted, you know, his response is a joyful singing 
of praises. You know, and he says, I will, 
and I will daily perform my vows. Now these vows, these vows would 
have been centered around, you know, around praising God. and 
and as as you know for for us this would constitute our duties 
as as believer um our duties as believers to god you know 
that a life of obedience to god out of out of gratitude for what 
he has done and a commitment to to growth in grace and knowledge 
of our lord and savior jesus christ as peter exhorts us to 
do that and then he says here you know daily i'm i'm going 
to do these things and i think that's a For us as well, you 
know, we said this needs to be a daily exercise in our lives 
that you know every day we're facing new trials and hardships 
and every day we need to consciously Center our focus on Christ reminding 
ourselves of these glorious truths that that David spoke of and 
that and then we will be a joyful people And I think it's it's 
important to understand and to see what David is doing here 
Is that this is a this is conscious thought process that David is 
going through here. This is not David didn't just sit back and 
hope that he would just feel better by, you know, the next 
day when he woke up, you know, he went to bed and wake up the 
next day feeling better. You know, there's nothing, I 
always say this, there's nothing mystical about the Christian 
religion or the Christian life. It is a, we need to do conscious, 
take conscious thoughts, conscious action here in focusing on these 
things. And then the response that God 
gives, as we read this morning in Philippians chapter four, 
that peace that comes from God, that peace that transcends all 
understanding is a result of that, but it comes from, like 
I said, from this conscious action on our part. Dependence, to be 
sure. We saw how David asked God to 
lead him there, and he's asking God for help, but yet that discipline 
of doing these things as well. So, look at how different David 
is in in verse eight as he is in verse one here. Now he's singing praises to your 
name forever, and in verse one, he says, my heart is overwhelmed. So such a difference that this 
is evoked from David here, and all because of what he's gone 
through, this process that he's gone through here. And so I was 
reading Jonathan Edwards' resolutions several weeks ago, I highly recommend 
reading those things, too. There's some that are kind of 
curious, but generally very, very just edifying to go through 
and sobering, actually, to see how resolved he was to do some 
of these things. And I came across something there 
that Jonathan Edwards was resolved to do exactly to this point. He says here, resolved. to endeavor 
to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world, 
so the heavenly realm, things of the spiritual world, resolve 
to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other 
world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, 
and vehemence, yea, violence, I am capable of, or can bring 
myself to exert in any way that can be thought of." So I'm not 
gonna give a list of practical applications. I think as we've 
tried to do that, as we've worked through the text here, but we 
can be encouraged when we read this experience of David. David 
was called a man after God's own heart, and yet we see that 
he went through trials and through pain that brought him to this 
point of despair here, and that when he called out to God for 
mercy, you know, for relief from his troubles and also for help 
to refocus his thoughts and refocus himself on this rock that was 
higher than he, then when he did refocus, when he did start 
to contemplate these heavenly realities of the faithfulness 
of God and the grace of God, the promises of God, of this 
future inheritance, the Messiah, all these things that we've talked 
about, then he's brought out of this state of despair and 
he's wanted to and he's brought into a state of joy, joyful thanksgiving 
there. So, I think we need to learn 
much from David here. So, if, you know, if now, if 
you are discouraged and just at this point of despair now, 
or the next time that you may come to that point, you know, 
in whatever trial you're facing, hopefully we can use this principle 
to keep us from getting to the point of despair as well. that 
we faithfully use the means of grace in praying and in reading 
our Bibles and in coming to church and studying and learning about 
these things, learning more of all these things that David has 
talked about here, that it will keep us from getting to the point 
of despair. But if we are at the point of despair, either 
way, we can see that even in the Psalms, great men of God 
were brought to that point of despair. But what did they do? How were they lifted out of that? 
And first of all, they prayed. And as I mentioned earlier, sometimes 
we come to this point where we don't feel like praying or we 
don't feel like coming to church or opening up our Bible. Then 
we need to know that we are neglecting the very thing that will lift 
us out of that despair. Things that we call the means 
of grace. And because the devil wants us 
to stay in that state of despair, that state of overwhelm, that 
state of being paralyzed by these feelings here. And his logic 
is that in prayer, and Bible reading, and church attendance, 
and studying theology, those types of things, those are for 
Christians who are the ones who are on fire, and you're not on 
fire right now, so you don't need it. But the devil is a liar 
from the beginning, and that is a lie from the pit of hell. So if you're in this state, call 
out to God. Call out to God for help. Help 
for the trial. Cast your cares on him, for he 
cares for you. But also help to be led to that 
rock that is higher than you, the Lord Jesus. to refocus on 
the glorious things of the heavenly realm. And then, you know, and 
then after we cry out to God for help for this, then we, you 
know, be like David, be like Jonathan Edwards here, resolved 
to obtain for yourself as much happiness or joy from the other 
world, the spiritual realm, as much as you possibly can with 
all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, the violence that 
you are capable of. And then you will know that joy 
unspeakable and full of glory and that peace that passes all 
understanding and that comes from Him. Now I want to close 
with the Heidelberg Catechism, question number one. I thought 
it was very tied in great to this psalm here. He says, the 
Heidelberg Catechism, what is your only comfort in life and 
death? And the answer is that I am not 
my own. but belong with body and soul, 
both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood 
and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also 
preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly 
Father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must 
work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, 
he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing 
and ready from now on to live for Him." So we'll close with 
that. One thing I do want to mention 
as well is that this was a message very focused on believers and 
on those who are in Christ. And I want to be clear that this 
is not a... These things that I mentioned here in terms of 
the means of grace and growing in grace, you know, Bible reading, 
church attendance, those kind of things, they are not That 
is not a prescription for salvation. You cannot church attend your 
way into heaven. You cannot study theology into 
heaven. The way of salvation is very 
clear. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. So we'll close with that and 
we'll close with a word of prayer. Lord, we do thank you for passages 
of scripture like this, passages that speak so clearly to our 
own personal experience, and as we go through life and we 
experience different trials, Lord, we can all testify that 
you are faithful, that you really do never leave us or forsake 
us. And Lord, I do pray that this message would be a means 
of encouragement and a means of of instruction and a means 
of edification for all of the brethren here today. And Lord, 
we do pray as well, if there are any here who do not know 
you as Savior, Lord, that they would come in faith to Christ 
and have that peace, knowing that their sins are forgiven 
and that they are made right with the Creator because of the 
Lord Jesus and because of what He has done for them, Lord, and 
what a comfort that is, what a way to be able to get through 
whatever life may throw at us, knowing, by having that knowledge 
and that understanding that we are Christ, that we are not our 
own, but that we belong, body and soul, in life and death, 
to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And Lord, I do pray that 
each one of us here tonight would know that, and trust in our Savior, and 
trust in you and your sovereignty as we go as we go and experience 
the various trials and sufferings and difficulties of this life, 
and that we would employ these practices to maintain joy in the face of trials. And Lord, I do ask your blessing 
on us now, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, we'll 
close with singing the doxology. It's number 568 in your hymnal. Please stand, and we'll sing 
that together. ♪ Praise Him, all creatures in 
the earth ♪ ♪ Praise Him, above the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ But may the God of all grace, 
who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after 
you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle 
you. To him be the glory and the dominion 
forever and ever. Amen. Father, again, we thank 
you for this time. Thank you for the Lord's Day. 
Thank you for a day of worship and a day of rest, and a day 
to fellowship with the saints. And we just ask that you would 
be with each one of us now as we continue on in our ways, bless 
us in this week, help us to delight, to strive, to bring honor and 
glory to your name in all that we do. And we pray this all in 
the name of the Lord Jesus, amen. You may be seated for a time 
of meditation.