So we'll begin by reading the psalm, and then we'll go to our Lord in prayer.
Scripture Reading
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.
God's Past Faithfulness as Refuge
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.
Opening Prayer
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.
Introduction
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.
Cry for Help from Despair
So first then, the cry for help from the brink of despair. And that's how David begins the psalm here.
David's Lament and Location
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,
The Rock of Salvation
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?
Application: Pray in Distress
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.
Refocusing on God's Faithfulness
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,
Dwelling in God's Presence Forever
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,
God Hears Prayers; the Inheritance
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.
The Davidic Covenant and the Messiah
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.
Response of Joyful Praise
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.
Closing 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.