SERMON OUTLINE:
David’s Confidence (vs 1-6)
David’s Prayer (vs 7-12).
David waiting (vs 13-14).
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
Video clip - What are you afraid of? (UK) – Available from: www.Sermonpice.com
We all have fears:
• For some it is fear of ‘things’ i.e. spiders, the dark, heights etc.
• For others it is a different type of fear:
• i.e. Not fitting in
• i.e. Ill-health
• i.e. Debt or even bankruptcy
• i.e. Death
• i.e. Family issues
• i.e. Losing your job
• i.e. The future.
• i.e. We could easily make a long list.
• If we allow our fears to get a grip on us then we become its victim!
• And it can quite easily play a huge negative part in our lives.
• Psalm 27 is designed to help us overcome those difficult times;
• When ‘fears’ comes into our lives:
Notice:
• When we read Psalm 27 did you notice the contrast in the Psalm?
• There is a big difference between the start of the Psalm - verses 1-6;
• And the end of the Psalm - verses 7-14.
The first part of the Psalm is filled with praise, confidence, victory, and even singing.
• Praise (vs 1).
• “The LORD is my light and my salvation, The LORD is the stronghold of my life”
• The Psalmist starts by declaring three of God’s great characteristics.
• Confidence (vs 1):
• "Whom shall I fear? ...of whom shall I be afraid?”
• You can almost hear him saying; “Bring em on! The bigger they are the bigger they fall!”
• Victory (vs 2-3):
• His enemies will: “stumble & fall”
• Even if he is attacked by an army & is at war: “He will not fear” He is “Confident”
• Not because he has a great army but because he has a great God!
• Singing (vs 6b):
• “I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.”
• This is one noisy individual!
• He is not hiding away scared but openly drawing attention to himself
• So the first part of the Psalm is filled with;
• Praise, confidence, victory, and even singing.
Note: The second part of the Psalm is very difficult:
• The second part of the Psalm is filled with needs, wants, desires and requests.
• Again just scan the Psalm and see the various expressions that David uses.
• Verse 7:
• “Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me.”
• Verse 8:
• “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
• Verse 9:
• “Do not hide...do not turn...do not reject me or forsake me...”
• Verse 11:
• “Teach me your way, LORD”;
So on first impressions the two halves of the Psalm appear to be very different:
• Yet, when you look a bit closer the two halves actually balance each other out;
• If we want to know praise, confidence, victory, and even singing in our lives.
• It will require regular times of prayer & petitions and waiting on God.
• There are no short cuts – in the Christian life;
• Times of prayer, petitions, waiting will lead onto praise, confidence, victory & singing.
Now in dealing with times when fear, worry & anxiety come into our lives - there is contained in the Psalm three key principles to note.
(1). David’s Confidence (vs 1-6)
• The key to this Psalm is actually found verse 1:
• What we are told there is like a key that will then unlock the rest of the Psalm to us.
• Notice that this verse consists of two sentences;
• Each sentence finishes with an obvious answer.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?”
• Notice that David’s knowledge of God is not distant, impersonal, and theoretical.
• David did not say that “God was a light, God is a saviour, or God is a stronghold.”
• That would have been true…but it is not what David said!
• David’s knowledge of God is relational, it is personal, it is intimate:
• So David actually says “God is MY light, MY salvation, MY stronghold.”
• Don’t miss those personal pronouns.
• To David the Psalmist his knowledge of God is individual,
• To David he views God as a friend and a helper and a companion.
• Not as some distant deity.
Ill:
• That has been David’s experience in a variety of situations:
• i.e. As a boy looking after his sheep & when he thought Goliath.
• 1 Samuel chapter 17 verses 35-37.
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
• The fact that David had experienced God’s help in the past;
• Gave him the confidence to trust him in the present and in the future.
• So in Psalm 27 verses 2-3 David says when fear comes his way in the form of:
• “Evil men…enemies…foes…an army”…even “war”
• David would continue to trust God to bring him the victory.
• Please note that these situations are not hypothetical; they are not mere possibilities,
• These situations were real;
• Because he says, “When” (vs 2) and not “If”.
• And notice the intensity of his afflictions:
• Verse 2: The “wicked” come to “devour” him.
• Verse3: He says that “an army” was “besieging” him.
• David was not simply facing unpleasant circumstances;
• This was not a minor irritation or slight affliction.
• David was in a very dark, dangerous and treacherous situation.
Notice: his response to these imminent difficulties:
• Verse 3b: “I will be confident.”
• Danger was imminent, pressure was mounting, and severe days were ahead.
• David had every reason to be shaking in his sandals – but instead he was standing firm!
Ill:
• The Hebrew term translated in the N.I.V. & K.J.B. as ‘confident’.
• Does not mean self-reliant, nor brave,
• In Hebrew it means ‘to trust, to be secure, to have assurance’.
• That is how the Contemporary English Bible translates it: “I will trust you”.
• The point being David’s confidence and stability was not in his own strength;
• But in his God!
• He knew from scripture & from experience that God was his rock, his unshakable foundation!
Quote Hudson Taylor (Great missionary & founder of the China Inland Mission):
“It does not matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies – whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you nearer his heart”.
• In verses 4-6:
• David shows that this pressure pressed him nearer to God’s heart:
“One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.”
Notice
• Three important references in these verses;
• They all refer to where God meets and dwells with his people.
• Verse 4a: talks about “the house of the Lord”.
• Verse 4b: talks about “the temple” of the Lord.
• Verse 5: talks about the “sacred tent” of the Lord.
• In these poetic expressions David is telling us that he is in contact with his God.
• He meets with God in the place where God dwells.
• And notice that the result of contact with, of meeting with God;
• Is spelled out for us in these verses:
• “He will keep me safe”, “He will hide me”, “He will…set me high”,
• Question: And what do you do when someone helps you?
• Answer: You say thank you!
• So notice David’s three-fold response to God his helper (vs 6):
• “I will offer sacrifices”, “I will shout with joy”, “I will sing praises to the Lord”
(2). David’s Prayer (vs 7-12).
• As I mentioned at the start of this message;
• In this section of the Psalm there is a change:
• In fact there is an abrupt & sudden change of language, structure and tone.
• The change is so dramatic that some Bible scholars have suggested;
• That this Psalm is really two different Psalms that have been joined together!
• Well, I am not convinced of that!
• But the mood of the Psalm does change from confidence to intense pleading & praying.
• We are given in these verses a special insight as to how David prayed & entreated God.
Ill:
• I guess most of us find praying hard.
• I like the prayer I read recently that said:
• “Lord, so far today, I am doing all right.
• I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or self-indulgent.
• I have not whined, sworn or eaten any chocolate.
• However, in a few minutes I am going to get out of bed;
• And I will need an awful lot more help after that”.
Ill:
• I guess most of us here are connected to the internet.
• There are basically two kinds of connection - dial-up and broadband.
• The major difference is this:
• Dial-up (telephone) means you are only connected in short bursts.
• Whereas broadband means you are connected all the time.
• It is obvious from this and other Psalms that David had a broadband prayer life;
• He had a good connection – regular communion with his God.
• Question: What about us?
Ill:
• A more series story is told about a particular region of Africa,
• Where the first converts to Christianity were very diligent about praying.
• In fact, the believers each had their own special place;
• Outside the village where they went to pray in solitude.
• The villagers reached these “prayer rooms”
• By using their own private footpaths through the brush.
• When grass began to grow over one of these trails,
• It was evident that the person to whom it belonged was not praying very much.
• Because these new Christians were concerned for each other’s spiritual welfare,
• A unique custom sprang up.
• Whenever anyone noticed an overgrown “Prayer path,”
• He or she would go to the person and lovingly warn, “Friend, there’s grass on your path!”
• It is obvious from this and other Psalms that David had a clear path prayer life;
• He enjoyed regular communion with his God.
• Question: What about us?
Just scan over verses 7-12 and see how these verses bear witness of that:
• Verse 7: “Hear…be merciful…answer me”
• Verse 9: “Do not hide your face…do not turn…do not reject… do not forsake me.”
• Verse 11: “Teach me…lead me!”
• Verse 12: “Do not turn me over to…foes”.
• In these verses David makes a series of confident, bold requests to God;
• He knows what is needed;
• And he fervently asks God to step into his situation and meet those needs.
Quote: S.D. Gordon:
“You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
• David’s secret in this Psalm is that he soaked his fearful situation in prayer;
• Which meant that when those fearful situations came into his life;
• He was able to handle them with God’s strength and not just his own.
Quote: A.C. Dixon who wrote:
• "When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do;
• When we depend upon education, we get what education can do;
• When we depend upon man, we get what man can do;
• But when we depend on prayer, we get what God can do."
Notice:
• David had only God to depend because verse 10 tells us:
• Even his own parents had abandoned him,
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me
• This verse jumps out to us;
• Because being forsaken by a parent is so poignant,
• And partially because many people have experienced disappointment;
• From a parent to some degree.
Ill:
• In a few months’ time we will visit Turkish and fellowship with Turkish believers;
• Turkey is a Moslem Country.
• The population of Turkey is around 72 million;
• With only 0.1% considering themselves to be Christians.
• For a Moslem to convert (to follow Christ);
• Often means that their parents & family will almost certainly reject them.
• Most of us here in the UK will never experience the kind of persecution;
• That many followers of Jesus Christ around the world have to face.
• Now in Turkey you don’t just go to Church for a meeting;
• You go for the day!
• i.e. Go to the service.
• Then everyone goes to a restaurant to eat together,
• Then in the summer you all go down to the beach, or in the winter another activity.
• The point is having lost your earthly relatives;
• You now spend time & fellowship with your new family in Christ.
• Now David in these verses is actually doing the same:
• He is asking God to do for him what an earthly parent should do.
• i.e. accept us, listen to us, guide us, protect us
We live in a world full of rejection:
• Parents reject children and children reject parents.
• Husbands reject wives, and wives husbands.
• We can experience rejection by friends who at one time were very close;
• Employers or bosses may rejected after years of loyal service.
• Rejection comes in many guises and can often come most unexpectedly.
• But this Psalm is a great reminder that God does not reject us!
• He is a God of faithfulness, who always, always, always keeps his word!
• Quote: C.H. Spurgeon in his commentary on this verse adds:
• “Some of the greatest saints have been cast out by their families”.
(3). David waiting (vs 13-14).
“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD”.
Ill:
• The American painter, John Sargent,
• Once painted a panel of roses that was highly praised by critics.
• It was a small picture, but it approached perfection.
• Although offered a high price for it on many occasions,
• Sargent refused to sell it.
• He considered it his best work and was very proud of it.
• Whenever he was deeply discouraged and doubtful of his abilities as an artist,
• He would look at it and remind himself; “I painted that.”
• Then his confidence and ability would come back to him.
David concludes this Psalm with a similar reminder to himself:
• He realises that the pressures he is facing;
• The difficult circumstances and the enemies he is facing,
• Do not suddenly cease, the moment he gets up from his knees!
• David is very much aware that God has his own timings,
• And when it comes to answering prayer, often his timings are not ours!
• Often when it comes to prayer we must wait ‘patiently’ when the answer seems delayed.
• God’s delay is not God’s denial!
• ill: Sign: “Lord give me patience (but hurry)”
• God is never in a hurry – sometimes we need to wait!
• David is realistic enough to know that anything worth having is worth waiting for;
• So he tells himself to relax and be strong.
• After all strength and courage are developed during a trail, not after it’s over.
Ill:
• The Hebrew term for ‘wait’ (from the verb ‘kah-wah’) is insightful.
• It means to ‘twist, stretch’.
• The noun form means ‘line, cord, thread’.
• It conveys a vivid picture of the making of a strong, powerful rope or cord;
• By twisting and weaving ourselves tightly around the Lord.
• That way our weaknesses and frail characteristics;
• Are replaced by his power and unparalleled strength.
That is David’s secret in this Psalm:
• Verses 1-6: we see David’s confidence:
• He declares what he knows about God.
• He is David’s “light, his salvation, his stronghold”
• Verses 7-12: we see David’s Prayer.
• He assuredly, boldly expresses what he needs!
• “Hear me…answer me….teach me…lead me”
• Verses 13-14: we see David waiting.
• He has and is twisting himself around the strands of God’s strength & relaxing!
• Twice he says in verse 14 he is ‘waiting’ on God to act.
Ill:
The great missionary Hudson Taylor the founder of China Inland Mission;
• Used to hang in his home a plaque with two Hebrew Words on it:
• EBENEZER & JEHOVAH JIREH.
• The first word means ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us’
• And the second, ‘The Lord will see to it or provide.’
• One looked back while the other looked forward.
• One reminded him of God’s faithfulness and the other of God’s assurances.
• David follows a similar principle in the Psalm;
