BIG IDEA:
A SUPERGOD MAKES HIS ANOINTED VICTORIOUS LIKE A SUPERMAN
(:1-3) INTRODUCTION: LOVE THE ROCK OF SALVATION
A. Relationship: Love the Lord – Why?
“my strength”
“my rock”
“my fortress”
“my deliverer”
“the one in whom I take refuge”
“my shield”
“the horn of my salvation”
“my stronghold”
B. Response: Call Upon the Lord – Why?
“Call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.”
This is the simple prescription for deliverance from enemies
C. Result: Deliverance – From Whom?
“I am saved from my enemies”
I. (:4-6) CRY FOR HELP EVEN WHEN DELIVERANCE SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE
A. God’s Anointed was in a Tough Jam
“cords of death encompassed me”
“torrents of ungodliness terrified me”
“cords of Sheol surrounded me”
“snares of death confronted me”
B. God Hears Our Desperate Cries for Help
1. Desperate Cries for Help
“In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help”
2. God Hears
“He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.”
II. (:7-15) WHEN OUR SUPERGOD GETS ANGRY HE UNLEASHES HIS SUPER POWERS –
ALL NATURE QUAKES WHEN GOD GETS ANGRY – WATCH OUT!
What happens when God gets Angry? (language of theophany)
A. (:7) The Earth Shakes in Anticipation of God’s Angry Rebuke.“Then the earth shook and quaked;
And the foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.”
B. (:8) God Breathes Smoke and Fire
“Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
And fire from His mouth devoured;
Coals were kindled by it.”
C. (:9-10) God Springs Quickly Into Action
“He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
And He rode upon a cherub and flew;
And He sped upon the wings of the wind.”
D. (:11-12a) God’s Brightness Hides Behind a Cloak of Darkness as He Approaches
“He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds”
E. (:12b-13) God Announces His Arrival with Displays of Power
“Hailstones and coals of fire.
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.”
F. (:14) God Routs the Enemy
“And He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,
And lightening flashes in abundance, and routed them.”
G. (:15) The Earth Submits to God’s Angry Rebuke
“Then the channels of water appeared,
And the foundations of the world were laid bare.
At thy rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.”
III. (:16-19) THE LORD RESCUES HIS ANOINTED EVEN FROM THE MOST POWERFUL ENEMIES
A. The Danger
“out of many waters”
“from my strong enemy”
“from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me”
“They confronted me in the day of my calamity”
B. The Deliverance
“He sent from on high”.“He drew me out”
“He delivered me”
“the Lord was my stay”
“He brought me forth also into a broad place”
“He rescued me”
C. The Delight
“because He delighted in me”
IV. (:20-27) THE LORD REWARDS THE RIGHTEOUS BUT PUNISHES THE PERVERSE
A. The Lord Rewards the Righteous According to Their Righteousness
1. Principle Stated
“The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.”
2. Testimony of Personal Holiness
“For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all His ordinances were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
I was also blameless with Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.”
3. Principle Restated
“Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my
righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.”
4. Examples of the Lord’s Justice
a. “With the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind”
b. “With the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless”
c. “With the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure”
B. The Lord Punishes the Perverse According to Their Sin
1. “Crooked”
2. “Haughty”
V. (:28-36) A SUPERGOD MAKES HIS ANOINTED FIGHT LIKE A
SUPERMAN
KEY VERSES -- :28-29
A. (:28) The Darkness Yields to God’s Light.“For Thou dost light my lamp;
The Lord my God illumines my darkness”
B. (:29) Obstacles Present No Problem to God’s Warriors
“For by Thee I can run upon a troop;
And by my God I can leap over a wall”
C. (:30-36) God Equips His Anointed to Fight Like a Superman
1. God is a Proven Winner
“As for God, His way is blameless;
The word of the Lord is tried”
2. God is Our Shield and Rock
“He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God”
3. God Equips Me with Strength
“The God who girds me with strength,
And makes my way blameless”
4. God Equips Me with Security
“He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,
And sets me upon my high places.”
5. God Equips Me with Offensive Weapons
“He trains my hands for battle,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
6. God Equips Me with Defensive Protection
‘Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation,
And Thy right hand upholds me”
7. God Makes Me a Winner
“And Thy gentleness makes me great.
Thou dost enlarge my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.”
VI. (:37-45) SUPERMAN TAKES NO PRISONERS -- VICTORY IS COMPLETE
A. (:37-42) Total Destruction of Enemies
1. (:37) Chase and Conquer
“I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
And I did not turn back until they were consumed.”.
2. (:38) Shatter and Subdue
“I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise;
They fell under my feet.”
3. (:39-40) Key = Totally God’s Doing
a. Strengthening Me
“For Thou hast girded me with strength for battle”
b. Subduing My Enemies
“Thou hast subdued under me those who rose up against me.”
c. Scaring My Enemies
“Thou hast also made my enemies turn their backs to me”
d. Setting Them Up for the Kill (my part was simple)
“And I destroyed those who hated me.”
4. (:41) Isolate and Ignore
“They cried for help, but there was none to save,
Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.”
5. (:42) Beat and Bury
“Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;
I emptied them out as the mire of the streets.”
B. (:43-45) Complete Submission to God’s Anointed
1. Delivered
“Thou hast delivered me from the contentions of the people”
2. Exalted
“Thou hast placed me as head of the nations”
3. Served
“A people whom I have not known serve me.”
4. Obeyed
“As soon as they hear, they obey me”
5. Submitted to
“Foreigners submit to me.
Foreigners fade away, And come trembling out of their fortresses.”
(:46-50) CONCLUSION: HYMN OF PRAISE
“The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of my salvation”.“Therefore I will give thanks to Thee among the nations, O Lord,
And I will sing praises to Thy name.”
A. God Executes Vengeance for Me
B. God Subdues Peoples under Me
“Surely Thou dostlift me above those who rise up against me”
C. God Delivers Me from my Enemies
“Thou dost rescue me from the violent man”
“He gives great deliverance to His king”
D. God Shows Lovingkindness to His People
“to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever”
* * * * * * * * * *
DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS:
1) Read thru the psalm from the perspective of detailing all of the reasons that the psalmist has found to “Love the Lord” (cf. vs.1). For what reasons do we love the Lord? What is there about the Lord that motivates us to want to know Him better and to want to spend time with Him and to want to share Him with others?
2) Cf. vs. 6 and vs. 41. Note how the Lord hears our cry for help but turns His back on the wicked. Consider what a privilege it is that we have the ear of God.
3) Look at the vivid imagery in vv.7-15. It certainly doesn’t pay to get the Lord angry. Fortunately the Lord does not pour out His wrath on His children. Rather He nurtures and disciplines us in love. How concerned are we for those who are facing the
awesome wrath of God for their sin and rebellion?
4) How do we face situations which seem humanly impossible? Do we have the confidence of the psalmist: “by my God I can leap over a wall”? Remember the battle God won for Gideon; remember the walls of Jericho; remember how God spared Jerusalem…
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(including notes on each psalm from other commentators)
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