Psalm 27

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Amen. Now of course this first verse of Psalm 27 has been not only the inspiration of gospel singing as we have heard, but it's been a source of great comfort and great encouragement for Christians throughout the ages, and obviously for very good reason. Because one of the things that we'll see is that this particular Psalm, especially verse 1, articulates three very pragmatic benefits of the gospel, and those benefits have been a great comfort and a great guide for Christians as we live out our faith in this world and should continue to be so as we continue to get a better grasp of them. So as we look at this overarching Psalm or give this overarching overview of the Psalm, we want to consider three things. First, we'll look at the three benefits outlined what those benefits are, and I think it's important to point out that the benefits of the gospel that are established in verse 1 are the possession of every Christian. In other words, these are not things that we are striving for. This is not something that you get if you do this or if you grow or if you haven't. If you are in Christ, what David does here is articulate three very pragmatic benefits for everyone who has faith in God's promise of salvation. The second thing that we'll do is look at three life issues that David addresses from really verse 1, but especially verses 2 through 4, through 12, he articulates three life issues that help us to contextualize the benefits that he articulates in verse 1. And then thirdly, we will look at the, we'll look at the self-exortation that he gives us at the end of the Psalm. So we'll look at the three pragmatic benefits of the gospel. We'll look at three life issues that contextualize those benefits, and then we will look at the self-exortation at the end. So let's begin by looking at the benefits that David articulates in verse 1. And these benefits, these are gospel benefits that as we said, everyone who was in Christ is in possession of these. The degrees of which we use them or realize them, that's something all together different, but the issue is, as Peter says, he has given you everything that is necessary for life and Godliness in Christ Jesus, and these at least, and it, that includes at least these three things. In the first place, David says, God is my light. What a wonderful statement. The idea of God being the source of light for his people is really expressed throughout the scriptures, and especially throughout the Old Testament. The image of God providing light for his people was actually captured beautifully in the eronic benediction that we see at the end of, or in Numbers chapter 6, where Aaron says, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord, to the gracious to you, and the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So this idea of God being light is certainly a theme or being a source of light is a theme that's captured throughout the Old Testament. And Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1, it says, arise and shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. So what David says here is really a more personal and a more poetic expression of what is expressed in other portions of scripture. It's a theme that dominates especially in the Old Testament that God is a source of light for his people. Now the reason that is such an important benefit is because we also understand the way the scriptures describe us in our natural state. The natural state to fall in man is one that is described as being a state of darkness. This is the way that Paul expresses it in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 when he says, don't light walk like the rest of the Gentiles walk who walk according to the darkness and the futility of their minds. In other words, the natural state of fallen man is a state of moral and spiritual darkness. Now that doesn't mean that we even though we are described spiritually as being blind, it doesn't mean that we're not able to see what it means is that we're not able to see right. That's why I love in Psalm 36 verse 9. The writer says in that in God, we have the fountain of life, but then he says this he says, and in your light, we see light. And so in our natural state, we function in darkness, but we think that darkness is light. And so really what being used, what is meant by the metaphor of either moral and spiritual darkness, or God being our light, what is really meant is the grid through which we interpret all of our actions. In other words, when we function according to our natural darkness, we are doing that's the grid through which we are interpreting things. That's Paul's whole point in Ephesians 4. He says, don't walk like the rest of the Gentiles walk, who walk according to their natural darkness. He says, but they're doing what they think is right, but their deeds are sensual and their deeds are talous, but they are walking according to what they think to be right. But he says, and so when it says that God is our light, what it says is that God is the source. God is the means by which we have a new interpretation and a new grid through which we can interpret all of our lives. You see, in other words, God is a source of light for all of those that he saves. And to put it very succinctly, what that simply means is that he is the grid and he is the lens through which we can see ourselves and through which we can see the rest of the world. I had a friend years ago, my first job out of college, and he was an interesting guy, and one morning, because our boss was very, he was strict about punctuality. And so one morning before the time changed and we were getting, you know, you get ready in the dark and he got dressed in the dark. And so he came to work and he didn't catch himself because he didn't want to be late again. And as we're sitting there in our regular meeting, getting ready to start today, we look down. The boss looks down at his shoes and his socks and he says, oh, someone was in a hurry to get here. And he said, what do you mean? He looks down at him and he points him out because he had on two different shoes and two different pairs of socks. And he says, well, it was dark. And see brothers and sisters, the point being is that in a state of spiritual darkness, we will look at things and we'll say, it doesn't make sense. What people do, it doesn't make sense. Well, here's what we have to understand. It makes sense according to one of two things. It makes sense according to what they call light. It makes sense to them. Or it makes sense according to the light they choose to use. Now, some folk only have darkness. So all of their choices are according to those that darkness, but those who are in Christ, we sometimes walk with our eyes closed and act like we're still in darkness. The point that David is making, what is available to all of those who are in Christ, all of those here's the benefit of the gospel. You have God as you are light. And that actually corresponds to what we see as the promise in the consummation in revelation. It says that when in the new heavens and the new earth, there won't be a need for a son, which is interesting, but because before there was a son, there was light if you look in Genesis. And likewise, at the end of time, he says, there won't be a need for a son because the lamb himself will be the light for his people. So one benefit, one very pragmatic benefit, that all of the people of God has. And this is what David eludes to in Psalm 27, verse 1, the Lord, he says, is my light. He is the grid, through which he is the lens, through which I can see all things, I can see myself right because I see myself through the lens of the light that is God. I can see the world right. I can see others right because God himself is my light. Second benefit that he mentions, he not only says that God is our light, but as our only light, but also for all believers, he says that God is our salvation. Now there's a link there because the light of God, the light of God allows us to see our natural condition. And I would argue that the God turns on the light before we grasp his salvation. You see, in other words, God overcomes the darkness that is native to our fall and state because in our fall and state, we don't see ourselves, we don't see anything wrong with us. But God turns on the light, he is our light. And he allows us to see ourselves for what we are, and we don't like what we see. And it's not until we don't like what we see that he also shows us through his light, he has what we need. And so God is not only our light through which we are unable to interpret the world around us, but God is also our salvation, which is to say, and that is true again for all believers, which is to say that when the light of the illumination that comes from him, when we embrace his light, then we will see that God and God alone not only saves us, but he and he alone saves us through the person and work of his son. David's logic here is that the fact that he has saved us or that he has saved our souls is the security of our bodies. That seems to be his logic here. David is basically convinced that if God is the salvation of our souls, then the logic that extends from that is that whatever he gives us, that there is going to be a preservation from God because he has saved us. And so therefore there is no temporal trial, there is no temporal experience that can overthrow our eternal salvation. Why? Because God is our salvation. And to be able to overthrow our salvation is to say that you can overthrow God. But the third benefit that David mentions here, he says that God is not only our light and he is our salvation, but the third benefit, which is also a logical extension of the second, is that if God is our salvation, then he is also the source of our strength. You see, God is our, he is, I like the way the choir captures it, he is the strength of our life. He's the strength of our life. He is the enduring value and power of our lives. And I would argue that at some point the whole Christian life is all about growing in the knowledge of what it means to have Christ as the strength of our lives. Because brothers and sisters, I would dare say that it's true for all of us that at various points and sometimes way longer than it should, Christians define their strength by the wrong things. But we think our, our, our, our, our financial position. We think sometimes our social status, sometimes our very, our very ethnicity, we think is our strength. We think our family lineage is our strength. But here's the whole point of the gospel. It breaks us down to show our nothingness so that in the light of God, we see that it is only he that saves us and he alone is the strength of our lives. This is what David or what Paul needs or learns when he has the thorn and his flesh that he prayed three times that the Lord would remove it. And the Lord didn't remove it, but he did tell him this. He says, I'm not going to remove it because in my weakness, in your weakness, he says, my strength is manifest. And so as Paul, when he quotes from Jeremiah in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he quotes from Jeremiah, let the, let the strong man not glory in his strength, let him not glory in his power. But if anyone wants to boast, let him boast in the strength and in the power of the Lord. Three benefits, three very pragmatic benefits for all of those who by faith look to God's grace in the gospel. God is your light. God is your salvation. And God is the strength of your life. He's your stronghold. You don't have to depend on yourself. Your ability to sustain, your ability to endure is not your fortitude. It's what your faith attaches to. And what your faith attaches to is all that is in God through Christ. I like that statement in the song of Solomon where it says, my beloved is mine. And all that is my beloved is mine. See, everything that is of Christ is mine. And so therefore, the strength of God is our strength. So David opens the song with that, that, that threefold declaration of, that, that declaration of joy, that, that the Lord is my light. He is the grid. He is, he is the lens through which I can now see myself. I couldn't see. That's what the song, that's what the songwriter means when he says, I was blind. But now I see that's what it means to be snatched as out of darkness says Peter and then brought into his marvelous light. God is my light. God is the one who was able, who has enabled me to see what I need to see. But God is not only my light. He's my salvation. He's not a partner in my salvation. He is my salvation. He opens my eyes to see that he and he alone saves. And if the Lord is my salvation, then he's the strength of my life. My salvation is as strong as, or my strength is as strong as my salvation. And my salvation is as strong as the source of my strength. And, and the light of God allows me to see that he's all of that. But then we see that David in in chapter 1 articulates these three very pragmatic benefits and we can sing about these things and we can shout about these things. But here's the interesting thing is throughout the body of this song. David takes these, these benefit and he takes them off the shelf and he puts them into the rough and tumble experience of real life. And here's he gives us there for three life issues that make those benefits stand out. The first place we see David references fear, fear in verse 1 tells us see in one of the reasons I should say that these things are important because these three life issues can obscure the benefits that he articulates in verse 1. And so the first life issue that he references is fear. And verse 1 David reasoning from the fact that God is his light and his salvation and his strength, he says therefore he raises the question in two different ways rhetorical though it be but I think it is very profound that he raises it knowing that God is my light and that God is my salvation and that he is my strength here's the question that it leads him to whom shall I fear or whom of whom shall I be afraid. Now why does he raise the issue of fear? Fear of course comes in all sizes in all shapes in all types. Fear is something that is persistent and perennial and its presence in a fallen world can never be extinguished. Fear is not only present but its prevalent and oftentimes fear is the very thing that propels us into action. I think that's one of the reasons David mentions it here. Fear, you see it's not just, I mean we can go from the most basic kind of fear, fear of physical danger and threat. And so we have things because we are afraid. Now no one likes to say I'm afraid but we prepare like we are afraid. There is the fear. There is the fear of someone doing us harm and that's part of that is a survival instinct in the jungle of a fallen world. My wife sometimes says I act like I live in Mayberry you know because I sometimes I don't I'll put the top lock on and knock the bottom lock or one or the other or I'll leave stuff out and she says you act like you're in Mayberry you know but we're not in Mayberry and the knowledge that we are not in Mayberry invokes fear. See in Mayberry a sheriff a sheriff deputy can walk around with a gun with no bullets and the one bullet that he has he keeps in his pocket but we don't live in Mayberry we live in a world where we are afraid. We're afraid sometimes to go in some parts of the city. We're afraid to leave our cars unlocked. We're afraid to sleep with our windows open. We live in fear. Fear of physical harm that could be done by someone else or something else. We have fear. There's a popular phrase F.O.M.O. fear of missing out. Some people are afraid. They they are driven by the fact that when we see this all over social media people are afraid of missing out. They just want to be there. People are afraid to failure. Some people are afraid actually even of success. In fact it's been documented by psychologists and psychiatrists that some people almost trigger their own failure because they are afraid to succeed. Life in a fall in world is a life that is full of fear and fear oftentimes become the motive of many of our actions. There is the fear of the unknown. Many people have a fear of public speaking. There is the fear of abandonment. There is the fear of not being loved. There is the fear of loss losing things and individuals that we we love greatly. Life in a fallen world is driven by fear. Study the growing list of phobias that characterize modern humanity. Fear of flying, fear of insects, fear of dying in our sleep, fear of being left behind, fear. And so this is important. This this idea when when David says of who shall I be afraid. David is not saying that I won't be afraid but here's what he's saying. He's got the benefits that he has articulated. The benefits that he is expressed in verse 1 that is available to all of those who look by faith to God's promise of salvation. The knowledge that God is our light. The knowledge that God is our salvation. And the knowledge that God is our strength should help us deal with the very real problem of fear. Because fear if it's not confronted can be the motive for many of our actions. You see brothers and sisters I I'm convinced that some people act the way they do whether it's cold or callous or distant is because they are afraid. It's like the bully in the elementary classroom who messes with the little with with whoever's closest to him because he's afraid that he'll be called upon to read and he can't. And so likewise fear fear of losing out fear of not being respected fear of being made vulnerable is sometimes the motive for much of human action. And what David expresses here is that the knowledge of God is the source of our light and our salvation and our strength should be enough to help us deal with fear. But here's a second life issue that David addresses here, not just fear, but David addresses with another real life issue and that is opposition. In verses 2, 3, 6, and 11 he references opposition and look at the various terms that he uses to talk about opposition. I know we all think that everybody loves us. We like Jerry Seinfeld's mother when he found out he might have an enemy and she looked at oh nobody like this like you. Well we have opposition in this life and David addresses the reality of opposition. The names that he uses he references enemies, evil doers, foes, adversaries, false witnesses. Throughout these verses David realizes mentions them and we know that he was a king and he was a warrior king and some of the opposition could have been geopolitical. But we know also from the experience of David's life that some of the opposition, some of the enemies were those who were trusted officers in his own ranks. Not only that, David also understood that he had oppositions from even family members. Again it's just a fact of life that everyone is not trying to help you, that everyone does not love you. And not only do they not love you and not want to help you, here is the fact of life in a fallen world. There are some people who are actively engaged in trying to keep you from succeeding. They do it with campaigns of the tongue, they do it with words of encouragement that are with help and words of resentment that are uttered. They do it by plotting and planning, they do it by bearing false witness, they do it by magnifying your thoughts and their virtues. They do it any number of ways. But here's the reality in this world you live in a world where it seems to be the intention of some to disrupt any form of peace that you have and to be a source of irritation. They have, it seems as if somebody is in league with some manufacturer of people somewhere that they plot and they plan and they set them on your course because we live in a world of opposition. And it is against the reality because brothers and sisters, again, just as fear can be a positive and negative motivator, so can the reality of opposition. Sometimes we can be so used to hate to people hating on us that we don't know how to love. Sometimes we can be so accustomed to people not warning us to do well that we distrust people who are only trying to help us. David had mentioned, he says, the Lord is my salvation or he is my light, he is my salvation and he's the strength of my life and those three truths should help me in dealing with my fear issues and in dealing with opposition so that I don't fall back to my flesh. You see, we all deal with fear and we all deal with opposition according to the light that is within us. But if our light is darkness then we will deal with fear and we will deal with opposition according to the darkness of fallen men. And this is the very thing that Paul is at monitoring against in Ephesians chapter 4. It doesn't say that opposition and fear don't exist but those of us who have been brought into the light of the gospel of God's grace should be able to deal with them differently. But here's a third life issue that David addresses here. And that is the reality of dysfunctional families. Look in verse 10. In verse 10 he says, my father and my mother have forsaken me. Now everyone has parents and you've been blessed if you've been blessed to be around your parents and raised by your parents. We all have household quirks. In other words, every family expresses their love towards one another in different ways. There are some households where the father is not allowed to cry with his children or he doesn't think that he needs to help change diapers. That he teaches his boy to tough it up and he falls down and the boy is falling, falls down playing sports and the father says, man up that's the norm for some people. Now others on the outside would look at them and say, oh that's cruel but if that's the norm it's the way I don't know I'm not trying to make a judgment one way or the other but that becomes the norm. But other families where the father sees the boy fall and he cries with him. And there's no sense of him not being masculine because he's able to express his emotions. There are some families where the father is just he's too tough to say I love you. There are others where the father and the son don't talk without saying I love you. There are contexts in which mothers and daughters they have their own unique relationships and so when we talk about dysfunctional families I don't mean that we don't that we're all supposed to be this way and then find the model in which it looks because we're all creatures on the way and we all express our love in different ways. But what David addresses here cuts across the line and it's the confession a confession that you can only take to God because it's not that he doesn't love his parents. But David says quite pointedly my mother and my father have forsaken me. You see how can I love them? How can I respect them? As your law says when I know that they have forsaken me it was interesting in my upbringing both of my parents were abandoned by their parents and they were both raised by grandparents but the amazing thing to me was watching through the years to watch my parents demonstrate love to the very mothers and fathers that had abandoned them. I watch issues where people who have daddy issues and they see them and you know good this and and but it was it was interesting to me and I'm not saying that's everyone's experience but knowing that my parents had been abandoned and literally walked away my mother's mother walked away took her to her mother's house and and when she she was out on the the swing playing and she walked away to never come back to be forsaken. We live in a world where we have dysfunctional families and yet I got a chance to preach both of my grandmother's funerals. Both in both cases my parents allow their mothers who have forsaken them to enter into the lives of their children and to be integral parts. David says my father and my mother have forsaken me. The benefit that we have in the gospel doesn't mean we won't be forsaken by family members and certainly if father and mother can forsake us every other family member down the line can also do so. David is not suggesting that by virtue of our faith that we won't be forsaken but here's what he is saying that dealing with all of these things through the grid of God being our light because here's what the world tells us the world is always built on revenge I wouldn't take that I wouldn't let anyone talk to me like that oh if they did this and then they come back warning something that's what the world says but David says Lord you are my light you are my salvation and you are the strength of my life so that enables me to deal with my fear issues that allows me to deal profitably with my faux issues and it also helps me to deal with being a bad being forsaken being placed in dysfunctional families so that I can rightly respect them without losing a scent of worth and purpose three benefits that we have everyone who was in Christ is that he's your light he is indeed your salvation and he's the strength of your life and because he's all of that it doesn't mean you will not deal with fear issues only fear because know that his perfect love is able to subdue and cast out the cause of fear and to sue us in our fretful moments look at how many references we have whether it's in the Psalms or whether it's in the New Testament about fret not and he also being those things for us is our ability to deal with the dysfunctions even of family and brothers and sisters if we have dysfunction in our blood family in our DNA family will we not have dysfunction also in our families of faith because we'll be forsaken even by those with whom we worship even as Judas for Christ not only betrayed him but he wasn't the only one you see when Jesus Jesus stood alone in his trial because the others had left brothers and sisters dysfunctional families are an issue of life that will be with us until the Lord returns well that brings us to the final thing and that is in verse 14 and in a sense you could say verse 13 and 14 but especially in verse 14 here's David's self-exortation and basically what he's done is he's given us the knowledge of a declaration of benefits that we have by virtue of the gospel God is our light he is our salvation he is the source of our strength and then he takes that off the shelf puts it on the ground of real life in the context of of fear in the context of foes and in the context of forsaken as God still is my light my salvation and the source of my strength so at this point in his life what David does is he exhorts himself perhaps it's at one of those dark moments when the fear was getting the best stuffing maybe it was the memory of being forsaken by loved ones whatever it was here's what David says he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't make this calculation and say well if God is my salvation then where's my deliverance what he reasons and here is the self-exortation look at verse 14 wait wait for the Lord wait on the Lord he says wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage and all he can say is wait for the Lord his implication is quite clear and I I'm not saying that that faith in God doesn't mean they won't be there won't be storms and that's why throughout the song save it David says Lord I such a face who one thing I have desired is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life but here's what the reality is I'm in this place where my fears are getting the best of me I'm in this place perhaps where my enemies seem like they I see them lining up and included in that group of enemies are family members and so he could do one of two things or actually three I love watching Caesar you know one one nine one one dog whisperer Caesar Milano and and and he says that animals when you when you trap them there's one of three responses they have they will either fight they will flee or they will submit and so David in essence is saying that I'm in a I'm in a trial I'm in a season of of promote I'm in a difficult situation I can't do anything about it so here's what he does he counsels himself in light of what he knows from verse 1 and all he says he doesn't say pray he doesn't say ask he doesn't say get rid of get rid of this out of your life he doesn't say ask the Lord with more sincerity all he says is I know that God is my is my life I know he is my salvation I know he is my strengths all I can say is wait on the Lord wait on the Lord he says go ahead be be strong and in the Lord know where your strength is and be encouraged and be comforted but all I can say is wait on the Lord because here's what we know if the Lord is the Lord as I know that he is then if he has saved you then don't be confused by this don't be confused by today don't be confused by them the Lord who has declared promised will deliver everything that he's promised so I say to you wait on the Lord don't act out of fear don't let fear be don't let fear mislead you that's what that was that was that was a Saul's problem he he saw the enemy and Samuel was supposed to meet him at a particular time before he went into battle but he didn't see Samuel and he acted out of fear and offered unauthorized sacrifice to the Lord don't act out of fear don't stoop to the level of the enemies wait on the Lord and don't build a pity party around the fact that you have dysfunctional families because all of us do wait on the Lord don't exact revenge don't wait on the Lord and let your heart be encouraged and strengthen the power of his strength the Lord is my light and he is my salvation and he is my stronghold therefore wait on the Lord amen