Sweet Opposition

Many of the songs in Scripture reflect some aspect of life in a fallen world sand suffering persecution death.

We call these Psalms Psalms of lament, but almost without exception, these Psalms of lament and on a high and hopeful notes that the psalmist plumbs the depths of life in a cursed world with consumers up to the heights of heaven when he remembers that God is just and God is aware and God will make all things new.

Psalm three is where we are this morning.

In Psalm three is one of the Psalms of lament and spend a few moments today meditating on this beautiful Psalms. If you would please turn with me to Psalm three if you would stand in honor of God's word. As we consider together how we as Christians are to respond to enemies who oppose our faith and who oppose our God, our God. Psalm three Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son, oh Lord, how many are my foes. Many arising against me. Many are saying of my soul. There is no salvation for him and God you will Lord our shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around arise. Oh Lord, save me. Oh my God for you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You break the teeth of the wicked salvation belongs to the Lord your blessing be on your people pray together. Lord, you have made a promise to bless and multiply your people, your church and you have sworn an oath in your own name. To confirm that promise so that as the book of Hebrews tells us by these two unchangeable things your promise and your oath.

We who have fled to Christ for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us whether there are many in the world today who are opposed to you and because are opposed to you there opposed to us your people. We are surprised that this happens because you told us it would happen. Lord we are finite we are easily discouraged and easily dissolutions of teach us this morning through David's example here in Psalm three to be confident in your salvation. So confident in fact that we can lie down and sleep and safety and confidence, and even enjoy because you are shield and you are salvation Holy Spirit take these words and use them to change our hearts and minds and actions your glory in Jesus name, amen receded. It is human nature to worry about trouble some of us are more predisposed to anxiety than others, perhaps, but all of us, to 1° or another, fret and fear and lay awake at night at distressed about the problems that we face in the problems that distresses the most seem to be the one that we can't do anything about those those worries that seem to have no resolution, because quite simply were not sovereign were not all-powerful, were not all wise. Psalm three is in the Bible because the Holy Spirit knows that we tend to worry and fret about trouble rather than trust the Lord with our trouble. This Psalm addresses that aspect of our fallen human condition by reminding us that there is someone who is sovereign and omnipotent and all wise and he isn't stomped by the troublesome situations and circumstances that make us panic. In fact, he puts those very circumstances to good use brothers and sisters.

The message of Psalm three is that life's troubles can be hidden blessings because those troubles drive us to prayer and prayer drives us to God, where we discover the fearless rest that only he can provide is a very specific kind of trouble that the psalmist is dealing with in Psalm three and there's a specific way. He responds to that trouble and is also a specific way that God responds to this trouble so let's consider these three things together this morning. First, we see the nature of the psalmist trouble. The kind of trouble he's up against is spiritual opposition on a grand scale. Notice the repetition of the word many in verses one and two, he says, oh Lord, how many are my foes. Many arising against me.

Many are saying of my soul. There is no salvation for him and God psalmist is outnumbered. He's overwhelmed and and all he can do as he begins to pray, is to tell God how numerous the opposition is there is no safe space is enemies are everywhere and so he begins to pour out his anxieties to God. Your prayers ever sound like that your prayers ever sound; a child who's going to bed.

He's afraid of everything is on a mission to get his parents to appreciate the fearfulness of of his dark room, heard a noise in the closet that is a shadow under my bed. One of the robber comes into my room.

We can snicker under our breath at a child's fears because we know that the things they're afraid of really aren't dangers at all.

I wonder sometimes if God doesn't snicker at our adult fears for the same reason God my boss threatened to fire me. My best friend is gossiping about what the stock market crashes. I'll be financially ruined and all while God is saying I'm bigger than those things, and most of them haven't even happened yet, but all we can see is the overwhelming size of the trouble or least our perception of the overwhelming size of the trouble it makes us forget that there is a God who sees and understands and even sits enthroned over the things that trouble us. So the first thing we notice is the overwhelming size of the psalmist trouble, at least in his own eyes but notice also the nature of his trouble. There are a couple of clues that give us an idea of the sort of trouble. Psalmist is facing. First of all, there's the title to the Psalm which reads a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son now there is some debate about whether these titles in the Psalms are our original to the text of Scripture, or if they were may be added later by scribes if their original than we need to treat them as part of the inspired, authoritative word of God. If they were added later. They may still be true, but they aren't going to be as essential to our understanding and interpretation of the Psalms that without going in to too much detail are going on a rabbit trail me just say that I think there is good evidence that these titles are original. If so, then we have a very detailed understanding of the trouble.

David was then when he penned Psalm three that Doug has been preaching on this very narrative in the in recent weeks, so it should be refreshing in our minds. Let me just point out a couple of relevant details about the story that I think will enlighten our understanding of Psalm three specifically. First of all the trouble. David is facing is internal, not external were just coming from with in not only Israel but within David's own household.

Absalom is David's son.

This ups the ante of the trouble, doesn't it. Whenever it's a family matter. It's even more intense, not just some random Gentile over there in Moab were Felicity you know it's David's own son causing the trouble. Also remember that the situation David finds himself in as he is forced to flee the palace and and hide out in the wilderness was not entirely other people's fault. David had send and send heinously he had committed polygamy. He had committed adultery.

He had even murdered, and God promised to chasten David because of his sin and second Samuel 12 God says to David, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife thus says the Lord.

Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house is referring to Absalom and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the side of the sign for you did it in secret, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun and that promise of God was fulfilled in second Samuel 1622, where it says they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof roof of the palace and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel trouble David was facing when he wrote Psalm three was trouble with his own making.

It was facing overwhelming opposition. It was brought on by his own guilt as God chasten him for his sin. I will say more about that in a moment because is so critical to our understanding of Psalm three with or something else. We did notice about the nature of this opposition. Not only was it brought on by David San. It was also brought on by Absalom's sin, Absalom, and those who were supporting him and this attempted coup were not acting righteously even though they were being used by God to chasten David.

They were in sin because they were merely opposing David. They were opposing God.

Verse two makes this clear.

Psalm two Psalm three verse two we hear David's enemies saying there is no salvation for him for David and God. God's enemies are interested in balancing the scales of justice.

They're not concerned about David's repentance and restoration of their engage in a self-centered grab for power because they hate David and they hate David's God juicy once they begin accusing God of being unable and unwilling to save David. They have started barking up the wrong tree. What had appeared to be a mere civil conflict is exposed for what it truly is. It is spiritual opposition to the plans and purposes of God as they concern his covenant people and a lot of the suffering that Christians endure today is the same sort of spiritual opposition that David was encountering. We may mistake it as civil but it's spiritual you watch the news or listen to the world.

Analysis of current events come away thinking that our greatest threat today is is viral or economic or social. The apostle Paul tells us that our enemy is not ultimately social or financial or medical it's spiritual, he says in Ephesians 6 we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places like Absalom and his thugs the world and the devil hate God's people because they hate God and their opposition to us, though it may be used by God to chasten us and humble us and bring us to repentance is ultimately an attempt to show contempt for God and discredit his power to save less.

The nature of the enemy's opposition to God's child would see then that the response of God's child ought to be legally can identify for responses of the psalmist. First, there is confession and I don't mean confession of sin. I mean confession of faith. David's confidence in the face of this overwhelming opposition is incredibly unwavering. He confesses in verse three that God is his shield and his glory and the lifter of his head confesses in verse six that he will not be afraid of thousands of people who have set themselves against him how to David hold this confident confession in the power and favor of God towards him when it's David's own sin that brought this trouble on himself. First of all don't think the David is excusing way of sin or presuming upon the mercies of God, even though confession of sin is not included herein. In Psalm three. Remember that David did confesses sin.

He did repent genuinely sincerely before God. We can read about that, but his brokenness and his grief over sin to go back to second Samuel 12 work or Psalm 51 one wants to be amazed that here there was David's confidence in the mercy of God is confession of faith is on web wavering.

Even though David knows good and well that he does not deserve God's mercy and favor. David knows he doesn't deserve God's protection and yet he declares he will order a shield about me. He doesn't deserve to be associated with this glorious creator of the universe and yet he boldly states the Lord, you are my glory he deserves to be cast out and forgotten, and yet he is somehow able to confess you will, Lord, are the lifter up of my head. David deserve the opposition he was facing and fearing that he cried out to God and God delivered. Why is that not because David deserve God's favor, but because Jesus deserves God's favor. You say now what is Jesus got to do with it. Well, everything.

Quite frankly, David is simply an imperfect flawed shadow of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord Jesus Christ and we could spend the rest of the day looking up parallels between David and Jesus that we are a rich study but for the sake of time and just make the point briefly.

Psalm 110 is a Psalm about David's kingship when you come to the New Testament.

Every one of the synoptic Gospels and the book of acts and the book of Hebrews numerous times. Quote Psalm 110 a Psalm about David, but they apply it to Jesus. The typological connection between David and Jesus is undeniable in the Bible. It's it's arguably the strongest, most explicit typological connection of any of the things that are pointing forward. Foreshadowing Christ. But even though that connection is explicit and strongly we come away with mixed feelings about David. I think as we read stories about him and as we meditate only Psalms that are expressions of his heart and mind. We think David how could you be so brave when you're standing in front of Goliath and yet so fearful in front of Absalom.

Why were you so virtuous in your dealings with Saul was so impure in your dealings with Bathsheba. David has a lot of traits and and qualities that we admire, but he has a lot of faults and flaws and by faults and flaws. I mean horrendous sin tendencies that we shudder when we read all got to continually keep in mind as we read the Psalms in these Old Testament narratives is that David is not the main star. He's just a signpost pointing us to a better father to a braver giant killer to a much more faithful husband to more majestic King David leaves us wishing and hoping and praying for something more elitist, desperate for anointed king who would wear the crown and carried the scepter without all these errors of judgment who would to defeat the enemies both within and without of the covenant community folks, David's purpose is to make us desperate for Christ, and he does a great job of doing that by the same token is not just David's shortcomings that make us desperate for Christ church mice in your sin, make us long for another one who can overcome our transgressions, and set things right.

In fact, all of these things David's life, our lives follow Scripture all of history, point to the adequacy of one person, that person is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the prophet V king, the priest who has no equal is unparalleled is unsurpassed in power and beauty and purity and perfection.

Think Christians who read Psalm three might be tempted to exclude themselves from the grace of God that were about to consider might be tempted to to read this and exclude ourselves from that grace on the grounds that were not worthy were not were not deserving were not obedient enough church read the title again and be encouraged Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom. Yes, that David all of this happened on the heels of David's adultery and murder, perhaps even of his rental negligence. And yet God's protection and blessing extends to David, so much so that he responds with incredible confident faith to the spiritual opposition he was up against. The point is this if God's grace extended David extending you extended me the David's grievous sin had resulted in the present trouble God's goodness to him was grounded in covenant promises that could not be broken.

Christian those same covenant promises extend to us because it's not David's faithfulness. It's not my faith… Not your faithfulness that guarantees those promises.

It is God's faithfulness. No qualification so scandalously free. In fact, is this grace that Paul had to ask and answer the question. If God's grace is that gracious than what is to stop me from indulging in sin and the answer Roman sixes. Oh, God's grace even takes care of that problem is so comprehensive that it changes your very desire to indulgence is the graciousness of God's grace. This is the gospel. We confess us a look at all the wonderful acts of divine favor that David is able to confess. He says of God.

In verse three you are a shield about me. In this context, God's shielding of us means more than just spiritual redemption. It includes practical temporal help in this life. There are plenty of modern-day Absalom's who hate God's anointed one, want to destroy God's people, but God can protect us from their pathetic threats because he is our shield. David says you are my glory, my weightiness, my significance, my honor when our enemies want to sideline the church and and discredit our beliefs and our values and dishonor our Lord God is our glory. God will not allow his bride to be impugned without returning retribution. He is all glorious and he is our glory. David says you were the lifter of my head. This phrase is a Hebrew idiom, a figure of speech that refers to taking someone or something. It is been cast aside thrown out discarded as worthless and restoring it to its place of honor is what happens when a slave is set free or when an impoverished man inherits great wealth is like when the roles were reversed and that story and asked her between Haman and Mordecai and Haman who had enjoyed the place of higher honor had to honor Mordecai. Instead, the man who he despised and wanted to kill say that God is the lifter of my head. To say that God takes a sinner and makes him a saint. He takes a slave and treats him like a son. He takes an enemy, causing his friend, is the lifter of her head to David's response to trouble began with a confident confession of faith that God is all these things. He is good he is favorable to us, but then David moves from confession to supplication verse four I cried aloud to the Lord. Verse seven arrives the Lord save me. Oh my God, David didn't just passively confess his confidence in God's goodness he actively fervently zealously prayed he didn't just say Lord you are my shield, he said, Lord, shield me, save me, protect me, he made supplication.

God wants us to take our request to him. He commands us to cast our cares on him. He implores us to pray without ceasing.

Why is not because he doesn't already know what we need is because we need to know that he is listening and working on our behalf and and we know this and are convinced of this as we bring our needs to him and as we see him respond to those requests with answers to prayer, supplication carries us from panic to peace in a way that gives the credit and glory to God, just in passing, I want to point out a beautiful connection between David and Christ here that I think will encourage us to pray when were faced with spiritual opposition second Samuel 1530 tells us that when Absalom's betrayal of his father David had had come to light. David fled from Jerusalem and went up the ascent of the Mount of olives weeping as he went. Centuries later, on the eve of the crucifixion, Jesus was also betrayed by someone close to him. Judas Iscariot, his disciple and companion.

His friend and after this betrayal the Gospels tell us that Jesus also retreated to the very same place.

To the Mount of olives, where he spent the last few moments before his arrest, crying out to God and grief and agony. David deserved his betrayal. Jesus did not. Both David and Jesus prayed in response to that betrayal.

One. Pray because he himself needed to be saved. The other prayed in order that others might be saved. David is our example, Christ is our Savior, so we should pray with both confession and supplication in the face of spiritual opposition. The third response of the Christian, then, is rest. Look at verse five. I lay down and slept. I woke again, for the Lord sustained me if you ever thought about sleep theologically ever thought of sleep as spiritual warfare. David did for him sleep provided an opportunity to put God's protection and sustenance of his child on display. We sleep to know that were not sovereign, but we also sleep to declare that our enemy is not sovereign. John Piper said sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. Once a day, God sends us to bed like patients with the sickness sickness is a chronic tendency to think that we are in control that our work is indispensable. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day. Man is not sovereign, man is not sovereign, man is not sovereign God wants to be trusted as the great worker who never tires and never sleeps. He is not nearly so impressed with our late nights and early mornings as he is with the peaceful trust that cast all anxieties on him and sleeps. The fourth and final response of God's child to spiritual opposition is fearfulness. Verse six is I will not be afraid, excusing fearlessness opposite of fearfulness. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. What good is it to confess confidence in the goodness and grace of God and to ask for his deliverance and salvation into sleep.

The peaceful sleep of the redeemed. Only then to then turn around and cower in fear over my enemies.

God has not given us a spirit of fear of my tendency my temperament, my habit is to fear the enemies of God. I need to repent.

I need to mortify that fear with faith in God's faithfulness very quickly, then let's consider thirdly and finally, God's care for his chip for his child and that care comes in two parts salvation for his people and judgment for his enemies.

First, there is salvation for his people.

David says in verse four God answer me from his holy hill. God's holy hill refers to Zion in Jerusalem, the place where God resided, so to speak, and from which he reigned over his people and over the world. Of course, at this point David had fled from that holy hill and Absalom had taken up residence on it, but Absalom didn't realize that Jerusalem was really just God's footstool. It was it was merely an earthly symbol of the true Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, from which God's rule and reign are carried out and will be carried out for all eternity. No one supplants that throne. And it is from that throne that holiest of all hills that God answers the cries of his people is God caring for his child only does not answer our prayers. He also sustains us.

Verse five we can rest in every sense of that word deeply and peacefully, because God never rests his eyes are always on his child. Not only does God answer our prayers. Not only does he sustain us. He is also the source of our salvation. David prayed in verse seven, save meal, God in verse eight we see that God indeed is the one who saves the last statement of the Psalm, then dramatically could be a request or it could be a statement of fact your blessing be upon or is upon your people.

This indicates that David's concern was not merely for himself but for all who belong to God.

God's concern God's deliverance, God's blessing is for all of his people, God's response entails more than just blessing it also entails judgment for his enemies for seven you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You break the teeth of the wicked in a significant portion of the Psalms are given to prayers for judgment. These are severe prayers of cursing directed against the wicked and a lot of ink has been spilled trying to explain or excuse or justify the these kinds of prayers, particularly as they relate to the coming of Christ and his teaching on love and grace and forgiveness. How are we supposed to deal with these cursing prayers in the Psalms. Now I've ever dealt with this topic before, some not to go into depth here this morning, but since verse seven is in our text. I do need to address it briefly and just say this, the kingdom of God will advance either through the salvation of its enemies or through the destruction of its enemies. And so, like the psalmist. We pray for God's purpose is to succeed one way or another. We pray that justice would be served because God loves justice and whether that justice comes through sends being covered by the cross or through sends being punished in hell is up to God, but we pray, nonetheless, that justice will be served because his purposes are more important than anything else. Prayers for judgment like we see in Psalm three are simply prayers that long to see God's kingdom and God's glory be appropriately esteemed in the world, one Presbyterian pastor put it this way. I said in these prayers for judgment.

The Christian must embrace the tension inherent in reflecting both the kindness and severity of God.

That's Romans 1122.

These Psalms are a reminder that a war is raging. It is a war of opposing powers with casualties traders and triumphs.

The principal weapon of that warfare is the dual edged message of the gospel message of life and death itself. Folks, this is a beautiful Psalm that describes the nature of the spiritual opposition we face and the response we ought to give as children of God, and it shows us God's faithful response to us a response that includes both blessing and judgment as we close our time in the written word this morning and transition into a time of considering the living word in the sacrament of communion and we just exhort us to pursue two habits by way of application will face opposition one sort or another.

That opposition may come in the form of a family member or friend who thinks your Christianity is silly. It may come in the form of a of a colleague or of an employer may be a teacher who is angry and mean-spirited toward you because of your love for Christ. One of the devil's chief tactics is to accuse us of guilt. And you know sometimes is right, we are guilty were not without fault. We've often brought opposition on ourselves and so if you're faced with opposition with persecution. Make it your habit to use that opposition as an opportunity to humble yourself, and repent of your own sin. John Calvin said if it any time God makes use of wicked men to chastise us it becomes us first to diligently consider the cause. Namely that we suffer nothing which we have not deserved in order that this reflection may lead us to repentance. Make that your habit. But then Calvin goes on to say, but if our enemies and persecuting us rather fight against God and against us. Let us be confidently persuaded of our safety under the protection of him whose grace they despise and trample underfoot. Make it your habit to use spiritual opposition as an opportunity to repent of your sin, but also make it a habit to not doubt the mercy, grace and love that God extends to you, through Jesus Christ, regardless of the circumstances of your life crosses or comforts danger or deliverance adversity or prosperity. Be assured that God's blessing through Jesus Christ is always upon his people pray thank you for the love it's ours in Christ love that is constant to the ups and downs of life through the joys and sorrows of this fallen world through both the. The beauties and even the betrayals of sin infested world, your grace is constant. May that truth temper us and keep us steadfast and even enable us to peacefully rest in a world of of turmoil. Thank you that you will come again and make all things new. Until then, your blessing be upon your people.

Men