Psalm – Dovedale Reformed Church

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

A few moments ago, we heard _______ make several statements that were a public profession of faith. And we have another example of a public profession of faith in the Psalm before us today. As you can see from the Psalm’s title it is a “Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” And this most likely refers to the time when David was forced to flee Jerusalem because his son, Absalom, had set himself up as king. But whatever the occasion, from a time in the wilderness, we have a Psalm that has been described as one of the most beautiful and touching Psalms in the whole Psalter. And it is so because it is a very personal profession of faith, and it is full of the joy and power and comfort of a life lived in close fellowship with God.

And at the very heart of this magnificent profession of faith are the words that begin v3, “Your steadfast love is better than life.” And that statement raises a question for us all here today: DO WE BELIEVE THAT THE STEADFAST LOVE OF GOD IS BETTER THAN LIFE? Well, let’s think about what this means as we consider the 3 parts of this Psalm: v1, vv2-8, and vv 9-11.

I. And we begin with v1 where the Psalmist CRIES OUT with LONGING FOR GOD.

A. As we have noted, this Psalm was composed when David was in the wilderness. PHYSICALLY then, rather than being in Jerusalem where he enjoyed easy access to the necessities and even the comforts of life, David was in the wilderness, which is a place where things like food and water are not easy to come by. So we read of thirst and fainting flesh.

Now, there have been times when I have been thirsty, but not in the sense of a DESERT THIRST. I expect that most of us have seen images of people in the desert who are thirsty; their faces are dry and sunburned, and their lips are cracked, and they yearn for just a few drops of water.
But David is using the image of physical thirst to describe something else. You boys and girls will know from your English classes that what we have here is a word picture. And it is a SIMILE because David uses the word “as.” What David is describing is a SPIRITUAL thirst for being in the presence of God that is as strong as a physical thirst in the desert. David earnestly seeks his God; David’s soul thirsts for his God; David’s flesh faints for his God.
You see, in OT times, the tabernacle (and later the temple) was the place where God lived among His people. EXODUS 40 tells us that after the tabernacle had been set up, the glory cloud of God’s presence came down to fill the tabernacle. This is what David talks about in v2 when he says, “I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” To David, nothing was more wonderful and precious than to go to the tabernacle to enjoy being in the presence of God. But now, because he had been forced to flee Jerusalem, David could not enjoy being in the presence of God. And so, he longed to be in the presence of his God.

B. Now, we will return to these words when we come to the end of the sermon. But a big difference between David and you and me is that WE STAND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS.

JOHN 1:14 tells us that the second person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us; that is the literal translation of the word John uses – tabernacled. The Son of God came down to earth to tabernacle or live among humanity. John says, “We have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So in the Gospels we have the written and reliable record of the disciples enjoying the presence of God, face to face! And although Jesus has now returned to heaven, He has sent His Spirit to permanently live or tabernacle in the heart of all those who believe in Him. So this means that unlike David, who experienced the presence of God as the glory cloud in the tabernacle, which he could be near only if he was in the tabernacle, you and I can experience the presence of God wherever we are. What David could only look forward to in faith, you and I enjoy in a much fuller sense, because the Lord Jesus has come.
So if David had this yearning; this longing to enjoy what we carefully call a limited experience of the presence of God, how much more should you and I long to enjoy His presence today?

II. But before we think about that any further, let’s look at vv2-8 where the Psalmist SINGS about His RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. And in these verses we see the Psalmist speak about the past, the present, and the future.

A. Notice how he remembers the PAST: v2. “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” And we spoke about this a few moments ago. David is here remembering those times when he enjoyed being in the presence of God in the tabernacle. And he longs to enjoy the presence of God again. But also v7, “For you have been my help.” This is a time of trouble and turmoil for David. So he forces himself to remember the many times that God has delivered him in the past. And he does this as a basis for confidence and trust that the Lord will deliver him now.

B. But David also speaks about the PRESENT: v3, “Because your steadfast love is better than life.” And we will come back to this statement in a moment, but David also speaks about the present in v8, where he says, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

We have two NEWBORN BABIES in the congregation. And I always find it amazing to see the tiny fingers of a little baby try and wrap around Dad’s little pinkie finger – so tiny and so big! But it is also beautiful to see Hanno or James cradling Jake or Evelyn in one hand. And that is a picture of safety. But those images don’t even come close to picturing the intimacy and protection of this powerful God upholding believers in His hand and their souls clinging to Him in devotion.
But let’s return to v3, “Because YOUR STEADFAST LOVE IS BETTER THAN LIFE.” Think about this statement. Do you love life? I am sure you do. We all do!

a. If you found out that you had a disease that would lead to death, how much would you pay to get a cure for that disease? Surely you would give away everything you owned just to stay alive? Yes?

b. A few years back I remember reading about a man who was exploring a canyon. It started raining and the rain caused a rockfall and his arm got stuck by one of the falling rocks. No one could hear his cries for help and he was starting to get dehydrated and hypothermic from the cold at night. So you know what he did? Ughh! Because he wanted to stay alive, he used his small pocketknife to cut off his own arm. And I am sure we all shudder to think of being in a situation like that ourselves, but the will to live is very strong!

But David says, “Your steadfast love is better than life.” And what this statement reveals is that David knows the truth about God and about himself.

a. You see, 1 John 1:5 tells us that “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” This means that God is perfectly holy and good and true and pure. Therefore, for a person to enjoy fellowship with God, there must be no unholiness or badness or lying or impurity in that person.

b. But Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In every single one of us there is unholiness, badness, lying, and impurity; we break God’s commandments and we do not keep them as perfectly and to the glory of God, as we should.

c. And Romans 6:23 explains that “the wages of sin is death.” Our sin means we deserve death and eternal condemnation in the agonies and awfulness of hell. So David knew that God was perfect and that he was imperfect and deserving of eternal condemnation.

d. But Romans 6:23 continues, “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And these words look back to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” God says, If you believe that I put all your unholiness, your badness, your lying, and your impurity on My Son, and punished Him there on the cross, I will give you His holiness, His goodness, His truth, and His purity, so that you may enjoy fellowship with me, now and in eternity. This is the love I offer you; will you embrace it?

e. And David had embraced God’s saving love; a love that is gracious and steadfast and unchanging. That is the love that David speaks of. And that, says David, is better than life!

f. And again, let’s remember that David stood on the other side of the cross. He didn’t have John 3:16. He didn’t have the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross as the explanation of how God saves His people. You do! Is God’s steadfast love better than life to you? Can you say with the Apostle Paul, as we read earlier, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”? Is God’s love your most precious and wonderful and refreshing and hope-filling and assuring and amazing possession?

C. If so, what David says about the FUTURE will be something you know also. Because he has enjoyed the presence of God at tabernacle worship, and deliverance by God in the past, and because of God’s steadfast love and protection in the present, David commits himself to the worship of God in the future with the rest of vv2-8. He says, “My lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.”

And David’s personal longing to worship the Lord and enjoy His presence again is expanded to all of the OT people of God in the group of Psalms we call the PSALMS OF ASCENTS – Psalms 120-134. The best times in the year for the Jews were the three times that they went to Jerusalem for the national feasts of sacrifice and worship and celebration. And it is commonly believed that they would sing these Psalms as they made their way up to Jerusalem. And we sung one of these Psalms earlier in the service – Psalm 122. It is a Psalm that recalls the wonder of worship last time they were in Jerusalem as the basis for their eager anticipation to be in Jerusalem to worship again. “My heart was glad to hear the welcome sound, the call to seek Jehovah’s house of prayer. Our feet are standing here on holy ground, within thy gates, thou city grand and fair. God’s people to Jerusalem draw near, to hear His word and worship Him with praise.”
And if worship and being in the presence of God was so wonderful to them, how much more should it be to you and me who live on this side of the cross?

a. What did the Lord Jesus say about worship? Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” By His Spirit and in the Word, and as we look by faith to what the bread and wine represent, the Lord Jesus is among us!

b. From v5, we see that David looked forward to being satisfied with fat and rich food and committed himself to praise God with his lips. But right now, by faith, you are being spiritually fed with the living word of Christ and very soon you will be spiritually fed with the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. You have even more reason than David to praise the Lord with joyful lips! Is your heart glad to hear the welcome sound, the call to gather to worship our Triune God?

III. Well, your answer to those questions will have a lot to do with vv9-11, which is where the Psalmist SPEAKS about HIS TRUST IN GOD.

A. It becomes clear from v9 that David was in the wilderness because he had been forced there by his ENEMIES. Whether they were Absalom and his cronies or an invading army, the dividing line was plain: David was God’s anointed king, so all those opposed to David were opposed to God. They were “liars,” as we see in v11, because they refused to accept the revealed will of God, which was that David was God’s anointed king. Therefore, their end was clear; they would die a shameful death and face the condemnation of God as their judge. To become a “portion for jackals” is to die and remain unburied. And this was considered extremely shameful in those times. But David, the king, and all those who swore by him, which means they remained loyal to him as God’s anointed king, would be victorious and live and exult. This is why David trusted in God.

B. So the dividing line that is described here is between the King and his people, and all those opposed to the King. There was no neutrality; you were either for the king or against Him. And congregation, it is the same today. JESUS IS THE GREAT KING! Jesus is the eternal king! Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords! And society divides today between the King and His people and those opposed to the king. Are you on His side?

You see, if your hope is only this life and everything it has to offer, you may know some temporary, fleeting joys, but you will also know great sorrow and suffering and sadness. And that is because the things of this world – beauty, relationships, money, power, sex – they cannot satisfy. You have been created for eternity! Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has “put eternity into man’s heart.” You will only find true joy and hope and meaning and peace and happiness and purpose in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. For that relationship gives you an anchor for the soul when times are tough because your eternal destiny is secure!

And this brings us right back to where we started, and VERSE 1. This Psalm is an amazing profession of faith. Is it your Psalm? Two things are necessary for it to be so.

 The first is a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP: “O God, you are my God.” Have you confessed your sins and repented of your sins and believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? If so, then God is your God!

 And to keep us from making the mistake of thinking that so long as we confess and believe at some point, it doesn’t matter what we do after that, the second things is that we EARNESTLY seek God. Those saved by grace alone will eagerly seek to walk in obedience, to work for His glory, and to worship Him with prayer and praise.

_______, we are glad to hear that God is your God and that you earnestly seek Him. May David’s profession of faith and _________’s profession of faith be the profession of faith of each one of us. Amen.

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Is the Love of God better than Life, for you? This Psalm explains how and why this was so for David.

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(Credit: Pastor David Platt – Lecture to Together for the Gospel Conference, 2016)

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

We are a Reformed Church. Reformed Churches trace their history back to the Reformation of the 16th century. That was a time when Martin Luther and others came to see that the Roman Catholic church needed reform because of unbiblical beliefs and practices.

Now, because what the Reformers said was seen as a protest, those churches that came into being after that time are known as Protestant. So you have the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches; Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican, etc, all these are Protestant churches.

Was this a big deal back then? It sure was! And England is a good example of this. In 1553, Queen Mary became Queen. And she was Roman Catholic. And when she became the Queen, she vowed to destroy and burn every Protestant in England. And the way she and her church officials went about this was to question people about their beliefs, because certain beliefs identified people as Protestant. And one of these was the doctrine addressed in our Westminster Chapter – Justification. And we are going to see how what you believed about justification was identified and why it is that around 280 people were willing to be executed, in part, because of what they believed the Bible taught about this doctrine. And we are going to see why this is still important for you and me today.

And we will get there by starting with the other Rev. John Rogers. Many of you will know that Rev. John Rogers is currently the minister of the Reformed Church in the North Shore. But we are talking about the Rev. John Rogers who was Vicar of St. Sepulchre’s and Reader at St. Paul’s in London in 1553. This John Rogers had been ordained as a priest in the RC. But as he started to read the writings of Luther and Calvin and others, he became convinced that what the RC taught as its official doctrine was not what the Bible taught. And just a few days after Mary had become the Queen, she went to church and John Rogers was preaching. He preached about true doctrine and “exhorted the people to beware of the pestilence of popery, idolatry, and superstition.” He was then arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. During his imprisonment, his wife gave birth to their 11th child, but he was refused permission to receive a visit from his wife and the family. In fact, the only time he saw his youngest child was in the arms of his wife and next to his 10 other children as he was taken to the place of his execution.

And history tells us that John Rogers repeated the words of Psalm 51, our sermon text, all the way from the prison to the stake where he was burned. And he was not alone in doing this for history tells us also that many others recited Psalm 51 before they were executed. Psalm 51 was viewed as a Psalm of the Reformation. Psalm 51 was seen as a Psalm that taught the doctrine of Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So let’s see how Psalm 51 does this and why it was the Psalm of choice for many English martyrs.

I.In the first place, Psalm 51 empowered and enabled the English Martyrs because They Believed that They Deserved Damnation. And boys and girls, damnation means to be sent to hell by God. The English Martyrs believed that they deserved to be sent to hell by God.

A.The title of this Psalm reveals the circumstances behind the writing of this Psalm. King David had committed adultery. What becomes plain though is that David is not confessing one sinful act in this Psalm, as though if he could just get that weight of his shoulders all would be well. His use of plural words and his piling up of every possible way of describing sin reveals that David saw his adultery as part of a much bigger problem. So in verse 1 – transgressions, verse 2 – iniquity/sin, verse 3 – transgressions/sin, verse 4 – have I sinned and done what is evil, verse 5 – iniquity/sin, verse 7 – unclean/dirty, verse 9 – sins/iniquities. King David looked at his life and saw mountains of sin and guilt. And remember that King David is described by the Lord as a man after God’s own heart. David loved God’s Word and he strived to obey the commandments.

B.And verse 5 helps us see what David understood about sin. For there we see that the problem is not just the sin we do but also the sinful nature that we are born with: “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” And David is not saying here that conception and birth are something evil but that we inherit a sinful and guilty nature from our parents. And we looked at this in connection with ch. 6 of the Westminster Confession. So our problem is threefold: We inherit the guilt of Adam’s first sin in the Garden of Eden, we inherit a sinful nature because of our biological connection with Adam, and we commit our own sin.

C.And what all this means is summarized by the end of verse 4 – God is justified in His words and blameless in His judgment. God would be within His rights to damn every human to hell.

1.Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.”

2.Kind David saw himself as a sinner who deserved damnation. The English Martyrs saw themselves as sinners who deserved damnation. They didn’t go to the burning stake or the gallows or the chopping block crying out how unjust this was because they were basically good and kind people. They went to their death utterly convinced that they were miserable sinners who deserved damnation. They knew that the fire of the stake was nothing compared to the eternal fire of hell that they justly deserved.

So we should ask here if this is how you see yourself? The Apostle Paul called himself the “chief of sinners.” What about you? Do you think that on balance, God would find more good in you than evil? If so, then you don’t really understand God or goodness. 1 John 1:5, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” God’s standard of goodness, is absolute perfection, in everything and always.

I have used this illustration before but if I were to offer you a large cup of clean water and I told you I had put just one tiny drop of arsenic poison in it, would you drink it? You would not because you know that one drop of poison is enough to pollute the whole cup.

Well, so it is with sin. Just one imperfect thought is enough to make you a totally guilty sinner who deserves damnation.

II.Kind David knew this. The English Martyrs knew this. They Believed that They Deserved Damnation. But secondly, They Also Believed that They were Saved by Grace Alone.

A.And we see this already in v1, which tells us where David looked for salvation – to God. David does not write down a plan about how he is going to pay for his sins and make himself right with God. David does not weigh up his life to see if there is more good than bad. He turns to God.

B.And what David was asking God for was mercy: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.”

1.I have told you this story before but a boy who was guilty of stealing for the second time was bought before the Emperor Napoleon and sentenced to death. His Mother pleaded to the Emperor to show mercy to her son. But Napoleon said the boy had stolen twice and he deserved justice and justice was death. But the boy’s mother said, I don’t ask for justice, I seek mercy. Napoleon replied, But he does not deserve mercy! And the Mother said, It would not be mercy if he deserved it. And touched by her grief and passion, Napoleon released the boy. Mercy, then, is not getting what you deserve. And David knew he deserved damnation, so he begged for mercy.

C.And his request for mercy, as we look at this Psalm, basically amounts to “Un-sin me, Lord.” Verse 1 – Blot out my transgressions (Already that is a very powerful image – Watercolour painting – blotting paper – completely removes colour), verse 2 – wash me/cleanse me, verse 7 – purge me (remove/cleanse/rid)/wash me, verse 9 – hide your face from/blot out, verse 10 – create in me a new heart/renew a right spirit, verse 12 – restore to me/uphold me, verse 14 – Deliver me. David knew that he could not fix his sin and guilt problem, he just added to it each day. His only hope was that God would change his nature and remove his sin and guilt.

1.Look again at verse 10, where David says, “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” Does that language sound familiar at all? Last Sunday’s Ezekiel 36 sermon. We saw there that God said to the people in exile, “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh … I will put my Spirit within you.” Salvation has to be the work of God because we are spiritually? Not sick, but Dead!

D.Well, David understood this. And the English Martyrs understood this. That is why Psalm 51 was so precious to them. It spoke beautifully and plainly and powerfully of justification being solely a work of God that He does in sinners.

1.Boys and girls, do you remember how we explain Justification? Just-as-if-I never sinned. Our Westminster Chapter explains justification as God “accounting and accepting [His chosen people] as righteous … for Christ’s sake alone … by imputing to them the obedience and satisfaction of Christ.”

a.Now, Imputing is a word that needs some explaining. Earlier we read from 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin … so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is the glorious double exchange – Christ receives our sin and we receive His righteousness. Our sins are imputed to Christ and His obedience and satisfaction is imputed to us.

(1).Pastor David Platt illustrates imputation this way – before he was married, he was a penniless student and his wife was working as a school teacher. He said, “I do,” and instantly he had cashflow! Because he was attached to her, he now had something in his account that he did not have before. That is what imputation means.

b.And this illustration highlights another very important part of this doctrine, which is that justification is something that happens fully and instantaneously when we are united with Christ by faith. David Platt received Cashflow the moment he said “I do.” And the moment we believe in Christ, our sins go to Him and His righteousness comes to us. Justification is something that God does in a moment; He declares us righteous. And that means that from that time onwards God views us as His righteous children – just-as-if-I-never-sinned.

2.So justification is all and entirely about the work of Jesus Christ. It is a one time and forever declaration of our being righteous that God makes. And we receive this by faith alone.

3.That is why Psalm 51 was so precious to the English Martyrs. My salvation is all of Christ!

So, how were the English Martyrs identified as Protestants? How were their views on justification discovered? Well, one way this was done was in connection with the Lord’s Supper. Church history books tell us that Rev. John Rogers was examined about his understanding of the Lord’s Supper, as was Rev. Lawrence Sanders. And it wasn’t just ministers who were examined on this: Rawlins White was a fisherman who was executed because of his views on the Lord’s Supper. And women too were examined on their views on the Lord’s Supper – Mrs Joyce Lewes, Agnes Snoth, Joan Cotner, Anne Wright, and Joan Sole – all of these were executed, in part, because of what they believed about the Lord’s Supper.

You might be scratching your head and wondering what justification by faith alone has to do with the Lord’s Supper? Well, the RC view of the Supper is that the body of Jesus is physically present in the bread. So if you eat it, because you eat the body of Jesus, you are united with Him and you receive grace, which is a part of how you are justified. The Lord’s Supper is a part of how you co-operate with God in the life-long process of being justified. And other ways you do this are things like baptism and confession, for example. All the holy things you do are how God feeds you the grace that justifies you. So we are justified by faith and by our ongoing activity to receive God’s cleansing grace.

I trust you can see them why that word alone was and is so important. There is nothing of King David in this Psalm. It is all God and it is all grace and it is all mercy. So when the Martyrs were asked if the body of Jesus was physically present in the Lord’s Supper, they replied NO, because they knew that the bread was only a symbol of the broken body of Christ. But this revealed to the church officials that they were those terrible Protestants who believed in justification by faith alone.

III.And this is where we move into the third part of how Psalm 51 emboldened and empowered the English martyrs, which is that they believed that they had to Speak the Truth whatever the Cost.

A. Look at vv13-15. Having asked the Lord to show mercy, and confident that the Lord would blot out all his iniquities, David says, “Then I will teach/my tongue will sing aloud/my mouth will declare… David was so thankful for God’s saving grace that he committed himself to BROADCAST this good news to others.

B. And we saw this also in 2 Cor 5. The Apostle Paul understood that he and all God’s children ARE new creations; they are not becoming new creations. He said of salvation, “ALL this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to Himself.” Past tense – it is done. Paul’s joy was that he was justified in Christ. And so, said Paul, “the love of Christ compels us … that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is what drove Paul to preach and proclaim Christ to others.

C. And think about this also in relation to the English Martyrs. You see, they were not martyred because of what they believed but because they broadcast what they believed. Rev. John Rogers, for example, could have preached anything that Sunday that Queen Mary came to church. But he preached the truth. He preached about Justification by faith alone. He declared that if you lose the alone you lose salvation. And that cost him his life.

D. Just 12 years before Roger’s execution, John Calvin had published a tract called The Necessity of Reforming the Church. In it, he identified Justification by faith alone as THE doctrine upon which depends “the safety of the church.” I trust you can see from all this then that Doctrine matters. And the Lord’s Supper matters. And how we worship matters. And how the church is governed matters. So much about the church today is driven by what we think works and/or what people like. We don’t say this in any way to pat ourselves on the back, but the Protestant church the world over is in many respects a total mess. Key doctrines that led to the Reformation are not understood or embraced by many who would identify as Protestants. How about you? How important is knowing right doctrine to you?

E. But earlier in the service, we confessed our faith, saying, “I belong to Jesus Christ because He has FULLY paid for all my sins.” That’s justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! And it is this glorious truth, we went on to say, that “makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.”

Being WHOLEHEARTEDLY willing and ready to live for Him meant being prepared to die for the English Martyrs. Well, you are not facing martyrdom. But perhaps one day you might. I hope you can see that this is a doctrine worth dying for. But today, it is certainly a doctrine worth living for! Amen.

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Justification by faith alone was one of the doctrines that led to martyrdom during the Reformation. Psalm 51 was often recited by those being executed. Why?

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If Jesus said, "It is finished," why must we pray for daily forgiveness?

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Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Last time we considered this request of the Lord’s Prayer, we gave special attention to the “as we forgive those who sin against us” half of the request. And just a few weeks ago, when we considered the invocation of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven,” we also spent time thinking about the importance of having a forgiving spirit towards others. So today we will focus just on the first part of the request, “Forgive us our sins.”

To sin is to break God’s commandments or not to keep God’s commandments as we should.

 One common definition of sin is to ‘to fall short.’ If you think of shooting arrows at a target, the whole target would represent perfect obedience. So any arrow that does not even make it to the target is a picture of sin. And the fact is that every arrow, by which I mean all our attempts at perfect obedience, fall short.

And there is a verse in the Bible that describes this in very plain language: Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

And Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” Sinners deserve to die. And if you are thinking to yourself, well everyone dies, what is meant there includes physical death but also the agony and darkness and loneliness and torment of hell, for all eternity.

But having said that “the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23 continues, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is possible to avoid hell and instead to enjoy eternal life in heaven. And this is possible only by way of the forgiveness of our sins. Our sins have to be punished. So God sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to earth. And Jesus took our sins upon Himself and was punished by God on the cross, so that by believing that He did that for us, we might be forgiven. God says, I will forgive your sins if you believe that my Son, Jesus, died on the cross for you.

And there are three words that Jesus spoke on the cross, which help us see this. Do you know what they are? “IT IS FINISHED.” With those three words Jesus revealed that all the sins of believers, past, present, and future, were forgiven.

So if you are believer, God has declared you forgiven or righteous or innocent, because of the obedience and the sacrifice of Jesus, which He has imputed or given to you. You are forever connected with or united to or hidden in the Lord Jesus. You are a forgiven sinner!

So, why then must we keep praying this request of the Lord’s Prayer? If all our sins were forgiven by Jesus’ work on the cross; if Jesus said, “It is finished,” why must you and me pray, each day, “Forgive us our sins”?

Well, we seek an answer to that question today from the words of Psalm 51:17, where A FORGIVEN SINNER PAINTS A PICTURE OF REPENTANCE AS A WAY OF LIFE.

And THE SITUATION OF PSALM 51 is this.

 King David committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba. Afterwards, he then betrayed and murdered her husband, Uriah the Hittite. And because he had to involve others in these wicked acts, it does not take long to end up with a whole pile of sins committed by David. Well, some time later, the prophet Nathan came to David and confronted him with his sin. And this Psalm, as you can see from the title, is David’s confession of sin.

 And as you can see as you read through the Psalm, it begins with confession of sin. But what soon becomes obvious is that its VIEW OF SIN is much wider than the particular sins related to Bathsheba. David includes all the Hebrews words for sin, which comes through in English with the words ‘sin,’ ‘iniquity,’ ‘transgression,’ and ‘evil.’ And while a quick read of v5 might seem to suggest that giving birth is somehow sinful, that is not what is meant. Those words are a recognition that sin is present with us from the very first moments of life. Despite the fact that we sometimes speak of infants as innocent, the fact is that we are never ‘sin free.’ Sin is a problem that has to do with the very core of who we are as human beings.

 And this is seen also in that David’s basic request in this Psalm is THAT GOD WOULD ‘UN-SIN’ HIM, if you like. David acknowledges that sin clings so closely to him that he cannot solve his problem; God must do it. So he piles up requests for God to “have mercy” and to “blot out” and “wash” and “cleanse” and to “purge” and to “create a clean heart.” It is our responsibility to choose to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. But what we learn in the Bible is that salvation is God’s work. We saw this earlier on when we quoted Romans 6:23, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is an act of grace. He gives us what we do not deserve. God un-sins us.

 Well, as we come to Psalm 51:13, we come to DAVID’S RESPONSE TO FORGIVENESS. He explains what he is going to do in response to God restoring him to the joy of salvation. He explains how he will demonstrate his thankfulness for what God has done. And it is in this section that we find our text, which says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

o And very quickly, we should not understand this verse together with v16 as David rejecting the whole sacrificial system of Leviticus (you know, all the sin offerings and burnt offerings, etc). To begin with, according to the Law of the OT, what was supposed to be done with adulterers or murderers? Do you remember, boys and girls? They were to be stoned to death. There were no sacrifices that could atone for sins like these. And David knew this because as king he was required to read the law. But what David is saying here also is that even with the sin offerings and burnt offerings that God did require, if they were just an outward act; if there was not a true, inward sorrow for sin, they were useless. What pleases God is the inward attitude or way of life that is described in this verse.

So what is a “broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart”? What is repentance as a way of life? It is this that we want to think about with the remainder of our time.

 It might be that yesterday, as your parents explained that they wanted you home by 10pm, that you, because your wants are all-important, said some pretty unkind things or gave them a look that could kill… Or maybe last night as you tidied the kitchen while your husband watched the rugby, again, you were thinking some thoughts about him that could strip wallpaper… Or Husband, maybe after watching the rugby you received the ‘not tonight because I have a headache’ response and have been angry ever since even though the Sun has gone down and risen again… Or maybe this morning, as you were getting ready for church, the children were goofing around or whining, and because you slept in a little and were late for Sunday school, you just lost it and let rip…

 JAMES 3:2 is right when it says, “For we all stumble in many ways.” And just in case anyone thinks that he or she does not, James goes on to speak about the tongue that we use to gossip, and to lie, and to belittle, and to tell dirty jokes… “For we all stumble (we all SIN) in many ways.”

 And the sins I have included in this sample list are not what we think of as extreme sins like the act of murder or adultery, but, dare we call them this, the more ‘ORDINARY’ or ‘everyday’ sins. Earlier we read from ROMANS 7. And I think it is sins like these that Paul had chiefly in mind when he spoke about not doing what he should do and doing what he should not do, as the believer’s experience.

So how does our text connect with the reality of daily sin? How does our text lead us to pray, Forgive us our sins? And what does the life of a Christian who prays this request look like?

I. Well, I hope you have done this already in your own mind, which is to ask first of all how this text GETS US TO JESUS! You see, this text certainly requires you and me to do something. But we will never be able to do all that this text requires because of the sin that so readily clings to us. So before we get to our doing, let’s think about what Jesus has DONE.

A. And with the twice repeated word “BROKEN” in the text and this table of broken bread in front of us, it should be pretty plain how we get to Jesus! THE sacrifice that pleased God; THE sacrifice that God did not despise was the broken spirit; the broken and contrite heart of His Son, Jesus.

Isaiah 53:5 speaks of Jesus when it says, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.” And that word “bruised” translates the same Hebrew word translated as “contrite” here in our text. In fact, other English Bible versions have “bruised” instead of “contrite.”
We could say that Psalm 51 is the prayer that the Lord Jesus prays for us as He hangs on the cross. He knows our sin because He has taken all of it on Himself. And having taken our sin on Himself, He cries out to God for washing and cleansing and restoration. He prays that God might not cast us away from His presence and that instead we might be restored to the joy of His salvation. And He prays with confidence because He knows that He is the spotless, sinless Lamb of God who can atone for sin and that He can offer to God the broken spirit and broken and contrite heart that God will not despise.

B. And the APOSTLE PAUL knew this. That is why after lamenting his daily sin in Romans 7 and crying out, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He did not say, I will by just trying harder not to sin. No. he said, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” He said, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

C. And that brothers and sisters, young people and boys and girls, is what we mean when we say that eternal life is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Your salvation is entirely about who Jesus is and what He has done! And that is what we will celebrate as we gather around the table in remembrance of Him.

II. But we cannot end there. We cannot pretend that this text and Romans 7 and 8 do not require anything of us. For we must have a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, as we read here.

A. Did you notice how Paul described his battle with sin in Romans 7? He said, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” He said, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Paul really wanted to do good and Paul really hated his sin. The one who truly believes in Jesus will want to obey Him and will hate sin. Having celebrated the great truth that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus in Romans 8:1, Paul went on to say, “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The one who is truly thankful for the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ will be busy, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body.

B. So God has indeed dealt with all our sin in the eternal sphere but He is still very displeased with our sin in the here and now. And we should be too.

C. Let me illustrate it for you this way: I want you to imagine that you have a son who asks if he can deliver the newspaper to earn some money. And you explain that if he does this he will have to do it every day, even if its raining and even if he can’t play with his friends. You tell him that this will be his responsibility, not yours. And he agrees so he gets a paper run. And it goes fine for a while. But then one day, after missing out on rugby with his friends again and again, he misses it so much that he stays behind after school and plays with them, ignoring his responsibility. Well, this was in the days before cell-phones so you can’t text him or call him and order him home. So you pack the newspapers in your car and you go and deliver them and you get back home and you wait for him to walk through the door. I think it would be fair to say that there is tension in the air. Now consider two scenarios. In the first, your son arrives home and goes to the fridge and pours a glass of milk and walks into the living room where you are and only when you bring up the fact that you had to deliver the papers does he mumble an oh whoops! and flick on the TV as he slurps up the milk. In the second scenario, he walks in and makes a bee-line for you with tears streaming down his face, and between sobs he apologizes, saying, “I messed up, Dad. I am so sorry. I know I promised not to let this happen and I broke my promise. I am so sorry. I wont let it happen again. Dad, please forgive me.” Which of these represents a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart?

Well, God knows that you cannot give Him perfect obedience and that you cannot pay for your sins. So He chose to accept the perfect obedience and agonized suffering of His beloved Son, in your place. He chose to give you the forgiveness of your sins as a gift that you do not deserve.

So don’t be like the son who mumbles an oh whoops! and isn’t really troubled by his sins.

 Be instead like the son who was deeply troubled and repentant.

 Be like King David and the Apostle Paul who trusted in the Lord Jesus for their salvation and lived a life of daily repentance and confession of sin. Go to God quickly and often when you realize that you have sinned.

For that is what it means to have broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart. Amen.

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Those of you here regularly will know that we are currently working through a sermon series on the Book of Lamentations. However, in my discussions with _______ about baptism, they mentioned Psalm 91 and especially v11 as a particularly meaningful and much loved part of the Bible. And so, it seemed appropriate to pause our sermon series in Lamentations and to consider this Psalm. And in addition, we hope next Sunday to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. And this Psalm will also aid us as we prepare to come to the Lord’s table. So let’s read the words of Psalm 91.

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

If we were to try and find parts of the Bible more different in tone and content than Lamentations, Psalm 91 would definitely be on that list, and perhaps even right at the top. You just cannot get more of a stark contrast than Lamentations and Psalm 91.

• Lamentations is full of lament about disease and destruction and death, and especially the fact that God brought this disease and destruction and death upon His special OT people, Israel.

• But here in Psalm 91, we read verse after verse about how God will deliver and protect and save His people; that their life will be one of health and well-being and safety.

• But we don’t need to go to Lamentations to see contrast with Psalm 91. Just look at the two Psalms before Psalm 91.

o Psalm 89:38ff talks about God being full of wrath against His anointed. And in v49, the Psalmist asks, “Where is your steadfast love of old?”

o In Psalm 90:9, the Psalmist says, “All our days pass away under your wrath,” and in v10, that the span of our days “it is but toil and trouble.”

And most of us probably more readily identify with L&P89&90. So what are we to make of Psalm 91?

Back in the later part of the 19th century, smoking opium through a pipe was becoming the drug of choice. And opium is an hallucinogenic drug, which means that your mind starts seeing things that are not real as a kind of dream. And that is where the common English phrase ‘a pipe-dream’ comes from. Something that is unreal or just too good to be true is called a pipe dream. So some wonder if Psalm 91 is really just a pipe dream? Given what we read elsewhere in Scripture, they wonder if the Psalmist was being foolishly optimistic in this Psalm?

And even if we trot out the old hoary chestnut of ‘that is the OT but Jesus Christ has come and we are NT believers,’ is there anyone among us who has never known a day of disease, or a time of terror, or loss, or defeat, or trouble? Is there anyone here who would say Psalm 91 pretty much describes my life!? Have you only experienced good health, safety, freedom, and protection from the Lord? Does this Psalm mean that any professing Christian who experiences hardship mustn’t be a true believer?

And given all those questions then, does this Psalm really speak to parents who have presented their child for baptism, and to the child who has been baptised, and to us as we prepare to come to the Lord’s table next Sunday?

Well, it most certainly does. And it does so because in this Psalm, GOD PROMISES BELIEVERS THAT THEY WILL ENJOY ULTIMATE VICTORY. And we see this as we consider the believer’s SECURE SITUATION, the believer’s SAFE SANCTUARY, and the believer’s STRONG SUPPORTER.

I. So first of all then, we see something of the promised, ultimate victory as we consider the believer’s SECURE SITUATION, from vv1-2.

A. You will see above Psalm 90 that we are in BOOK FOUR OF THE PSALMS – Psalms 90-106. Book Three ends with Psalm 89 and we referred to some of the verses of Psalm 89 earlier. It is a Psalm that first speaks about the wonderful covenant that God made with King David. But it ends with questions about the effectiveness of the covenant because it seemed to have failed. Well, Books Four and Five provide answers to those questions. They stress THE REIGN OF THE LORD. Their main message is that even if the monarchy is in trouble the Lord reigns as the true king of His people. So keep that truth in mind as we give our attention now to Psalm 91.

B. And here in vv1-2, take note, first of all, of HOW THE GOD OF THE PROMISES IS REFERRED TO IN V1: He is “the Most High” and “the Almighty.” The name “Most High” is first found in the Bible way back in Genesis 14, where Melchizedek is described as priest of God Most High. And t is in Genesis 17 that God first describes Himself as “God Almighty.”

So first of all, because these names come from the time of the Patriarchs, the Psalmist is providing some HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE to believers caught up in a moment of trouble, as it were. He is basically calling on them to remember that God has been around for a very long time!

a. In Psalm 90:1-3, he does it by saying, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations … from everlasting to everlasting you are God … a thousand years in [God’s] sight are but as yesterday when it is past.” And Peter quoted that Psalm in our earlier reading from 2 Peter 3:8 in order to remind suffering believers who wondered why the Lord hadn’t come back to earth yet, that “the Lord is not slow to fulfil His promise as some count slowness.” OK? God is the God who began history, who is over history, and who will bring history to its completion.

b. So these two names provide some eternal or historical perspective. And that is an important truth for you to remember when you are in difficult circumstances.

But secondly look at the names themselves: “the Most High” and “the Almighty.” They are names that speak of SOVEREIGNTY and power and ability and control and rule. This God, your God is in total control of everything.

a. In the Book of Job, when Job, in his utter misery and confusionion, basically commanded God to explain what was happening, do you remember God’s reply? “Where were you when I laid the foundation for the earth? … Have you an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like His? … Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” God pretty much put Job in His place by reminding him of His sovereignty.

b. So when trouble comes into your life, and you are tempted to start grumbling and complaining and questioning God and His providence, you should instead choose to dwell on the fact that God is the “Most High” and “the Almighty.”

C. But in connection with the two names of God in v1, we are given FOUR METAPHORS or word-pictures about the believer’s secure situation in vv1-2. And they are the words “shelter,” “shadow,” “refuge,” and “fortress.” And we could say plenty about each of these metaphors, but we will limit ourselves to just two illustrations today:

Other English versions of the Bible translate the word “shelter” in v1 as “SECRET PLACE.”

a. Perhaps at one time or another, we can all remember having a secret place, maybe at home or somewhere on the property or in the park. Well, did we advertise that place to everyone? Was it open to just anyone? Absolutely not. It was only our best friends that got to come and enjoy our secret place.

b. Well the Most High brings His people into His “secret place.” As their Almighty Friend, He brings them into a secure situation.

But the word “fortress” will remind many of us of Martin Luther’s Reformation Hymn, A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD, which, in German, for Julia’s sake, is Ein Feste Burg is Unser Gott. Luther has in view a big fortress or a castle on a hillside that the enemy just cannot enter. And God is the believer’s Almighty fortress; God is the believer’s secure situation.

II. And we see more about this as we turn in the second place to consider the believer’s SAFE SANCTUARY, from vv3-13.

A. And in these verses we have a piling up of images and instances of God at work to keep His people in perfect peace.

From v3, “THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER,” boys and girls, means a trap to catch birds. During this past week, our Prime-minister announced a plan to make NZ possum, rat, and stoat free by 2050. And no doubt, that plan will include traps designed to catch those animals. Well, God here promises to deliver His people from the traps of their enemies.

a. And the enemies of God’s people can be physical enemies, as in the armies of invading nations. And more is said about this in v5 where we are told that God’s people need “not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day.” And this is what vv7-8 describe also – the enemy’s soldiers are dying by their thousands and ten thousands, but not God’s people; they will stand safe and sound. And history is full of stories about times when God did indeed keep His people safe during times of war.

b. But the enemies of God’s people can also be the spiritual enemies of the world, the weaknesses of the flesh, and the devil. Verse 5 is accurate not only in terms of literal arrows but also the arrows of temptation. However, God’s promise is to deliver His people from all their enemies.

And God also promises to deliver His people from “DEADLY PESTILENCE,” as we see in v3.

a. And boys and girls, pestilence means disease or plague or illness. You will have heard that nearly all of the world’s top male golfers have pulled out of the Olympic Games because of the ZIKA virus. It appears that Zika travels up from golf balls through golf clubs and into the hands of only Male golfers. It is a very weird disease  But all joking aside, Zika is a nasty disease. And yet, God promises to deliver His people from disease here and in v6 and in v10.

b. And if you read Christian biography, you will read about Christian men and women who have ministered to or nursed the sick and dying during times of plague who have not gotten sick themselves. One of those was LORD CRAVEN. He was a rich nobleman. And when the plague was killing thousands in London in the 15th century, he decided to flee the city for the relative safety of the countryside. But as he was walking to his carriage, he heard one of his servants say to another one, “I suppose by my Lord’s quitting London to avoid the plague that his God lives in the country and not in town.” Well, these words made such an impression on Lord Craven that he cancelled his trip, saying, “My God lives everywhere and can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will stay where I am.” So he stayed in London and helped plague victims. And you know what? He never caught the plague himself. God promises to deliver His people from disease.

In fact, as we come to v10, we read, “NO evil shall be allowed to befall you.” No evil. Not any evil. Nothing evil shall befall you. And this is accomplished, as we see in v11, by the angels of God. We are told that God “commands His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Hebrews 1:14 tells us that the ANGELS ARE “MINISTERING SPIRITS sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” How this happens, exactly, we do not know. That is a part of God’s secret will, which we must be content to leave with Him. But it happens! Whether it be in the ordinary events of each day or the spectacular escapes from injury or illness that we cannot explain, the angels of God are at work to guard God’s people.

Now, if you have not asked this question yet, you must surely be asking it now; and that question is HOW CAN ALL THIS BE TRUE? How can Psalm 91 really be true?

• Start with the people of Israel in the OT. To be sure, the Lord did bring them back from exile. But they were always ruled by other nations after that time, people continued to give in to temptation, disease and war came along, many times, and every believer died, eventually.

• And even after the coming of Christ, Christians have died in times of war, and there has been plague and disease, and even though v12 says that the angels will help us not to strike our feet against a stone, I am sure that you boys and girls, who love the Lord Jesus, have stubbed your toe at some time, right? And despite what v13 says, Christians have been eaten by lions in the Coliseum. And Christians have suffered persecution, and every Christian since Christ has died, eventually; even Lord Craven! So how can Psalm 91 be true?

A. Well, before anything else, let’s remember that Psalm 91 is the prayer or the song OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

And some of you might remember this point from the mini-series on the Psalms that we did a couple of years ago. These Psalms were the Psalms of the Lord Jesus when He was on earth. He turned to them for instruction and comfort. As He faced hardship and persecution and even death, He was comforted by the promise that “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” So to His Father in heaven, He said, “I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”
And as a reward for His faithful and sacrificial service, Jesus now enjoys ultimate victory. Where? In heaven. It is there that the Lord Jesus enjoys perfect peace. In heaven there are no enemies, there are no diseases, and there is no death; there is only safety and security and joy and peace and happiness and good health and life.
So as we consider Psalm 91 as the Psalm of Jesus, our horizon is lifted to heaven as the place of ultimate victory.

B. Would you like to experience the perfect peace and ultimate victory of heaven? Well, Psalm 91 wants you to know THAT you can and Psalm 91 tells you HOW you can. For Psalm 91 is also the prayer or the song OF THE BELIEVER.

YOU need to be able to say, as we read in v2, “I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” For as we see in v9, it is only If or “because you have made the Lord your dwelling place – the Most High, who is my refuge – [that] no evil shall be allowed to befall you”, etc.
The promise of ultimate victory in heaven belongs only to the person who trusts in the Lord Jesus. It is only the one who knows that he or she is a guilty sinner but that Jesus came to die on the cross for the forgiveness of MY sins, who can experience the care and protection of the Lord in this life and perfect peace in heaven for eternity.

AND THIS, _____________, IS WHAT YOU MUST TEACH __________. Notice that v9 does not say, “because [you have been baptized] no evil will befall you…” It says, “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place…” The two of you have made the Lord your dwelling place; He is your mighty fortress; He is your feste burg. That is why _____ has been baptized today. But ____must make the Lord her dwelling place. ____ must repent of her sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. _______ must trust in the Lord for her salvation. And you must tell her this as she grows up.

But this truth is the same for EVERYONE here today: Trusting in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins is the only way to be certain that you will spend eternity in heave. Have you done this?

II. If so, then be further encouraged as we very briefly consider the last three verses of Psalm 91 and see that through Jesus God is the believer’s STRONG SUPPORTER.

A. And it is God Himself who speaks in these verses. In vv1-13 the Psalmist is the one speaking. But now God speaks. And six times in these few sentences, God says, “I will…”

In the Book of James, we human beings are taught to be careful about saying I will do this or I will go there. Instead we are told to say If the Lord wills I will do this or go there. But God simply says “I will…!” And He can say this because He is God! He is able! He is strong!

(1). Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.”

So when God says to you, “I will deliver [you] … I will protect [you] … I will answer [you] … I will be with [you] in trouble; I will rescue [you] and honour [you]. With long life I will satisfy [you] and show [you] my salvation,” you can ‘put that in the bank,’ as the saying goes. God Himself is telling you that you need not fear or doubt. He is your strong supporter!

B. And what He says to you in these verses today, He will show you next week around the Lord’s Supper table.

What is the simple command that Lord Jesus gave in relation to coming to the table? He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He did not say do this because you have done this or accomplished that or maintained this standard. He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
And it is the same here in this Psalm. The Lord does not say, because he is without sin and has kept all my commandments and because He deserves my care and eternal life in heaven, I will deliver him, etc. Instead He uses terms that picture a young child who simply clings to his powerful father in love and knows him by name and calls out to him when he is in need. What we have here is NOT THE LANGUAGE OF DOING BUT THE LANGUAGE OF RELATIONSHIP.
Psalm 91 is a reminder that the Lord’s Supper is not for those who are free from sin, but for those who depend on the finished sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is for those who know that they have been adopted into the family of God, by grace alone.
And because Jesus told us to celebrate the Supper until He comes, we may be certain that one day He will come to take us to Himself and the ultimate victory described here in Psalm 91.

Jesus said, “‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

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Psalm 91 seems to be way over the top in what it promises. How do we understand this?

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Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

After leaving school, I spent two years at Polytech where I studied Architectural Draughting. And a big part of that course was becoming familiar with NZS 3604. And I see a flicker of recognition on some faces out there or is it, perhaps, an inward groan? J NZS 3604 is the building code for timber-framed buildings in NZ. If you present your building plans to the council building consent department and the plans don’t match up to the requirements of NZS 3604, you can expect to get your plans back with a big red DENIED stamp on each page.

Well, Psalm 127 is the believer’s NZS 3604. Psalm 127 tells us how to build, successfully. And what we are going to see is that the building in view here really has to do with families. Today it has been our joy and privilege to witness the public reaffirmation of faith of ___________ and the baptism of their son, ____. We have heard them make solemn vows, including a promise to “do all in [their] power to instruct ____ in the truth of the Christian faith and to lead him by [their] example to follow Jesus Christ.” And we, as a congregation, have been charged to “pray for ____, help care for his instruction in the faith, and encourage and sustain him in the fellowship of believers.” And as we shall see, these sorts of things are what Psalm 127 is about.

With this Psalm then, Our Covenant God Provides His People with a Building Code. And we see this under four headings as we take note of the Result of Faithless Building, the Remedy for Faithless Building, the Requirement to Build, and the Rewards for Faithful Builders.

So we begin with the result of faithless building. And this is seen in the word repeated three times in vv1-2, which is “vain.”
1. Now this Psalm, as we see in the ascription or title, is one of the Songs of Ascent, which are Psalms 120-134. And these were a group of Psalms sung by the Jewish people as they made the pilgrimage up to Jerusalem, three times a year, for the national feasts. And it is a Psalm “of Solomon.” And Solomon was a King of Israel. And it was he who was told by God to build a temple. And he did. You can read about this in 1 Kings 5-8. So we can see why Solomon was well qualified to write about building and watching over a city and working hard.
2. But the mention of Solomon’s name and the three-times repeated use of the word vain should be reminding you all of the Book of Ecclesiastes, right? After all, it was just a few months ago that we finished studying that book in our Fellowship Groups.
  1. Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon. And the words “vain” or “vanity” are found 37 times in the Book, including the twice-repeated verse, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
  2. So the Book of Ecclesiastes simply says in more detail what we read here in Psalm 127:1-2 – faithless anything is vain. You can build, you can keep watch, you can pursue pleasure, you can work hard every day, you can study all there is to study, but unless the Lord is at the centre of these things, they are in vain.
3. So, what does this word “vain” mean? Well, in relation to actual building, we have a perfect illustration of vain building in one of the most well-known building projects described in the Bible. Can you guess what it is, Boys and Girls? It is the building of the Tower of Babel. Why did the people want to build this tower? Genesis 11 tells us: They said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” But the Lord confused the language of the people and we read, “They left off building the city.” What had been designed to have its top in the heavens, ended up being an unfinished, half-built, crumbling ruin – the very picture of vanity.
4. But synonyms for vain are useless, empty, worthless, pointless, hollow, futile or meaningless. Vain basically means all your hard work counts for nothing.

Boys and girls, brothers and sisters, have you ever had some work you did or something you made described as useless? It is really discouraging and probably quite hurtful isn’t it. I think it is fair to see that no one likes to be told that their work is useless, right?

So Rudi and Jacoba, people of God, heed the warning of Scripture from Psalm 127:1-2. It is possible to be very busy and active, even with things that are good and right in themselves, in vain. The result of faithless building is useless, empty, worthless, pointless, hollow, futile, and meaningless.

But our emphasis on the word faithless points us immediately to the Remedy for faithless building.

And the remedy is found in the person whose name is repeated twice in v1 – “the Lord.”
1. I said earlier that this Psalm is one of the group of Psalms entitled Songs of Ascent, which the people of God sung on their way up to Jerusalem. And I want you to listen to phrases from the opening verses of these Psalms and hear where the people’s attention is focused:

120 – “Deliver me, O Lord.”

121 – “My help comes from the LORD.”

122 – “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

123 – “Our eyes look to the LORD.”

124 – “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side.”

125 – “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion.”

126 – “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion.”

And then after our Psalm, 128 – “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD.”

129 – “The LORD is righteous.”

130 – “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.”

131 – “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up.”

132 – “Remember, O LORD, in David’s favour.”

133 – “There the LORD has commanded His blessing.”

And we can include all of the last Song of Ascent, Psalm 134 – “Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth!”

Can you almost hear the voices of the people singing as they climbed towards Jerusalem? And what is heard again and again and again? The Lord! The LORD! The Lord!
So what is the key to faithful building? The knowledge of, belief in, love for, and obedience to, the LORD. And in Israel’s case, this was the one God of Israel who revealed Himself to His people with by His covenant name – the LORD. But you and me, as NT believers, know that God is one God in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And perhaps you remember the words of Philippians 2:8-9? There we are told that because Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross, “God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and confess that Jesus Christ is (?) Lord.” The key to faithful building for you and me is the knowledge of, belief in, love for, and obedience to, the Lord Jesus.
1. And Hebrews 12:2 spells this out for us very plainly: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Who founded or began or established your faith? Who is perfecting or building or completing your faith? Jesus. Who is the one in whom you must believe in order to be saved? Jesus.
2. Earlier we read from Ephesians 2. There we read that the church is the “household of God, built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone … In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit.”
3. So Jesus is the master builder. The only buildings that will not be built in vain are the ones built by the Lord Jesus.
Now, to see what this means for us today, we need to step back for a minute and see that we are not talking here about bricks and mortar, and why it is that this Psalm seems to switch from a focus on building and city-life and working to a focus on children. You see, the way that the Hebrew language works is that from one root word of two consonants, you get a whole family of verbs and nouns and adjectives, etc. Well, banah, which means to build, is related to ben, which means Son, and baht, which means Daughter, and bayit, which means House. They are all part of a ‘family’ of words. You might even remember from the Bible that often times the sons and daughters in a family are called the house of Jacob or the household of Achan, for example. So when we read here of the Lord building a house, we need to be thinking Family – a house was where a family lived and a city was where families lived in houses, and work was done to provide for a family.
So first and foremost, congregation, Psalm 127 is a call to prayer. Because God is sovereign in salvation, because only the Lord Jesus can build faith, you must pray for your family and for each other’s families. __________, pray for ______. Parents, pray for your children. People of God, pray for all the children in our congregation. Pray that the Lord Jesus would make Himself known to them and bring them to faith and repentance. Pray that He would build them up in faith and perfect their faith. And pray this also for each other. Faith will only be found among us and grow among us if we pray to the Lord who is the one who builds faith in His people. The Remedy for faithless building is belief in the Lord Jesus.
Now, we must quickly go on to note that alongside the remedy for faithless building there is also the requirement to build.
It is the Lord who builds the house, as we see in v1; it is the Lord Jesus who founds and perfects faith. But note that faithful builders are not sitting in their Laz-Y-Boys, and watching the Football or smelling the roses while the Lord does whatever He has in mind to do! What we have said about the Lord Jesus being the one who builds faith in His people does not excuse us from ‘building activity.’ The people described in v1 are building a house. The people described in v2 are watching over the city to guard against invaders and they are toiling long and hard at their labours.
1. I have mentioned before what Oliver Cromwell once said to his soldiers, “Trust in God and keep your gunpowder dry.” And Cromwell’s point was that the man who took no care over the state of his gunpowder could hardly blame God when he pressed the trigger and nothing happened. God is a God who has chosen to cause guns to fire only when dry gunpowder is used.
2. And it is the same with building faith; God is a God who has chosen to use very ordinary means to build up the faith of His people.
  1. So as we said earlier, we must be people of prayer. Prayer is the chief tool of faith, because prayer reminds us that everything and anything comes to us from the hand of our Father in heaven. Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” So ____________, parents, pray for, pray in front of, and pray with your children. Prayer is one of the very ordinary means that the Lord Jesus delights to use to build faith.
  2. But you must also read the Bible with your children and teach them to read the Bible themselves.
  3. And because this Psalm moves from a house to a city, so the Lord delights to build faith within a church – He joins us to other families in a church community because we need the input of others to grow best and to grow well.
  4. So bring your children to both of the worship services on Sunday and talk with them about the Bible passages that were read and the sermon and look again at the words of the songs that were sung.
  5. And bring them to places like Sunday school and catechism and cadets and gems and youth group.
  6. And because of the warning in v1, just as we expect the Lord Jesus to be King in the curriculum at Sunday School, so He should be King in the curriculum of Monday to Friday school. See to it then that your children receive a Christian education.

The Lord Jesus is the one who builds faith. But we are required to build.

But fourthly and finally, note what is said here about the Rewards for Faithful Builders. And there are two rewards mentioned – first, at the end of v2, we read that God “gives to His beloved sleep,” and second, from v3, that children are “a reward.”
So firstly, a few comments about sleep.
1. In 2 Samuel 12:25, we learn that David gave Solomon a second name, which was Jedidiah. And Jedidiah means ‘His beloved,’ meaning the Lord’s beloved. And in Hebrew, the end of v2 reads, “He gives to Jedidiah sleep.”
2. So it will help us to understand what is being said here about sleep if we first think about sleep in relation to Solomon. I want you to try and imagine the potential for anxiety that might have existed if the building of the temple depended on Solomon. There would be many meetings with designers and craftsmen, trying to get it just right, and countless building problems that would have needed Solomon’s input, and squabbles between various trades, and strike action from those delivering material, and labour shortages, and delays because of weather, and on and on it would go. And on top of that there are the constant rumours about what the Babylonian and Syrian and Egyptian armies are up to in war season that need to be considered. Arghh! Talk about a recipe for worry and insomnia. But the building of the temple was not the project of Solomon; it was the Lord’s. And everyone involved with building the temple knew that they were a part of what the Lord was building, which would have had an amazing effect on the atmosphere and attitude on-site. And God had told Solomon that He would give him peace from his enemies. There was no need then for Solomon to be anxious that everything depended on him. And so, God gave Solomon sleep. Solomon was able to sleep because he trusted in the Lord and he believed in the promises of the Lord and he knew that the building of the temple was in the hands of the Lord.
3. So with that in mind, if the ‘building project’ of Psalm 127 is primarily about how we raise our children, can you say, The Lord gives me sleep? And this applies equally to whatever ‘building projects’ you might be busy with – Your marriage, your employment, your work in the church, your evangelistic efforts. The Lord gives me sleep. You see, if these things depend on you, well, you have a recipe for anxiety and insomnia. But if you busy yourself with the obedient ‘building work’ that the Lord Jesus has called you to, all the while trusting in Him and in His promises and knowing that He is the one who builds, then you are free to enjoy the sleep that He gives you.
But the second reward spoken of here is children, as we see in v3, where they are described as a heritage and reward.
1. Now, before we go any further, we must note that we live in a broken and fallen world. And this has implications also for sleep and children.
  1. What we said earlier about sleep is a general But there can be medical reasons why sleep does not come, even to those who trust in the Lord Jesus.
  2. And the same is so with having children. Children are a reward of the Lord. This is a general But sadly, because we live in a fallen and broken world, there can be medical reasons why devoted servants of Jesus Christ are unable to have children.
2. Now, there are all sorts of wonderful and much needed truths about children that we could explore in these verses, but we want to tie all that has already been said with one in particular. And it is this: The growth of families is the Lord’s work. Where do children come from? Verse 3 tells us; they come from the Lord. Believers who receive children receive a gift from Him. God brought Eve to Adam in the Garden of Eden and said, “Be fruitful and multiply in number.” Families are of God’s design.
  1. I don’t know him personally, but I read about a Moses Browne who had twelve children. And someone once commented, “Sir, you have as many children as Jacob!” And he replied, “Yes, and I have Jacob’s God to provide for them.”
  2. The growth of families is the Lord’s work. And He grows them, as we have seen, using the very ordinary means of the efforts of parents who are a part of a church community. Many commentators describe Psalms 127 and 128 as twin Psalms – both are very much about the family. Psalm 127 begins with the city and ends with the family and Psalm 128 begins with the family and ends with the city of Zion or Jerusalem. And the city in the OT is the church in the NT. We saw this in our earlier reading in Ephesians 2. The church is the “household of God,” built on the foundation stone of Jesus Christ. To the church, the Lord Jesus gives shepherds and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” And the work of ministry includes the work done by parents in the home and supported within the covenant community.

In Psalm 127, Our Covenant God has Given us a Building Code. That is why it is right that _____________ have promised to “do all in [their] power to instruct ____ in the truth of the Christian faith and to lead him by [their] example to follow Jesus Christ.” And that is why we as a congregation have been charged to “pray for _____, help care for his instruction in the faith, and encourage and sustain him in the fellowship of believers.”

May the Lord Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith, continue to build faith among us. Amen.

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Psalm 127 switches from building talk to children. Why? What is the connection? Why does the Psalm's title help us interpret this Psalm? Who is the Master Builder?

Psalm – Dovedale Reformed Church: Recent Episodes

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