Title: From Hero to Helpless - a Savior needs Saving Sermon Outline - Psalm 57 NPC: July 8, 2018

Transcription

1 Title: From Hero to Helpless - a Savior needs Saving Sermon Outline - Psalm 57 NPC: July 8, David: From Hero to Helpless a. Saul s vendetta against David - the unwanted hero b. David flees to Gath: 1 Samuel 21:10-15 (ESV) 10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? c. David goes to the Cave at Adullam: 1 Samuel 22:1-2 (ESV) 1David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. 2. Psalm 57: From Helpless to Hopeful a. Finding refuge in God s steadfast love and faithfulness, his hesed: Psalm 57:1-3 (ESV) 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! b. David is surrounded by enemies: Psalm 57:4 (ESV) 4 My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. c. Praise for the deliverance to come: Psalm 57:5-11 (ESV) 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! 6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! 9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10 For your steadfast

2 love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! 3. Jesus: The Savior s Savior a. The cave dwellers - looking for a savior in David and Jesus. b. True hope for cave dwellers through the death and resurrection of Christ. Romans 5:8 (ESV) God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 10:9 (ESV) if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, Sermon Notes - Psalm 57 NPC: July 8, 2018

3 Personal Intro and Opening Prayer Intro: Just a small town girl, Livin' in a lonely world, She took the midnight train goin' anywhere. Just a city boy, Born and raised in South Detroit, He took the midnight train goin' anywhere. a. Those are lyrics to Journey s Don t Stop Believing. It s a popular song. Why? It resonates and we identify with its characters - it s about people chasing a dream, needing that big break, that second chance, paying anything to roll the dice just one more time. b. The song is about hope and resilience, Don t stop believing. Hope is powerful and everyone needs it to go on living. What is the basis for your hope? Is it enough to sustain you during time of trials? These are vital questions. c. Psalm 57 is about hope in the midst of trials, a real and lasting hope that sustained its author, King David. As we will see, it is a hope found not in ourselves but in God s steadfast love and faithfulness which is ultimately seen in the Savior provided by God, his son Jesus Christ.. 1. Background - David: From Hero to Helpless a. To really appreciate Psalm 57 we need to understand its background. The preface or title to the Psalm indicates that it is a song written when David fled from Saul, in the cave. Many scholars feel this is a reference to events found in 1 Samuel 22: 1-2. It is important to refresh what Pastor Dave shared last week about David fleeing from Saul in 1 Samuel. b. The nation of Israel wanted a cool king like the nations around them. God warned them through the prophet Samuel about cool kings but Israel didn t care and so God allowed Saul to become King of Israel. However, Saul was not a godly man or a good king so God had David anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul. David then served faithfully in Saul s court, but Saul resented David and why not? David was Chris Pratt - superhero material; good looking studmuffin with a sensitive side (poetry, music) and yet he was a monster on the battlefield. Saul s daughter Meechal was totally crushing on him and he was best buds with Saul s son Jonathan. David, not Saul, got all the love. #Davestheman was trending on Israelite social media. Finally Saul had enough and wants to kill the Golden Boy, David, who is now the unwanted hero. Jonathan then tips off David who flees from Saul. c. David first seeks protection by approaching Achish, the King of Gath, a Philistine. 1 Samuel 21: tells us what happened: 10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack

4 madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? David has gone from Golden Boy Chris Pratt superhero 4 million followers on Israelite social media to raving lunatic, to humiliation, to laughing stock of Gath. He had been loved and adored in Israel and now he is rejected and an outcast. He has to feel helpless. d. We pick up David s plight at the beginning of 1 Samuel 22: 1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. David takes refuge in a cave in rugged, hilly terrain like the Hocking Hills where it is easy to hide. Word of his camp spreads and he is joined by family who also need protection as they could be targeted by Saul. e. Verse 2 says he is joined by those in distress, those in debt, and those who are bitter in soul. Probably some of these people are respected members of society or are from Saul s court who are distressed by Saul s conduct and see David as the rightful king. Their intentions are noble. f. However, some of these folks are probably desperate, needy and frustrated, eager to escape the circumstances of their lives or just wanting a second chance, a do-over, paying anything to roll the dice one more time. We can probably relate to them more than we care to admit. They ve lost hope. These people then form this basis of David s outcast army. g. Right now all of them see David as their Savior, their hope - you will rescue us and save Israel. And he will do that, in time. But right now their Savior is feeling helpless and hopeless and in need of a Savior himself; as he looks at his outcast army and it is looking very grim. All of this is the basis for Psalm 57. Let s look at Psalm Psalm 57: From Helpless to Hopeful a. The Psalm begins in verses 1-3 with a declaration of trust and affirmation from David: 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! David is desperate yet he remains hopeful. He cries out for God s mercy in verse 1, seeking refuge in God and he is confident he will find it. Why? David can take refuge in God because of God s steadfast love and his faithfulness, what in the Hebrew is his hesed. b. David s hope and our hope is based upon God s hesed which is expressed in his covenant or contract with his chosen people Israel that Pastor Dave described last week. As part of the covenant ratification God made with Abram in Genesis 15, God committed to blessing and

5 preserving his people even to the point of his own death. God is committed to his people not because they are faithful but rather because he is. God s covenantal love and faithfulness, his hesed, is the basis of David s hope in the Psalm. God will rescue David because he will not abandon his covenant people. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! c. David doesn t mince words about his predicament in verse 4: 4 My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. It s not just that David s life is in danger but he is being pursued by Saul, the king whom he faithfully served. Kings always worried about those who were in their courts; betrayals, intrigues and possible assassination plots were always real possibilities. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown Shakespeare said. But David, although he was anointed by Samuel as king, never sought to eliminate or bring down Saul. And what was the reward for his loyalty? Possible death, both to him and his family. Who could David ever trust again? Could he trust his 400 member outcast army of those distressed, in debt and bitter in soul? Whom can he turn to? Who will deliver him? d. The remainder of the Psalm is praise given by David in anticipation of God s deliverance he will experience. Just absorb this: 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! 6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! 9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! That s just beautiful. David erupts in joy over his deliverance and vindication to come. How can David have such hope while in the cave? e. Verse 10 mentions again God s steadfast love and faithfulness which David spoke of earlier in verse 3. In 1 Samuel 13 God rejected Saul and wanted a king who sought after his own heart. David was then anointed king and was faithful to God. God s steadfast love and faithfulness to David, the righteous king, was an extension of his steadfast love and faithfulness to his people, Israel, expressed in his covenant with them. f. God provided Israel, his people, a savior, David, who in turn, looked to God as his Savior. God provided protection and refuge to King David who then provided protection and refuge to the needy and the desperate people of Israel. God will deliver the deliverer and save the Savior because it is consistent with God s hesed and his promises. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. With this hope in God, David offers his praise. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth! 3. Jesus: The Savior s Savior a. David the Savior needed a Savior. David was a faithful king but he was also a flawed king. He sought after God yet he indulged in sin. He delivered Israel but Israel gradually became

6 divided and followed idols. Eventually, it was one of David s ancestors - Jesus - who became the Savior needed by David, Israel and the entire world. b. David had his followers, his cave dwellers, the outcasts - the distressed, those in debt and those who were bitter in soul. So, too, Jesus had his followers, his cave dwellers, the outcasts - Zaccheus, the tiny tax collector, the demon possessed man in the Gerasenes who lived in the tombs, the woman subject to bleeding for 12 years. There were the lepers, the blind and the paralyzed, all desperate to be healed by Jesus. Even his 12 closest disciples were a handful. c. Jesus then was crucified on the cross and buried in a tomb which was cut out of rock, a kind of makeshift cave if you will. Jesus literally became a cave dweller himself. Yet Jesus did not stay in the cave, his tomb. He rose from the dead and now is exalted as God s Son in Heaven with all glory and power. Be exalted O God above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth! We are called to repent of our sins and believe that Jesus death on the cross atones for our sin, that his death paid the penalty for our sins. As Romans 5:8 states, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We too can be resurrected and go from cave dwellers to heirs in Christ. e. Do you need hope today? Are you like the cave dwellers in Psalm 57, distressed and bitter in spirit? Are you struggling with debt or other financial problems? Maybe you are struggling with your health. David s hope was in the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, his hesed. God s steadfast love and faithfulness to his people is seen in the sacrificial death of Christ and in his resurrection. We can be delivered from our cave, from our sins, from our judgment through Jesus the Savior whom God has provided. Romans 10:9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. God s love can reach into the caves of our lives. f. Don t Stop Believing is a great song but don t stop believing in what? In whom? Ourselves? Other people? Celebrities? Political leaders? The problem is that the world doesn t offer lasting hope, the hope we need. We need more than a midnight train going anywhere. We need real hope, a living hope, and according to 1 Peter 1:3 God has provided that hope in Christ: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, David expressed his hope in God in Psalm 57 and we too who believe in Christ can join him in saying, For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Closing Prayer