Arise!

Please turn to Psalm 3. We are going

to

look at Psalm 3 this morning as we

continue our

summer series in the book of Psalms, where

we're gonna look at the first 12 Psalms

this summer.

And then in August once we're done with

this series we'll go back to the book

of Romans. Today we're looking again

at Psalm 3. Please listen to the reading

of God's word.

A psalm of David

when he fled from Absalom his son.

Oh Lord, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me!

Many are saying of my soul, 'There is

no salvation for him in God.'

But you, O Lord, are a shield about

me, my glory and the lifter of my

head.

I cried aloud to the Lord,

and he answered me from his holy hill.

I lay down and slept.

I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

I will not be afraid of many thousands

of people who who have set themselves

against me all around.

Arise, O Lord. Save me, O my God.

For you strike all my enemies on the

cheek.

You break the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Your blessing be

on your people.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Please be seated.

I'm sure you would agree with me that

in our modern world,

cultivating the discipline of prayer presents

a great challenge.

Of course, there are many reasons for this.

The fast pace and busyness

of our life,

the all

consuming distractions

that come from our smartphones or from social

media,

the precedence of the material world over the

spiritual world,

feelings of guilt

or inadequacy

before God,

the perceived ineffectiveness

of prayer,

or even an ever growing ignorance

of what prayer is

and how to pray.

All of these things

conspire together to arrest the development

of the Christian's prayer life.

As we continue our summer series in the

book of Psalms,

we will discover that one of the great

blessings of the Psalter

is that it records

prayers for us that are inspired by God,

and that are meant to be sung,

memorized, and recited

by God's people.

Therefore, as we consider Psalm 3 this morning,

we will focus on how this Psalm

teaches us to pray.

In particular, I want you to notice

that Psalm 3 is a balm for the

embattled soul.

This is the main point that I want

you to remember this morning.

If adversity is weighing you down,

lift up your prayers to God

and arise.

That is what this Psalm calls us to

do. If adversity is weighing you down,

lift up your prayers to God

and arise.

So let's study what Psalm 3 teaches us

about prayer under

6 headings. You heard this right?

Six headings.

The context,

the covenant,

the conflict,

the cry,

the confidence,

and the confession.

Okay? So let's look at the first heading,

the context.

Note that Psalm 3 is the first Psalm

with a superscript or a title that is

attached to it.

Most Christian theologians consider the titles to be

part of the inspired Word of God,

which means that the information recorded in the

titles bears divine authority.

Psalms 3 title reads, A Psalm of David

when he fled from Absalom

his son.

So Psalm 3

is a prayer of lament

written by David

as he wrestles with the anguish in his

soul caused by his son,

Absalom,

who betrayed David

by usurping

Israel's throne.

In 2nd Samuel,

chapters

13 to 19,

we find the context

for Psalm 3.

It's a story of abuse,

family betrayal,

political entry,

and war.

And the tragic events there unfold after David's

firstborn son Amnon

rapes his half sister

Tamar.

2 years later, Tamar's brother Absalom

avenges her death by hosting a feast, and

then getting Amnon drunk at that feast, and

sending his servants

to murder him.

Absalom then flees Jerusalem and goes north beyond

David's kingdom,

taking refuge in Geshur

where his maternal grandfather was king.

Thus, Absalom lives in exile for 3 years.

David,

grieving the loss of his son, his firstborn

son, Amnon,

but also longing to see Absalom again, eventually

allows him, Absalom,

to return to Jerusalem.

And

after 2 years,

David finally

receives him because

even though he

sorry. Not after 2 years. Absalom lives in

exile for 3 years and then

then then he he comes, he receives them,

but David forbids Absalom from being in his

presence.

So think about that. He brings him back,

but he doesn't receive him.

He longs to see him. He yearns to

be with him, but he actually doesn't allow

him to be with him. I think that

alone is a lesson for us on forgiveness.

If we're going to forgive, we need to

forgive all the way.

It doesn't benefit anybody

to not come all the way,

to the throne of mercy, and plead for

mercy, and ask for forgiveness, and forgive others

even if we don't do it fully. And

here David

sins in that regard. He brings his son

back, but he actually doesn't allow him in

his presence. And this brings great problems because,

Absalom during this time that he's back in

Jerusalem, but unable to see his father,

grows even more bitter

towards him.

Well, like I said, after 2 years,

David finally receives Absalom in his presence. But

over the next 4 years, as that bitterness

in Absalom had grown,

he spends that time, these next 4 years

Absalom does,

drawing the hearts of the people of Israel

away from David and toward him.

And after he wins enough support,

Absalom travels to Hebron

and declares himself king there.

This leads to full scale rebellion in the

land of Israel, forcing David to flee Jerusalem

to avoid Absalom's army.

So David crosses the Kidron Valley and weeps

bitterly as he ascends the Mount of Olives

with his heart heavy in sorrow because of

his son's betrayal.

David's flight

forces him to go into the wilderness

where he crosses the Jordan and travels north

across

Gilead

and through the forest of Ephraim until he

finds refuge

in a city called Mahanaim,

some 60 miles northeast

of Jerusalem.

David's flight is marked by grief

and great uncertainty.

Yet in the midst of overwhelming adversity,

the prayer of Psalm 3

articulates David's trust

in God's protection.

So this is the first lesson about prayer

that Psalm 3 teaches us.

Everyone

needs prayer.

Everyone

needs prayer.

Even the most powerful person

needs to pray.

David was renowned

for his power,

for his wisdom,

and for his charisma.

He appeared to have all the things in

his kingdom

completely under control.

Yet in a moment

everything changed and David found himself

abandoning his throne and running for his life.

Sooner or later,

the trials of life

drive all of us to our knees.

And in that moment,

it is good to avail ourselves

of the blessed recourse

of prayer.

Think about the challenges in your life that

you find most pressing today.

The things that are keeping you up at

night,

the things that might be provoking anxiety

in your heart,

tensions with your family perhaps,

concerns

about your children or grandchildren,

or by your parents or grandparents,

health concerns,

relational problems, challenges

at work or at school,

financial stress,

perhaps even the the feelings of guilt or

shame

because of past or present sin in your

life.

Are you praying

about these things?

Have you asked others

to pray

for you in these concerns?

In other words, how is the context of

your life

informing the content

of your prayer?

Is this adversity driving you to your knees

in dejection?

Or is it driving you to your knees

in reliance upon God?

You see, your prayer life reveals the substance

of your faith,

the soundness of your theology,

and the sincerity

of your hope.

In other words,

one might ask or say,

tell me what you pray for

and I'll tell you what you believe.

What does your prayer life

say about you?

Remember, if adversity is weighing you down, you

need to lift up your prayers to God

and arise.

David found solace by turning to God during

his darkest moments.

You also can find encouragement and hope through

prayer,

knowing

that God hears and sustains you

in your trials.

So having looked at the context,

let's consider the second heading,

the covenant.

Verse 1 reads,

O Lord,

how many are my foes?

Many are rising against me.

Notice that David addresses God by using His

covenant name,

Yahweh,

here translated as Lord in uppercase letters.

This teaches us that prayer is the privilege

of God's covenant people.

The truth is that there is no reason

why

a holy God

who is good,

and righteous,

and just

should listen to the prayers of a people

who are sinful,

and disloyal,

and altogether

untrustworthy

like we are.

But he does.

He does in fact listen to our prayers.

In 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 12, the

Apostle writes that God's ears are open

to the prayers of his people.

In 1st John chapter 5 verse 15,

John 5:15

the beloved disciple remind reminds Christians that we

can be confident

that God hears us when we pray

according to his will.

And in Philippians

Philippians 4:6

chapter 4 verse 6,

Paul exhorts us to pray

making our request known to God with thanksgiving.

And the reason God does this

is that He has graciously

condescended

and entered into a covenant with us through

His Son and Savior,

through His Son and our Savior,

Jesus Christ.

The prophet Jeremiah

prophesied this in Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to

Jeremiah 31:31–34

34.

Part of it which we already read today

where he writes this,

Behold,

the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant with

the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with

their fathers

on the day when I took them by

the hand to bring them out of the

land of Egypt,

my covenant that they broke

though I was their husband,

declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant

that I will make with the house of

Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put

my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his

neighbor and each his brother saying, know the

Lord

for they shall all know me.

From the least of them to the greatest

declares the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will remember their sin no more.

Dear Christian,

the prophet Jeremiah prophesied this

about you.

This is God's promise to

you. He has forgiven your sin.

He remembers it no more.

And because He has promised to be your

God,

He cares about your life, and He listens

to your prayers.

So the second lesson that Psalm 3 teaches

us about prayer is that prayer is the

privilege

of God's covenant people.

Because of Jesus Christ,

because of His perfect and finished work to

atone for your sin,

because you're united to Him through a spirit

wrought faith,

because of Christ's ascension into heaven

where He intercedes for you as your High

Priest,

you have an audience

before the King of the universe.

It is your legal right in Jesus Christ.

Don't forsake

this privilege

and gift.

Avail yourself

of this right

to come before God's heavenly throne in prayer.

So having looked at the context and the

covenant,

let's consider the 3rd heading, the conflict.

Again, look at verses 12.

Oh Lord, how many are my foes?

Many are rising against me.

Many are saying of my soul, there is

no salvation

for him

in God.

Having already spoken about the covenantal nature

of this prayer,

I want to draw your attention

to 2 more things in these verses.

First,

notice that David underscores the great number of

his adversaries.

He says and repeats that his foes are

many.

In the history of Israel,

few if any men have enjoyed as much

popularity

as David had up to that point.

And yet in an instant everything changed, and

David's world was turned upside down.

Many of the same people

who celebrated his military victories on behalf of

Israel

had now sworn their allegiance to Absalom

and were pursuing David

to take his life.

Perhaps you notice how this foreshadows

our Lord Jesus's own experience,

who after entering Jerusalem to great acclaim

as the multitude cried out, Hosanna to the

son of David on Palm Sunday,

by week's end would hear the crowd shouting,

crucify Him.

This admonishes us from pursuing popularity

and highlights the foolishness

of putting our trust in man.

In Jeremiah 17:5, the prophet puts it more

Jeremiah 17:5

strongly when he writes,

cursed

is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away

from the Lord.

Listen, popularity contests

are a waste of time

and they're not worthy of your devotion.

I know social media and all the algorithms

are designed for you to pursue that popularity.

They're worthless.

It's worthless. It's a trap. It's a snare.

It's a snare from the pit of hell.

Don't fall into it.

The hearts and the will of human beings

are fickle,

and the security that they offer is nothing

more than a house of cards. It will

collapse at the slightest blowing of the wind.

Psalm 3 teaches us therefore

to turn our hearts towards the Lord through

prayer,

for He will neither turn away from us

nor turn against us.

Instead,

in Psalm 116 verse 2,

Psalms 116:2

the psalmist

writes that because God inclines his ear toward

him,

He will call on him as long as

he lives.

Oh, that that would be our posture.

That we would know that the Lord inclines

his ear toward us. So we will call

on him with every breath that we have,

every day of our lives.

The second thing I want you to notice

in verses 1 and 2

is that David's adversaries are making are maligning

God's character

because they don't understand God's grace.

David says in verse 2 that many are

saying of him, 'There is no salvation for

him in God.'

At the beginning of David's flight from Absalom,

David and his men go through a town

called Bahurim

on the north eastern slope of the Mount

of Olives.

In 2nd Samuel 16,

we read that a man named Shemae,

a Benjaminite

from the house of Saul

begins to throw stones at David

and to curse him as he is going

through this town saying,

Get out.

Get out you man of blood,

you worthless man.

The Lord has avenged

on the Lord has avenged on you all

the blood of the house of Saul,

in whose place you have reigned.

And the Lord has given the kingdom into

the hand of your son Absalom.

See, your evil is on you for you

are a man of blood.

When Abishai, one of David's men, asked David

for permission to save the king's honor by

personally

cutting off Shimei's head,

David answers,

behold, my own son seeks my life.

How much more now may this Benjaminite

leave him alone

and let him curse

for the Lord has told him to.

It may be that the Lord will look

on the wrong done to me and the

Lord will repay me with good for his

cursing

today.

There's 2 things I want you to notice.

1st,

Shimei calls David a man of blood,

and indeed he is.

David had led many military campaigns

and had therefore shed much blood.

But David was also guilty of shedding innocent

blood.

Like the blood of his own general,

Uriah,

whom David sent to die on the front

line in a vain attempt to cover up

his adulterous relationship with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba.

Whether Shamay is aware of this sinful act

of David is beside the point.

What we do know is that Shamay holds

David responsible

for the demise of the house of Saul.

In that particular case,

wrongly impugning sin to David.

And yet,

what is evident

is that Shimei does not understand

God's grace.

Because even though David is indeed

a man of blood,

it is also true

that the Lord

is a God whose love for his people

is steadfast

and whose mercies are new

every morning.

A God who saves sinners,

who saves

even men of blood.

So the accusation

that David hears that there is no salvation

for him in God is entirely baseless,

not because of David's sinful

character,

but because of God's righteous character.

Secondly,

David's response hints that he himself believes

that God may be punishing him

for his sin.

Now listen, God does not punish

his people.

He punished Jesus in our behalf.

But He does discipline and chastise us as

a loving parent does a child.

But David's doubt

ought to serve as a warning to us

because it shows that one of the devastating

consequences of sin

is that it tempts us to doubt God's

love.

Are there times when you doubt God's love?

Times when you question

the extent of God's mercy?

Times when you wonder whether his grace is

sufficient for you?

The conflict in verses 1 and 2 is

a conflict between the believer

and the unbelieving world, a world which denies

that God's grace is real.

But it is also a conflict within the

believer himself

whose own sin

tempts him to deny

that God's grace is sufficient for him.

So the 3rd lesson Psalm 3 teaches us

about prayer

is that our sin

should not drive us away from God

but should drive us

to God

because he neither turns away from us

nor does he turn us away.

So having looked at the context,

the covenant,

the end, the conflict,

let's consider our 4th heading,

the cry.

In verses 3 and 4 we read,

but you, oh Lord, are a shield about

me, my glory and the lifter of my

head.

I cried aloud to the Lord, and He

answered me

from His holy hill.

Notice the contrast

of verse 3

with verse 2.

In verse 2, the unbelieving world says, There

is no salvation for the sinner.

But in verse 3

says David, But you, O Lord,

are a shield

about me.

The word translated

about me means

around me,

behind me,

through me,

and even for my benefit.

The Greek translation of the old testament renders

it

my helper

or my protector.

In other words,

far from there being no salvation for the

sinner in God,

God alone

is the sinner's salvation.

He is a shield that goes before you,

behind you, above you,

and around you. He is your helper. He

is your protector.

And that's not all.

In 2nd Samuel 15:30,

we read that, As David fled from Absalom,

he ascended the Mount of Olives weeping

barefoot and with his head covered.

But now,

David's prayer says that God is also His

glory

and the lifter

of his head.

A 1000 years later,

when the Son of David ascended the cross

on Calvary,

his head was also covered and weighed down,

this time by a crown of thorns.

But his heavenly father lifted up his head

and raised him up in glory.

And if you are united to him by

faith,

so too

shall he lift up your head in glory

one day.

In verse 4, David says, that after he

cried to the Lord,

God answered him from his holy hill.

Once again, the context in 2nd Samuel sheds

light

on Psalm 3.

In 2nd Samuel

15, we read that as David was leading

the army out of Jerusalem,

2 priests

brought him the Ark of the Covenant.

However,

David commanded them to carry the Ark back

to the holy hill.

Instead of falling into superstition

by treating the ark like an amulet,

like a good luck charm,

David prays that God himself

will protect him and bring him back to

the city so that he can see the

ark in its dwelling place once

again. David cries out to God

and God hears his prayer.

God protects him.

God provides for him. And ultimately, God propels

him to victory

under God's providential

care. You know, studies have shown

that children,

in poorly managed orphanages

exhibit the severe

emotional and developmental and developmental impact

of neglect.

Many children in these orphanages become

emotionally detached

and even stop crying

altogether

since they learn that their cries does not

result in receiving any comfort or attention.

So they learn to suppress their emotion. They

even learn to suppress the need to cry,

and they do this as a coping mechanism.

Psalm 3 teaches us

that we're not orphans.

Psalm 3 teaches us

that we don't have to suppress our emotions

before our heavenly Father.

Our heavenly Father does not neglect us.

He always hears our cries.

He always answers

from His holy hill.

So the 4th lesson that Psalm 3 teaches

us about prayer

is that when we cry out to God

in prayer,

our heavenly father will never neglect us.

When we cry out to God in prayer,

our heavenly father will never neglect us. He

may not always answer the prayers in the

way that we want,

but He always answers our prayers according to

His goodwill for us.

Like David,

it is a good practice by the way

to write down your prayers,

so that you can record when and how

God answers them.

This discipline will help you to give God

the glory for His past provision

and will embolden your future hope

knowing that the God of the universe

hears your voice.

So having looked at the context,

the covenant,

the conflict, and the cry, let's consider our

5th heading,

the confidence.

In verses 5 and 6 we read, I

laid down and slept.

I woke again for the Lord sustained me.

I will not be afraid of many thousands

of people who have set themselves against me

all around.

When we say that some people,

or when we say that someone

slept like a baby,

we mean that such a person slept very

soundly

as if that person had no care in

the world.

Babies really only have 2 cares.

They want to eat

and they want their diaper changed.

Luckily for them,

they aren't even responsible to make sure that

either care is met.

A loving parent

make sure that the baby's needs are taken

care of.

That's why babies sleep

like a baby.

But you get older, the amount of cares

increase,

and restful sleep often becomes elusive.

As David's grip on his kingdom collapsed,

and he found himself running for his life

because of his own son's army

persecuting him, his own son's army trying to

kill him, we might have expected

David to ask God to remove his insomnia.

Instead,

in Psalm 3, David says that he lie

down and slept,

and he woke up because God sustained him.

So with confidence David boldly declares

that he will not be afraid

though many thousands are set against him as

they literally were.

Because of verse 5,

many commentators consider Psalm 3 to be a

morning prayer.

And as such, verses 56

teach us to entrust our cares to God

for He is the one who sustains us.

In the middle of war,

David could sleep soundly

because he was confident

that God would sustain him.

But in the middle of the storm,

Jesus slept soundly

because He is the one who sustains the

whole universe

by the word of his power as the

author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 1:3.

Hebrews 1:3

In the storms and vicissitudes of life, you

might become paralyzed by fear,

focusing on the weakness of your flesh

instead of focusing

on the strength of your father.

If we focused on our own gifts and

abilities,

we

would never dare to plant this church.

We would never dare to share the gospel

with our friends,

with our coworkers.

We would never dare to send missionaries to

other countries.

Our adversaries are too many.

Our barriers are too high.

And we would be and we are too

weak, and we are too weary.

And yet Psalm 3 invites us to say

with David, we will not be afraid,

though many 1,000

set themselves against us.

You see the 5th lesson Psalm 3 teaches

us about prayer is that we can pray

with confidence

because God is the one who sustains us.

Therefore, our troubles

and challenges should never make us anxious.

Instead, we can lift our prayers to the

Lord with thanksgiving,

confident in His love and power.

With a peace that surpasses knowledge,

we can go to sleep at night,

confident that we will arise in the morning

for God will sustain us.

And when the Lord calls us home,

we can close our eyes with the same

confidence

that we shall again hear a voice saying,

awake, oh sleeper,

and arise from the dead, and Christ will

shine His light on us. He will sustain

us.

So having looked at the context,

the covenant,

the conflict,

the cry,

and the confidence, let's consider our final heading,

the confession.

Verses 7 and 8. In verses 7 and

8 we read,

Arise, O Lord,

Save me, O my God.

For You strike all my enemies on the

cheek,

You break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation

belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on

your people.

As you know, Moses

led Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness.

And whenever they would set out,

knowing they would face many dangers, including armies

seeking to defeat them,

the ark would go before the people of

Israel. And Moses would cry out, arise, oh

Lord, and let your enemies be scattered,

and let those who hate you flee before

you.

In 2nd Samuel 15,

we learned that David did not take the

ark to the wilderness,

but instead sent the ark back to Jerusalem.

However,

David knew

that God would answer his prayer from his

holy hill.

So here David proclaims the old battle cry

of Israel,

summoning the Lord to lead his people to

victory and his enemies

to resounding defeat.

David characterizes

his adversaries

as wild beasts who are eager to devour

him.

But to demonstrate his confidence in the Lord,

David calls on God to slap his enemies

on the cheek,

showing his utter disdain for them, for the

slap was considered a great insult.

And he calls on God to break their

teeth,

rendering the beasts

harmless.

In 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 8,

Peter writes that our adversary, the devil,

prowls around like a roaring lion

seeking someone to devour.

But though this is a call to sobriety,

it's not a call to fear.

For Psalm 3 teaches us that even an

even greater lion,

that is to say the lion of the

tribe of Judah,

goes into battle

for us

and before us,

breaking our adversary's

neck and dashing its teeth from its jaw.

David ends Psalm 3 by confessing

that salvation

belongs to the Lord and that His blessing

shall be

upon His people.

And so the 6th lesson that Psalm 3

teaches us about prayer

is that we must pray for the lost.

Because salvation is God's work,

not theirs.

And no adversary

will prevail

against God's power to save.

2nd Samuel 14 says that no one in

Israel

was more handsome

than Absalom.

It says that from the sole of his

foot

to the crown of his head,

Absalom was without blemish.

But his lust for revenge

and his appetite for power

caused him to break his father's heart.

Yet in the heat of the battle,

as he rode his mule,

his hair got caught on a tree and

he could not break free

from that thick feather.

So Absalom hung on a tree

where he was pierced

by a sword,

And He died as a curse. For Deuteronomy

21, the chapter that describes the rebellious son,

states that the man who hangs on a

tree

is cursed.

Isaiah 53

says that the Messiah the Messiah's physical appearance

had neither majesty

nor beauty.

Yet in 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 18

to 19,

we read that Jesus is the lamb without

blemish,

whose blood

cleanses us from our sin.

He's not a slave to revenge,

but a minister of reconciliation.

He has no appetite for power,

rather

his food is to do his father's will.

He does not break his father's heart rather

his own heart breaks

for his people.

So he rides a donkey into Jerusalem

as David's greater son.

And instead of

usurping David's crown,

he trades his greater crown for a crown

of thorns.

That's where his hair gets caught

on a crown of thorns as he hangs

on a tree

in Calvary.

He takes the place of the rebellious sons

and daughters of God, and he becomes a

curse for us,

liberating us from the guilt and from the

power of sin.

Salvation belongs to Him

because He purchased it.

He paid with His blood.

And so His blessing is indeed upon us.

That's why David ends Psalm 3 by confessing,

Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be

on your people.

So beloved Christian,

if adversity

is weighing you down,

lift up your prayers to God and arise.

For the Risen One has ascended into heaven

and is seated at the Father's right hand,

whereas your High Priest

He delights in blessing you.

So this church plant

will be a praying church.

After all, Psalm 3 has taught us

that everyone needs to pray.

So we will.

That prayer is the privilege of God's covenant

people.

So we will avail ourselves of this right.

That our sin should drive us to God,

not away from Him.

So we will confess our sin and we

will relish His grace.

That our heavenly father never neglects us when

we cry out in prayer,

so we will trust Him

with our heart's desires.

That God sustains us,

so we should pray with confidence,

so we will be at peace even when

God's enemies

scheme against us and surround us.

And that salvation is God's work so that

we must pray for the lost, so we

will never give up on anyone

because mercy

triumphs over judgment.

So we will pray without ceasing,

and God will move without failing.

Let's pray.