Steadfast Love and Strength

Do you need to read other Bibles?

Psalm 21, 21.

I will read it out loud.

It says,

To the Choir Master, a Psalm of David.

O Lord, in your strength the King rejoices,

and in your salvation how greatly he exalts.

You have given him his heart's desire

and have not withheld the request of his lips, Selah.

For you meet him with rich blessings.

You set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

He asked life of you and you gave it to him.

Length of days forever and ever.

His glory is great through your salvation.

Splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

For you make him most blessed forever.

You make him glad with the joy of your presence.

For the King trusts in the Lord.

And through the steadfast love of the Most High,

he shall not be moved.

Your hand will find out all your enemies.

Your right hand will find out those who hate you.

You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath.

And fire will consume them.

You will destroy their descendants from the earth

and their offspring from among the children of man.

Though they plan evil against you,

though they devise mischief,

they will not succeed.

For you will put them to flight.

You will aim at their faces with your books.

Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength.

We will sing and praise your power.

In the screw tape letters,

C.S. Lewis writes about how a senior devil

advises a junior devil on how to tempt a man.

And in one such dialogue,

the senior devil tells him to keep his subject,

his human being, focused on the past,

not on the past, on the future.

Because that's where nearly all vices come from.

So he says,

Nearly all vices are rooted in the future.

Gratitude looks to the past,

and love to the present.

Fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.

We want a man haggrened by the future.

And this passage really,

this psalm speaks the truth of that,

because it teaches us

that by looking on the past at what God has done,

that fosters our present trust in him.

And it's that present trust in him

that enables us to have assurance

of God's deliverance in the future as well.

So, and so the main point of this psalm

is that we can trust in the Lord for salvation presently,

because of his steadfast love and strength.

So in verses 1 to 7,

we see how God in the past saved the faithful.

And then in verses 8 to 13,

we see how God will in future smite the wicked.

So let's read verses 1 to 7 first.

It's in verses 1 to 2, actually.

The whole verses 1 to 6

actually has a poetic parallel structure.

It's kind of a,

it has two sections in verses 1 to 6

that recount how God was faithful

and the reason why he was faithful.

So you can, let me show you that.

In verses 1 to 2, it begins,

Well, Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,

and in your salvation how greatly he exalts.

You have given him his heart's desire

and have not withheld the request of his lips.

Selah.

So God gave him salvation.

And the word could refer,

it's a pretty wide, you know, encompassing word

that can refer also to military victories.

That's probably the context of this psalm,

because he talks about the enemies,

and it's connected to Psalm 20.

And so the king, it seems,

had sought God's help

and asked him to preserve his life,

and God had gave him his heart's desire

and saved him.

So salvation is given.

And the reason for this gift of salvation from God

is verse 3.

For you meet him with rich blessings.

You set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

And because God looked upon him with favor,

God showed his blessing,

that's why the king was spared in battle,

experienced salvation.

And so that pattern of God giving salvation to him,

and then the reason for that,

which is God's blessing,

instead bestowing fine gold,

his glory on him,

that's repeated in verses 4 to 6.

So in verses 4 to 5,

he recounts again God's salvation.

He says,

He asked life of you,

you gave it to him,

length of days forever and ever.

His glory is great through your salvation,

splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

So recognize the word repeated.

Salvation is repeated.

The word to give is repeated.

So again,

it's God who gives salvation.

And then again,

the reason is given for that.

Verse 6,

You,

for,

you make him most blessed forever.

You make him glad with the joy of your presence.

And the word make,

here is the same word that's used

in verses 1,

verse 3,

which says,

set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

It's the same word.

And then again,

the word blessing is repeated,

verse 3 and verse 6.

So this shows,

the parallel pattern shows how God delivers

the king who is faithful to him

and requests his deliverance.

And then finally,

verse 1 and 6 together wrap up

and enclose this section together.

Because in the verse 1,

it said that the king rejoices

in God's salvation and strength.

And now in verse 6,

it says the king is glad

with the joy of God's presence.

Again,

the same words.

So that's the,

and the reason why

the anointed king rejoices in God,

he's able to rejoice in God's salvation.

And all of that is given in Psalm,

in verse 7.

For the king trusts in the Lord

and through the steadfast love

of the Most High,

he shall not be moved.

It's only those who trust in the Lord

that experience God's deliverance

and salvation.

And that's the basis.

And the basis for the trust,

this trust of the psalmist

is God's steadfast love.

So he says,

through the steadfast love

of the Most High,

the king shall not be moved.

And I think those two things

are vitally connected.

Because if God's love

is not constant,

steadfast,

if his love is fickle

and changing,

then we can't trust in him

all the time.

But because his love

is constant,

steadfast,

we can trust in him.

It's not dependent

or contingent

on how we're doing

or how the world is going.

But because God's love

is steadfast,

we can always trust in him.

So that's how God

saved his faithful

in the past.

But God will smite the wicked.

So it's by remembering

and trusting in the Lord

on the basis

of his steadfast love

that we can be assured

of how God will deliver

in the future.

That's what we see

in verses 8 to 12.

Your hand will find out

all your enemies.

Your right hand

will find out

those who hate you.

You will make them

as a blazing oven

when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up

in his wrath

and fire will consume them.

You will destroy

their descendants

from the earth

and their offspring

from among the children

of men.

Though they plan evil

against you,

though they devise mischief,

they will not succeed.

For you will put them

to flight.

You will aim

at their faces

with your bows.

These kind of verses

are a little bit

discomforting, right?

It's kind of,

you think,

wow, that sounds

pretty violent.

He's going to, you know,

put them to flight

and aim at their faces

with his bows.

This is God's deliverance.

And these kind of passages

remind us that God,

that this ferocity of his,

ferocity of his anger

toward evil, right?

He really is a just God.

He really is a holy God.

And he hates evil

and he hates sin.

And he will meet them

with fiery

and unrelenting judgment.

But notice that this is

in the future tense, right?

This kind of deliverance

doesn't happen now,

but it will happen.

So David has not yet seen

God's judgment of the wicked

in this kind of complete way.

But the fact that God's been

faithful to him in the past

and the fact that he now trusts

in him in the present

is what assures him

that the enemies will

in the end be judged.

And at this point,

you might wonder

what this psalm has to do

with us, right?

What does this have to do

with me?

It was about David.

We're not kings

and we're not in

physical warfare

against any of God's enemies.

and verse 4

kind of insinuates

toward a reality

that goes beyond

the life of David

because it says

that God granted him

life and length of days

forever and ever.

And the language

forever and ever

can't refer to,

you know,

David's immortality

because David died.

And the Bible

nowhere promises,

you know,

immortality in the flesh.

It promises

spiritual eternal life

and resurrection

in the end

but not immortality

in the flesh.

And so the language

actually reflects

the covenant promises

that God made

to King David

in 2 Samuel 7

2 Samuel 7:12–16

verses 12 to 16.

God promised to David,

when your days

are fulfilled

and you lie down

with your fathers,

I will raise up

your offspring after you

who shall come

from your body

and I will establish

his kingdom.

He shall build a house

for my name

and I will establish

the throne of his kingdom

forever.

And I will be with him

to him a father

and he shall be

to me a son.

When he commits iniquity

I will discipline him

with the rod of men,

with the stripes

of the sons of men.

But my steadfast love

will not depart from him.

As I took it from Saul

whom I put away

from before you.

And your house

and your kingdom

shall be made sure

forever before me.

Your throne shall be

established forever.

Right?

So that's the promise

that's in view

in this song.

Right?

That God's going to

establish David's throne

forever.

So this talk about

life forevermore

is referring to the fact

that God's sustaining

the kingdom

that he built.

That he is going to be

faithful to this

covenant promise

and that's what he's doing

in preserving David.

And so if this

and this promise

to David

of course ultimately

is fulfilled

in Jesus

even though it

immediately refers

to Solomon

his son

it ultimately

refers to Jesus

who is the fulfillment

of this covenant promise

because that's why

he's described

as the son of David

in Luke 1

32-33

the angels foretelling

the birth of Jesus

says he will be great

and will be called

the son of the most high

and the Lord God

will give to him

the throne of his father

David

and he will reign

over the house

of Jacob forever

and of his kingdom

there will be no end.

So that's

Jesus is the one

that fulfills that

promise.

So then the Psalm 21

that not only does it

speak of David's

military victory

and triumph over

his enemies

but also of our

salvation from

sin and death

because that's

what it ultimately

points to

Jesus

the victory that

Jesus accomplished

for us.

And so then

likewise for us

we need to trust

in the Lord

for our salvation

because of his

steadfast love

and strength.

And that means

our basis

for his

trust in him

has to be

his steadfast love

right

not our performance

and not

how we're doing

not our righteousness

but Christ's righteousness

and that's why

there's an emphasis

in this Psalm

of the strength

of the Lord

the might

strength

in verse 1

and verse 13

it begins

and ends

with an invocation

of

O Lord

in your strength

right

if we look

around us

right

humanity

is always

seeking salvation

for itself

right

and

people

in education

right

will hear this

all the time

that they'll say

education is the goal

that's the solution

that's what's

going to accomplish

salvation

for us

educate enough people

about inequality

you know

racial inequality

gender inequality

income inequality

then we can save

ourselves

and establish

salvation on earth

right

or

they'll say

science is the solution

right

if we can only

progress enough

in our scientific

knowledge

then we can find

solutions to all

our problems

it says

money is the solution

right

if only we can

boost the worldwide

economy

and generate

enough growth

and enough

money

then all the

social ills

will fade

away

but the truth

is there's not

the strength

in us

to save

ourselves

because all

of human

ingenuity

and industry

and goodwill

are not enough

to eradicate

the core evil

in all of us

which is sin

which is at the

basis

the foundation

of all social

ills

and only God

has the strength

to save us

from that

and that's what

he did

by sending

his son

Jesus Christ

to die

for our sins

and rise

and rise

victoriously

from the dead

and because

he has done

that

when we trust

in Jesus

we can be assured

of life forever

more

as this king

was

and we can be

assured of our

future deliverance

and of the

judgment of the

wicked

and of all evil

in the world

and so

that's the display

of God's ultimate

strength

that's in Jesus

and so we need to

trust in the Lord

for salvation

because of his

strength

and the

steadfast love

he displays

in Jesus

so with that

let's

turn to the Lord

in prayer

and come to him

with all our

weaknesses

and failures

and sins

I'm going to sing

Mighty to Save

first

Lord

services

not

to

join

in

God

night

soon

night

night

little

night

night