A Study in Psalms - Psalm 27

Good evening and welcome back to our second week of the Summer of

Psalms. I'm Bruce McClain, if anybody

doesn't know me. And one of the areas I'm

responsible here is missions. So before we get into Psalms 27,

if you want to turn there the next seven weeks, I want to take

5 minutes to talk about the seven countries that Christ

Community Church is currently doing some type of missions work

in. So just a couple minutes.

And the first one is, of course, Argentina.

So if you don't have a prayer card of Pastor Eduardo and

Gloria Bulladine, they are in the back.

One of the three national pastors at Christ Community

Church supports. We've been going to Argentina

since 1997. I think we've gone 18 * / 200

people have gone from Christ Community Church.

And in just a little over two months, we have 20 more people

going to Argentina. And that's so many that we're

actually going to split the team when we get to Buenos Aires.

And 12 people will work in Buenos Aires and eight people

will go about 6 hour van ride to the north.

So we're really going to have two campaigns going on

simultaneously. Argentina is 90% Catholic.

The Pope who just died was originally from Argentina.

So we're going to go and work in Villa Maria in the north with a

pastor that just planted a church about six months to a

year ago and work with him and, and do door to door evangelism,

whatever the church needs. And then the Buenos Aires will

work with two or three churches strengthening them.

So if you'll pray for us, it's just about two months away.

There are about 10 people still raising funds and some of them

have more than one member going. So that's a lot of money to go.

And we want to buy tickets next week.

But if you pray for Argentina and pray for Eduardo and Gloria

Bulladine, our national pastor, if you have any questions about

Argentina, and then we'll talk about the other countries next

week. So a little bit of Bible trivia

to start off tonight. I think everybody here knows

that the Bible has 66 books, right?

Everybody here knows that there are 1189 chapters in the Bible.

So that's 39 books in the Old Testament with 929 chapters and

27 books in the New Testament with 260 chapters.

I won't go into the verses because different translations

depend on the verses. But the shortest book in the Old

Testament is Obadiah, which is 21 verses, and the shortest book

in the New Testament is second John with 13 verses.

So the question is tonight, what is the middle verse in the

Bible? Because it has to do with our

message tonight. Anybody know what the middle

verse in the Bible is? There are different ways of

looking at it, but Psalm 118 verse 8 is one way.

Psalms 118:8

Yeah, Psalm 118 is the middle chapter in the entire Bible.

So Psalm 118 is preceded by Psalm 117, which is the shortest

chapter in the Bible. And Psalm 118 is followed by

Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible.

So Psalm 118 has 594 chapters before it and 594 chapters after

it. So it's the middle chapter.

So if you take 1188 Psalms 118 verse eight, that is one way of

trying to determine the middle chapter in the Bible.

And what is Psalm 118 eight say? I'm going to read from the new

King James here. It says it is better to trust in

the Lord than to put confidence in men.

That kind of summarizes our Psalm tonight.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in

men. David was experiencing a time of

crisis, but his trust and confidence in the Lord was

strong. So he would write this wonderful

Psalm 27. It's one of the best known

psalms. It's one of the most comforting,

encouraging Psalms. Stacy reminded me that when we

had Lucy's celebration service that it was one of Lucy's

favorite verses and they put Psalm 27 on it.

So I know a lot of you love this Psalm and it's taken me about

five years to to get the courage up to preach on it, but it's I

don't know what you're going through tonight, but this Psalm

has helped encouraged and strengthen many Christians for

thousands of years. So if you turn into Bible, I'm

going to do something a little different tonight.

Now I have a English standard version I study out of, but I'm

going to read the Psalm out of the legacy standard Bible, which

is, in case you don't know, the new translation from the Masters

Seminary. Some of you have it and I think

you'll see why I'm going to read it.

But as we're reading it, why don't you notate how many times

it says I, I, I in my translation 11 times.

Why don't you notice how many times it says me, me, me 18

times? And then you have the adjective

my, my, my another 17 times. So it's that's a very, very

personal song. And then the other thing to look

for is the name of God. And I'm going to read it in the

legacy standard Bible because they they have taken Jehovah

capital Lord and translated with the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh.

And I think it's listed 13 times in the 14 verses that we will

read Psalms 27 of David. Yahweh is my light and my

salvation. Whom shall I fear?

Yahweh is the strong defense of my life.

Whom shall I dread when evil doers came upon me to devour my

flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

Though a host in camp against me, my heart will not fear the

war arise against me. In this I trust.

One thing I have asked from Yahweh is that I shall seek that

I may dwell in the House of Yahweh all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of Yahweh and to inquire in His temple.

For in the day of calamity He will conceal me in His shelter.

In the secret place of His tent He will hide me.

He will lift me up on a rock, and now my head will be lifted

up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent

sacrifices with loud shouts of joy.

I will sing and I will sing praises to Yahweh.

Hear, O Yahweh, when I call with my voice and be gracious to me

and answer me on Your behalf. My heart says seek my face, Your

face, oh Yahweh, I shall seek. Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your slave away in anger.

You have been my help. Do not abandon me and do not

forsake me, Oh God of my salvation, for my father and my

mother have forsaken me, but Yahweh will take me up.

Instruct me in your way, oh Yahweh, and leave me in a level

path because of my foes. Do not give me over to the

desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up

against me and such as breathe out violence.

I would have despised unless I had believed that I would see

the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

Hope in Yahweh, Be strong and let your heart take courage.

Hope in Yahweh. Let's pray Father, I don't know

what the people of Christ Community Church, the people

have come out tonight are undergoing, but I pray tonight

that you would erase our fears, our anxieties, our worries, our

doubts, our uncertainties, our troubles.

Psalms 27 is the prescription that you've given us and we need

to follow it and obey it. So may we leave here tonight

encouraged strengthen not showing any fear and walking in

the Lord in Jesus name, Amen. There is a superscription in

your Bible and it probably says of David.

But if you get the the the Septuagint Bible Greek

translation which was written 200 years before Christ was

born, the Septuagint has extra words that say of David before

he was anointed. So if that's true, remember the

the the superscriptions are not inspired words of God, but they

do teach us a lot about the Psalms.

So if that's true, that means this Psalm was probably written

when David was expelled from his home and haunted by Saul.

We don't know exactly the crisis that David has in his Psalms,

but it was probably written when Saul was pursuing him, perhaps

as long as those 13 years. The type of Psalm.

Tonight we listen. We had a lament Psalm last week.

Psalm by Tonight's Psalm is called the Song of Trust, and

that's why I've entitled it My Song of Trust.

There are ten such as psalms like these.

And then if you want to know these psalms because they may

encourage you, Psalms 11, Psalm 16, Psalms 23, You all know that

one. Psalms 27, of course, tonight,

Psalm 62, Psalm 63, Psalm 91, which we call the Dial 911,

Psalm, Psalm 121, Psalm 125, and Psalm 131.

So there's at least ten of these Songs of Trust Psalms.

I don't usually quote my father, but as some, most of you know,

my father kept journals on many of the Psalms, not all of them,

but about 50 of them. And I like what he said about

Psalm 27 in his journal. And I have those journals and

one of my tribe's possessions and he said about this, our

psalmist is David. His life was one of trusting the

Lord. As we look at the experience of

David in this Psalm, we can learn how to face certain

situations in life. He had been tried and tested by

some experience in life. As the Psalm closes, David has

confidence and rest. One of the most paralyzing

problems of life is fear. We fear in so many ways.

Fear of the unknown, fear of an accident, fear of sickness, fear

of cancer, fear of death, fear of people, fear of losing our

jobs, fear of the enemy attacks, fear of being misunderstood or

rejected or criticized or mistreated.

And many times these things happen and our fears are

realized. Sometimes it is worse than we

anticipated. Sometimes we can come to

completely paralyzed with feelings of fear.

And as fear gets a firm grip on us, we become its victim.

So Psalms 27 is going to be the Psalm that will help us overcome

that. Last week I said Psalms 5 was

very difficult to outline the way the paragraphs went.

One minute was prayer, one minute David's talking about his

enemies. But tonight it's very easy.

And if you have the outline, when you leave tonight, I hope

you'll attach 4 words to Psalm 27.

Confidence, communion, pry, and comfort, which is your outline,

your 4 main points. So let's look at main point #1

confidence in God. And there are three sub points

there that you have in your outline.

And first one is deliver. God will deliver my life is what

David's going to say in verse one.

Here we have a powerful and jubilant stands of praise of

confidence in the Lord. Even though David was

experiencing conflict, some type of crisis, he pens 3 pillars of

truth in this first verse. God is light.

God is my salvation and God is my strength or God is my

stronghold, as maybe some of your translations have.

So as we look at this point deliver, let's look at God is

light. It says the Lord is my light.

You know, when we think of God or we try to visualize him, the

best we can do is to think of God as light.

Here in Psalm 27 verse one is the only direct reference in

which God is directly called light in the Old Testament.

And it's the first time in the Bible that light is used as a

metaphor for light. Job 3819 says heaven is the

abode of light. Psalms 104 two says God wraps

himself in light as a garment. But Psalms 27 one is the first

and only Old Testament verse that God is directly called

light. Now we have a New Testament that

David doesn't have, didn't have, and first Timothy 616 says

talking about God, who alone has immortality and dwells in

unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.

God is often associated with light in the Bible, the meaning

of light. Light gives life.

Light means purity. Light means sinlessness.

Light provides knowledge and understanding and dispels fear.

John 19 says the true light which gives light to everyone

was coming in the world. Jesus Christ is light first.

John 15 says this is the message that we have heard from him and

proclaim to you that God is light and in him there is no

darkness. One verse that if you have Jesus

Christ in your heart tonight that you can treasure is

Colossians 113 to 14, which says he that's God or Jesus has

delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us

into the Kingdom of his beloved in whom we have redemption, the

forgiveness of sins. So if you have the forgiveness

of sins, Jesus Christ in your heart, you're in the light and

you know God is the light. If you're a child of God,

redeemed by the blood of Jesus, healed of your sins, restored to

a right relationship with God and all your sins have been

forgiven. The problem is most of our world

has forgetting, forgotten about God or blocks them out.

What we need to do is what David did immediately right here in

verse 1. He says the Lord is my life.

David uses the name Yahweh and we read it 13 times in the 14

verses. There's only two other Psalms

where it's mentioned more. Psalms 29 it's mentioned 18

times. In Psalms 118 it's mentioned 22

times. Yahweh or Jehovah was David's

source of light. Light guides, light leads.

Light is a symbol for God. Jesus came into the world and

John 812 he said I am the light of the world.

And 1st John 15 says God is light.

The opposite of light is darkness, and darkness is a

symbol of fear, distress, trouble, perplexity.

Light is the complete opposite of those.

God was David's light. God provided the light and the

darkness disappeared when commentators said the psalmist

is affirming that even in the darkest this of the terrible

threat of war, David has No Fear for God is the light that can

dispel such fearful darkness. And then God is my salvation.

The second part in first one, the word for salvation here in

the Old Testament means deliverance.

OK, deliverance from some type of trouble.

In Psalm 27 it's used twice, once here, once in verse 9 and

once in verse one. Verse 9 says oh God, am I

salvation. Psalm 60 verse 11 says, oh, give

Psalms 60:11

us help against the adversary, for salvation by man is

worthless. So it's always used in a time of

trouble for the God delivering. David was confident of God's

salvation from from God, not from man.

Now in the New Testament we use salvation, which means delivery

from the penalty, the power, and the punishment and presence of

sin. Romans 116 says I'm not ashamed

of the gospel, for it's the power of God.

Salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st and to

the Greek. So God was David's light.

God was David's salvation. And #3 the last part of verse

one. The Lord is the stronghold of my

life. The legacy stranded Bible says

strong defense. This is a theme that runs all

through the Bible referring to the power of God.

God is omnipotent. Life can have its troubles and

sorrows, but as long as God is our source of strength, there is

nothing to fear. Proverbs 1810 says the name of

the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it

and is safe because God is light, because God is my

salvation, because God is my stronghold.

I do not need to be afraid of anything, including Satan

himself. You know it says there whom

shall I fear in verse one and of whom shall I be afraid or dread

in verse 1? You know David didn't fear

Goliath while Saul and the Israeli army were there for 42

days. It says Goliath would March out.

You know the story. Lance has preached on it

extensively, but I wanted you to turn to First Samuel 17 and

we'll look at verse 44. You all know what David did,

right? He killed Goliath.

But do you remember what David said?

And when I read it, it's so amazing because this is just a

teenage boy. This is a teenage boy who grew

courage when he fought a lion, when he fought a bear, when he

protected his sheep. But we all know what David did

to Goliath. But in verse 44 of First Samuel

17, the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will

give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the

field. Then David said to the

Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and with a

javelin. But I come to you in the name of

the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you

have defied this day. The Lord will deliver you into

my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and

I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this

day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth,

that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

And I just love verse 47 and that all this assembly, that

would be the Philistines and that would be the unbelieving

Israeli army, including Saul, that all this assembly may know

that the Lord saves not with the sword and the spear for the

battle is the Lord and he will give you into our hand.

That's a teenager saying that. So you can see why I'm assuming

much later in life, David would have written Psalm 27 where he

gets his confidence, where he gets his courage, where he can

say God is my light, God is my salvation, God is my strength.

You've heard the same from Oswald Chambers many times from

this pulpit. The remarkable thing about

fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else,

whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.

Let's look at some point B defeat some point B and A .1

defeat. God will defeat my enemies is

what David says. He says when the evil doers

assail me, they want to eat up my flesh, my adverts and my

foes, they will stumble and fall.

That phrase eat up my flesh. It's, it's a metaphor for some

dangerous, ferocious animal that would try to eat you or kill

you. But David's confidence is in God

because David spoke often with the Lord.

And I want to read another text about David, and that's in First

Samuel 30. If you turn with me, the First

Samuel 30, this is this is after first Samuel 17.

And David is not quite king yet. He's king over Hebron, but Saul

is still around. But in First Samuel 30, I'll

just read verses 1 to 8. First it says Now when David and

his men came to Ziglag on the third day, the Amalekites had

made a raid against Nigreb and against Ziglag.

They had overcome Ziglag and burned it with fire and taken

captive the women and all who were in it, both small and

great. They killed no one, but carried

them off and went on their way. And when David and his men came

to the city? Remember, if you go to the

preceding chapters, David wanted to go fight Israel and the and

the Philistine said, no, he's not going with us.

So David and his men went back. And when he get back there, the

Malachites have taken in zig lag but and when David and his men

came to the city, they found it burned with fire, their wives,

sons and daughters taken captive.

And David and the people who were with him raised their

voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

David's two wives also have been taken captive, Hinanom, and of

Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of naval of Carmel.

And David was greatly distressed for the people.

This is David's own men spoke of stoning him, because all the

people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters.

But notice the next few words. I have these underlined in my

Bible. But David strengthened himself

in the Lord his God. So we have this crisis here.

How does David handle it? His men want to kill him.

So when it says David strengthen himself in the Lord, what does

that mean? Well, what, what do we do today?

Today we call our friends and we tell them our troubles, right?

We posted on social media and say, hey, I'm having a bad day,

pray for me. Or we take a vacation day or

something like that. But what does David do?

Well, we can read into it that David remembers the Lord says he

strengthened themselves in the Lord.

David knows that God has helped him in the past and he's going

to trust him in the present and in the future.

I believe David remembers scripture and maybe one of those

scriptures he remembered that he wrote as a young shepherd boy

with Psalms 23 for that says, even though I walk through the

valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art

with me. Your rod and staff comfort me.

David is in the valley of the shadow of death here because his

own men want to stone him. And I'll believe that David

remembers I got to obey God. So he remembers the Lord.

He remembers Scripture and remembers to obey.

In Acts 13, the apostle Paul is preaching in Antioch, and he

talks about David. And what Paul says about David,

he says God says, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man

after my heart who will do all my will.

So no matter how bad the crisis was, David is going to remember

to obey. And lastly David remembers to

pray. So in verse 7 David said to

Abathar the priest, the son of Amyloc, bring me the epod.

So Abathar brought the epod to David.

And verse 8 says, and David inquired of the Lord, shall I

pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?

God answered him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake and

shall surely rescue. So we just read one of the nine

times in first and Second Samuel where it says David inquired of

the Lord. So I believe when David

strengthened himself, it teaches us that we got to remember the

Lord's promises. We got to remember Scripture.

And that's why I'm going to tell everybody here tonight, you need

to have Psalms 27, at least verses 1 to 6 memorized.

And you got to remember to obey what the Scripture says.

And then you've got to remember to pray.

David had confidence in God to strengthen himself in God.

And then he inquires in God. David could say in another

Psalm, Psalm 20, which David wrote verse 7, some trust in

Chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name

of the Lord our God. Psalm 3317 we don't know who

wrote that but it says the War Horse is a false hope for

salvation but by its great might it cannot rescue.

So we looked at sub .1 God will deliver me sub point to God will

defeat my enemies. Let's look at sub Point C defend

God will defend my safety. Though it says an army in camp

against me. My heart shall not fear the war

arise against me. I will be confident.

That's why I the point number one is confidence in God.

Verse 2 says there are evil doers and adversaries and foes

that are out for David. Verse 3 says there's an army and

war out to get David. Verse 5 says it's a day of

trouble. Verse 6 mentions enemies.

It's obvious to say that David is in a crisis here and he's

under attack. If the Septuagint version of the

Bible and that superscription where it says of David before he

was anointed is true, then we know that this Psalm was

probably written while Saul was fleeting, while Saul was trying

to chase David for those in 13 years.

But it's absolutely incredible testimony of David's confidence

in the Lord. Though an army is going to camp

against me. Saul and one point had 3000 like

a delta force chasing David. Other time he had 1020 thousand

people out looking for David. But as David said in first

Samuel 1747, the battle is the Lord.

David would write in another Psalm, Psalm 25.

Oh my God, in you I trust. If God is for us, he is able to

protect us, and we have reason to trust in him.

There's no better security against fear than the assurance

that God is your friend. Now, many of you might be

thinking David was a man of war. You know he won every battle he

ever fought. David shed much bloodshed, and

it's hard to relate to him at times.

But I don't know what your problem is, but maybe you have

an army, an army of cancer cells that has attacked your body, and

then maybe chemo and radiation are attacking your body.

Maybe you have a rebellion in your family, a wayward teenager

or a loved one. That's what gone astray.

Or maybe you have a war going on in the workplace.

Being a Christian today in the workplace cannot be easy.

Or maybe you're troubled by the conflict with our government

passing laws against God's laws. I don't know what you're

experiencing in your life, but Psalms 27 should be helpful for

you. It's been described as my song

of trust. That's why I gave it that title.

And it's designed to take away pain, dread, and give you a new

song to sing, the song of Deliverance.

So maybe you're having some discouragement tonight.

Depression, anxiety, worry, doubt and fear.

And like a Doctor Who gives a prescription, one of the names

of Jehovah is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals God gives us a

prescription in 20 Psalm 27. You have the prescription in

your hand in your Bible, but you need to take that prescription

and obey. It doesn't do any good if you

get the subscription from the doctor and you don't take the

medicine. But this Psalm gives us

confidence that no matter what's going on in our life, that God,

that God is our confidence. And as I said before, you need

to have at least the 1st 6 verses memorized.

If David can trust the Lord and not fear when an enemy army is

surrounding him, cannot we say the same?

If God is for us who can be against us?

We can have confidence in our great God and Savior.

In the New Testament, Second Timothy 17 says For God gave us

a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

Hebrews 13-6, which is actually a quote from Psalms 118 six,

says the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.

What can man do to me? What was the source of David's

great confidence? God was his light, God was his

salvation, God was his strength. And God will deliver me, God

will defeat my enemies, and God will defend me.

Let's move on to point #2 communion with God, verses four

to six. I'm not talking about Holy

Communion when you partake of the bread and the cup.

I'm talking about when you commune with God, when you have

intimacy with God, when you spend time with the Lord.

See, if you don't have confidence in the Lord, it's

probably because .2 you're not communing with God.

Last week's message was all about prayer and communing with

God. David was always confident

because he commune with God. I mentioned 9 times he inquired

of God in First and Second Samuel.

David learned to meditate upon God as a shepherd boy and that

would give him strength and confidence to lead the nation of

Israel. David here is living in the

wilderness of Judea. He's away from the sanctuary,

but he longed for two things. And here you probably have one

of the most beautiful poetic verses in all of Psalms.

He says two things, dwell and delight.

I'm going to dwell in God's house and I'm going to delight

in God's house. So First off, I'm going to dwell

in God's house. One thing I have asked of the

Lord, this is what I see, that I may dwell in the House of the

Lord all the days of my life. Verse 4, You've heard from this

pulpit many, many times as Lance has preached the last 30 years,

and it was back in December 28th, 2003 when I got the

cassette or the CDI, can't remember when I was in India,

that Lance preached a message called One Thing.

I brought this up before and you can get the tape, but Lance

preached that message and of all the sermons I've heard over the

past 30 years, this is probably the one sermon called One Thing

that I never forgot. One of my favorite sermons, but

the Bible says one thing five times and you can get that

message if you want from December 28, 2003 called one

thing from our tape library. But in Mark 10/21 Jesus looked

at this would be the rich young ruler and he said you lack one

thing, Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you'll

have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

Then in Luke 1042, Jesus said to Martha, But one thing is

necessary, Mary has chosen the good portion which shall not be

taken away from her. And in John 925, the blind man

who had been healed, he answered the Pharisees, saying, whether

he is a Sinner or not, I do not know.

One thing I know that I was blind, but now I see.

And the apostle Paul would say in Philippians 413, Brothers, I

do not consider that I have made it on my own.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind me and

straining forward to what lies ahead.

And #5 of course, is our Psalm 27.

For one thing that I have asked of the Lord that I will seek

after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days

of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to

inquire in His temple. That is just absolutely one of

the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

But what is the one thing? It's a preoccupation with God,

with God's person, God's will. David is saying I have

confidence in God because I commune with God.

It's like Moses in Exodus 33 when he shouted out, please show

me your glory, God. It's David in those days, one

commentator said. David in those days was truly a

man after God's own heart. But David wanted the impossible.

He was a guy. He was God's man.

He was a great leader of men. He was a warrior.

He was courageous. He was a compassionate man.

He was a Prince. He was a poet.

He was a prophet. But what he was not was a

priest. It was a tribe of Levi that had

the privilege of serving in a Tabernacle.

David long for a life like that of the Levites who spent their

whole lives in constant service for God.

David wanted to live for the glory of God.

He desperately wanted to build God a temple later on in life,

but God said, no, your son Solomon would.

So he, he wanted you. And let's move on to #2 delight.

I will delight in God's house. That's the last part of verse

4B, To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire his

temple. Did you come excited tonight,

the church to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord?

David did. David couldn't wait to go to the

temple. Now there's a little controversy

here between liberal scholars because they say, well, there's

no temple here. This is Psalms 27.

There's no temple. It's a Tabernacle.

So I'll just try to quickly tell you that in Psalms 26, verse 8,

Psalms 26:8

it says, oh Lord, I love the habitation of your house.

In Psalms 27 here it says temple.

If you go to Psalms 28 verse 2, it calls it the most holy

Psalms 28:2

sanctuary. So we have the word house,

temple sanctuary. And these words are

interchangeable. So just because the the temple

has not been built, if you go to First Samuel 19, it calls the

Tabernacle the temple. So I'm not going to get into

that controversy. The words are interchangeable.

So it's it's a Tabernacle, but you can call it a House of the

Lord or the temple of the Lord. He says to gaze upon the beauty

of the Lord. Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones says

what he really means by this is that I belong to the household

of God, that I'm ever in communion with God, in

fellowship with God, in touch with God.

In effect, what the psalmist is saying, what I want above

everything else in the world is always to be in that close

relationship with God so that whatever happens I am with him

and he is with me. This is the one thing I want.

The noun for beauty means the lightness, pleasantness.

Tragically today there are many who come to church and they

dwell in the House of Lord, but they fail to behold its beauty.

The thoughts of having a close relationship with God continue.

Sub point CI will deepen in the House of God, verses 5 and 6.

So in verse 5, it's what will God do?

And then verse 6 is what will David do?

So First off, verse 5, what will God do?

He's going to do three things. He says he will.

He will, He will three times. In verse 5, he will hide me.

Well, we know at least two times David hid in The Cave, right?

He says he will conceal me. We know twice David avoided the

spear. That's all through Adam.

And thirdly, he says he will lift me up.

Lift me up means victory. It means to raise you up

spiritually, physically or emotionally from a difficult

situation or state of despair. David's saying I have confidence

in God. I communion with God and I trust

him to do these three things. David believes in God.

So in verse 6, what will I do? So David says two things I will

do here. After the three things that he

says God will do, He says, I will offer sacrifice with shouts

of joy, and I will sing and make melody in my heart.

Last week when we looked at Psalm 5, we saw at the end of

Psalm 5 that when we finish praying, we should be filled

with joy because we've given God our, our troubles, our sorrows,

our petitions. Here in Psalms 27, David says

that when God gives him the victories, he sings with joy.

We saw the confidence of David and God in the first point, and

that's because David had a special communion with God.

And even if they're enemies all around him, David's confidence

and communion with God are so special that despite having

enemies wanting to attack him, it makes him sing for joy again.

I don't know what troubles you're in today, what crisis

you're going through, what's suffering you're experiencing,

but Psalms 127 six may be the strongest, most powerful

statement of trusted confidence in the Lord in the entire Bible.

But you have to have confidence in God and you must be in

communion with God. Psalms 27 verses 4 to 6 is the

Psalms 27:4–6

Old Testament equivalent of where it says in the New

Testament abiding in Christ. You find that in John 15 in John

15-1 to 1711 times it says abiding in Christ.

So Psalms 27 is the Old Testament equivalent of abiding

New Testament equivalent of abiding in Christ.

Let's move on to point #3 cry to God.

David here is going to cry out for five things and I'll go

through them really quickly that only a loving, kind and

compassionate God can give number one.

And verse 7 he says, hear me, O Lord.

Notice in this section what David is seeking from God is

exactly what a child will seek from his parents.

All five of these things a child seeks from his parent.

And the first thing that a child seeks from his parents is to be

heard. Our children can talk a lot and

you know, sometimes as parents we get tired of listening

because they can talk non-stop. But God is never tired of

hearing. There's no crisis mode.

There's no 911 for God. He's always there to hear us and

we have confidence that God is never too busy to hear us.

Matthew 77 says ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find knock. It will be open to you.

Then we move on to help me in verses 8 to 10 and you notice

he's going to say it depends on your translation.

He's going to say 4. Do not, do not hide your face

from me, do not turn your slave away.

Do not abandon me and do not forsake me.

David's crying out for help, saying you helped me in the

past, help me now. So the second thing that a child

seeks from his parents is help. David is in a crisis, seeking

God's help. Now verse 10, we don't know what

prompted David to say verse 10 for my father and my mother have

forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

If you go to first Samuel 22, verse 3 to 4, David takes his

1 Samuel 22:3–4

parents to Moab, to the king of Moab and says I'm going to leave

my parents with you. And we don't hear anything more

about his parents. So the Bible is silent about it.

So maybe they died, you know, maybe they did forsake him.

We don't know. But the point here is that when

all earthly pillars, all earthly supports everything you trusted

in in the earth gives way, the Lord can still be depended upon.

God cannot abandoned us like earthly sinful parents can or

like your friends can. The Third Point here is teach me

in verses 11/8 he says teach me your way.

The third thing a child seeks from his parents is to be taught

maybe something as simple as tying your shoes or we've been

trying to teach my daughter how to hold a spoon for many years,

things like that. I don't think David wrote Psalm

119. Some people do think saved David

wrote Psalm 119. Other people think Daniel did or

Ezra did. But Psalm 119, it depends on

your translations, but in the ESV that it in in all of Psalms

in 150 Psalms 27 times it says teach me your statues, teach me

your law. But in Psalms 119, the greatest

Psalm with 176 verses, 11 times in 176 verses, it says in Psalms

Psalms 119:12

119 verse 12. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach

me your statutes. In Psalms 1/19/26 when I was

told of my ways, you answered me.

Teach me your statutes. Psalms 1/19/29 Put false ways

far from me and graciously teach me your law.

Psalms 11933 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I

will keep them to the end. Psalms 11964 The earth, O Lord,

is full of your steadfast love. Teach me your statutes.

Psalms 11966 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I

believe in your commandments. Psalms 1/19/68 You are good and

do good. Teach me your statutes.

Psalms 119 One O 8. Accept my free will offerings of

praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.

Psalms 1/19/24 Deal with your servant according to your

steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.

Psalms One 19135 Make your face shine upon your servant and

teach me your statutes. And lastly, Psalms 119, verse

Psalms 119:171

171, My lips will pour forth praise for you.

Teach me your statutes. You know, if you truly love the

Lord, there's going to be a constant desire to learn from

the Lord. You never stop growing in the

Lord. AW Tozer said that Satan's

greatest weapon is man's ignorance of God's word.

If you want to have confidence in God, you got to commune with

God, and that means spending time in His Word.

And I think most of you know Second Timothy 2:15 that says do

2 Timothy 2:15

your best, not your average, not your worst.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved.

A worker who has no need to be shamed, who correctly or rightly

handles the word of truth #4 he says, lead me in the in the last

part of verse 11, lead me on a level path because of my

enemies. OK, He doesn't want to go to the

right. You don't go to the left because

he might run into his enemies. The fourth thing a child seeks

from his parents is to be led on a smooth or straight path.

David danger is lurking in every corner and we need to be LED.

How are we to be LED? Well, David asked God to lead

him. God's word guides us to keep us

on a straight path. Psalms 119 one O 5 says God's

word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path and #5 or E

protect me in verse 12. The fifth thing that a child

seeks from his parents is protection.

David says in verse 12 and here's the petition of the

Psalm. Give me not up to the will of my

adversaries for there's false witnesses have risen up against

me and they breathe out violence.

These are violent men. You know, Adobe Edomite

slaughtered all the priests of of David.

So these are some wicked men that are chasing David.

David, as we mentioned earlier, he knows he's in danger and his

children, children need their parents protection.

David needed God's protection. Wicked men wanted to kill him as

described by liars and violent men.

So far we have seen that David had confidence in God.

He had a special communion with God.

He could cry out to God. And lastly, he would receive

comfort from God. Point #4 and there's two points

here, support and strength. Now this verse in verse 13 is a

verse that has been translated in different ways.

And so in my Bible, it's hard to understand.

In my in the ESV, it says, I believe that I shall look upon

the goodness of the Lord. It's hard to understand that.

So the new King James and the legacy standard Bible, if you

have that Bible out here tonight, you notice there's some

words in italics. Anybody see that?

So the translators have tried to make this first for us to

understand. So those words are not in the

original Greek. But the new King James says I

would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see

the goodness of the Lord of the land of living.

The legacy standard Bible says I would have despaired unless

italics that I believe that I would see the goodness of Yahweh

in the land of the living. So you can see that it's an

easier translation. We see the confidence of God

that David has in God time and time again.

God rescued him from Saul's plots to kill him.

And even though I may undergo some trial, we all know that

God, we will see God someday. There's a verse that we turn to

quite often. You don't have to turn there,

but you probably turn to it many times.

And it's Isaiah 43 verse 2. And you remember that it says

Isaiah 43:2

when you pass through the waters, it does not say if you

pass through the waters. It says, when you pass through

the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers they

shall not overwhelm you. And when you walk through the

fire, you shall not be burned and the flames shall not consume

you. For I am the Lord your God, the

Holy One of Israel, your Savior. You know, we live in a very safe

country to be a Christian, don't we?

And there's a, there's a quote by someone that says God doesn't

ask many of us to die for him, but he asks all of us to live

for him. And you know, this week I read

from the voice of the martyrs, sent me an e-mail and I lived in

India for about 8 years. There's a state called Maya

Pradesh. And this week or last week in

Maya Pradesh in the Senate. Now understand in India, the

states have more power than the federal government.

The village leaders probably have more power than the, the

president. But in this state, Maya Pradesh,

they introduced a bill that if you convert from Hinduism to

Christianity, you get the death penalty.

OK, now I don't know if the law is going to pass, but that just

shows you what's out there. You'd be a Christian in India,

in Iran, maybe in China. You could die for the Lord.

God doesn't ask me any of us to be a martyr for Him, but He does

ask all of us to live for Him. So the second point is strength,

and that's the last verse, verse 14.

And this is a very familiar verse.

Wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage and

wait for the Lord. So God gives us strength is a

very favorite combination of the Old Testament and we have looked

at it before at Christ Community Church.

It says in Deuteronomy 31, six be strong and courageous.

Deuteronomy 2323 says in the Lord commissioned Joshua's son

and nun and said be strong and courageous.

In Joshua 1/6 and verse 7 it says be strong and courageous

only be strong and very courageous.

Joshua 118 says only be strong and courageous 3 times in

chapter 1 of Joshua. Then in First Chronicles 2213

the then it says then you will prosper if you're careful to

obey the statutes and rules that the Lord commanded Moses for

Israel. Be strong and courageous.

First Chronicles 2820 David said to his son Solomon be strong and

courageous and do it. And Psalms 31 verse 24 says be

Psalms 31:24

strong and let your heart take courage, all of you who wait for

the Lord. So at least seven times there it

says be strong and courageous in addition to to Psalms 27, verse

Psalms 27:14

14. And one of the most difficult

aspects of being a a Christian life is waiting for the Lord,

isn't it? It's especially difficult when

you're in the middle of a trial. We're suffering, but understand

that's when God strengthens you. That's when God builds upon your

faith. When you wait upon the Lord,

when you read your Bible, when you pray, when you meditate upon

him. You don't stand one for in

church you don't put the Bible away You you dig into it.

David says we must be strong and courageous.

There's a verse in Job 2310. If you were with us last year

when Lance taught us, he said there were three great

confession statements by Job in the book of Job 3.

Great. And Job 2310 is the third of

those great confessions. And I love this verse.

Job 2310 says, But he knows the way that I take, and when he has

tried me, I shall come out as gold.

That's the goal of us today, that no matter what the trial

is, no matter what's going on, we will pass that test and we

will come out as gold. The thing David is praying for

and for which we pray does not, does not always come to us at

once. God has his timings, which are

not ours, and therefore what we pray for and need some time is

delayed. What then?

Are we to despair of having answers, to lose confidence?

Not at all. We simply need to wait.

God wants us to be with him and we will someday be with Him, but

sometimes we have to wait. So I don't know the situations

you're in today, but we can have, we can have confidence in

God in difficult times because we commune with God and because

we can cry out to God, we will receive comfort from God.

We live in an evil world. You all know the verse.

First John 519 says we know that we are from God.

That's us believers, and the whole world relies in the power

of the evil 1. You all know that verse, right?

The whole world lies in the power of evil one Satan.

Do you know what the verse preceding that says before that

in verse 18, it says that we know that everyone who is born

of God does not keep on sinning, but He was born of God, protects

him, and the evil 1 does not touch him.

James 47 says submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the

devil and he will flee from you. And Romans 831 says if God is

for us, who can be against us? In closing, Dwight L Moody's

favorite verse, you know what his favorite verse was from the

Dwight L Moody who founded Moody Bible Institute.

His favorite verse was Isaiah chapter 12 verse 2.

Isaiah 12:2

Might want to just jot that down sometime because it kind of

summarizes Psalms 27. But Dwight L Moody's favorite

verse was Isaiah 12/2 which says behold, God is my salvation, I

will trust and I will not be afraid for the Lord.

God is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation.

That's Dwight L Moody's favorite verse.

What a beautiful verse. And Dwight L Moody used to say

you can travel first class or you can travel second class to

heaven. When I first read that, I said,

wait a minute, there's only one way to heaven.

Salvation is found in no one else.

And Jesus is I am the way. There's only one way to heaven.

But he's talking about the time that we're waiting to go to

heaven. Now I don't know about you, but

I have flown probably 2-3 hundred flights being a

missionary for 18 years and done like 30 short term trips to one

time Tom Mason took us you gone and we had six flights to get

you gone and six flights back. So I've flown hundreds of

flights, but only one time did I ever get bumped the first class.

And it wasn't a long flight. It was from Bangkok to Calcutta

and me and my wife and I was in it was in short pants and AT

shirt didn't didn't deserve it. But they bumped us and it was

really sweet, really sweet. You know, we had all the orange

juice we could drink while everybody else is drinking the

alcohol. We had steak for dinner and when

they brought the desserts, it wasn't one dessert, it was 3

desserts. And they gave you all these

headphones and slippers and amenities, all these things.

So I wish I could fly first class all the time.

Fortunately in two months we'll be in cattle class when we go to

Argentina. Call it cattle class, but but So

there is only one way to go to heaven.

But while we wait, there's a first class waiting and there's

a second class waiting. And he says second class is what

time I am afraid I will trust. It's a little confusing.

What he's saying is that when I'm afraid I'm going to trust,

that's second class. 1st class is I will trust and not be

afraid. Second class is for Christians.

They have their ticket to heaven.

They have Jesus Christ in their heart, but they worry, they

doubt, they're anxious, they're full of fear.

And the Bible says in Matthew 625, don't be anxious.

The Bible says in Luke 1229, don't worry.

The Bible says in James 1/5 to six that we are not to doubt if

we have faith. And the Bible says in Romans

Romans 8:15

8:15 that we have not received a spirit of slavery to fall back

into fear, but you have received a spirit as adoption of sons who

by we cry, have a father. So that's second class, but

first class is for Christians who will trust, who say I'm not

going to fear, I will trust and not be afraid.

So my prayer for you tonight as you leave here tonight is that

Psalms 27 is a prescription from Jehovah Rafi that you will

memorize it, that you will quote it.

And I know many of you know it. Many of you know it, and it's

one of your favorites. I know that's first class.

You're going to experience some trials, some suffering, some

tribulations, but No Fear. Psalms 27 is that and I'll close

with a a man called Stuart Hamblin.

I didn't know this man, but he wrote a hymns kind of a country

Christian guy singer. But he wrote a hymn called known

only to him. Now Google it and you can listen

to it. Stuart HA MB Lin and the hymn is

called known only to him now Elvis Presley saying it.

So don't look at his one, but look for Stuart Hamlin's but the

last verse says known only to him are the great hidden

secrets. I fear not the darkness when my

flames shall dim. I know not what the future

holds, but I know who holds the future.

It's a secret known only to him. And the words that I want to

emphasize are those I know not what the future holds, but I

know who holds the future. Our lives are in God's hands.

May Psalm 27 be your song of trust.

That it is my song of trust for all of us.

Let's pray. Dear only Father, I don't know

what is going on in the lives of our people tonight, but we know

there are people here who are going to undergo operations.

There are people here who are recovering from cancer and then

they have to deal with the chemo and the side effects and all

that. Father, I know there are people

are struggling with family, people struggling with work,

people struggling with our government, but Father, may we

not fear. You are our source of salvation.

You are our light. You are defense and we will

trust you and not fear. Help us to to memorize this

Psalm. Help us to read it.

Help us Father to obey it so when those trials come, we will

not fear. And Lord Jesus, we pray for your

return that any day, anytime, today, tonight, we'll hear the

loud command wheel, the voice of the Archangel.

We're heal the trumpet call and you will take us home.

But till that great day, till that time, help us to tarry with

No Fear. Thank you for Psalm 27 in Jesus

name, Amen.