Wednesday Evening Message: A Study in Psalms - Psalm 63

Welcome to Christ Community Church, and especially welcome

back to our Summer of Psalms. We've had a break for a couple

weeks and just a couple announcements tonight.

Please join us this Saturday in West Wing Two at 7:30 to 10:00

for our bimonthly prayer meeting.

Everybody's welcome. And so we hope to see you at

7:30 for a time of prayer. We pray for the church, our

neighborhood, our country, all the ministries in the church.

7:30 this Saturday in the back, there's a bunch of signups.

Summer's almost over. So the after Labor Day in

September there's three different new classes, new

members class you can sign up for evangelism training.

And we mentioned last week, if you want to go to mission trip,

don't wait till next year to get an Evangeline training, get in

it now and then there'll be a soteriology class taught.

So and there's also a women's event on the 17th.

So look in the lobby at the signups and and avail yourself

to that. Last week if you were here, you

heard the testimonies from nine people that had never been on

mission trip with Christ Community Church.

And I mentioned briefly something that I wanted to

continue tonight. When we went out Saturday, I

only had three opportunities to share the gospel.

Saturday it was like it was like West Covina.

They didn't want to talk, It was cold, they went open the doors,

lots of dogs. So it wasn't discouraging.

But we had three. But then Sunday we went to

church, two different churches, and I preached Sunday morning

and Sunday afternoon they said we're going to go out and we're

going to go to a park. And the park was, I can't

remember, about 20 blocks. We had to walk and then we're

going to share in the park. So Shane Anderson and I and our

two interpreters group of about four or five people started to

walk and we only went about one block.

And there was a man washing his car when you talked to him.

His name was John and he stopped washing the car and gave us

about 1/2 an hour to share with him.

So that was encouraging. And while I was sharing with

him, Shane was sharing with a man named Christian who was a

garbage collector. One of those manual guys walking

around collecting the garbage. And then even before we left I

mentioned last week there was a teenage girl named Marion who

had the iPod ear things and but she stopped and we shared with

her for about 45 minutes. So it was really encouraging.

And then I walked around the corner and there were two old

men. Hector was 75 years old.

And Felicia, Felicia, if I'm saying it right, was 89 years

old now. The sun was kind of shining in

this cold day and you might have seen the remember the picture

from last week? And they're just their

countenance was bright and they said, sure, we'd like to talk to

you. We were there for over an hour,

sharing with them and. And just that, you know, you

have somebody interested in your gospel presentation when they're

asking questions, right? If you're doing all the talking,

maybe they're not so interested, but they they just wouldn't shut

up. They kept asking question after

question after question. So that's always great And but

when you ask them if they were to die tonight where they would

spend eternity, I mentioned last week, I could not believe how

many people told me No one can know, only God knows.

That was the answer I got. And I didn't realize that

Argentina is not a Catholic country anymore.

It's a secular country like America.

So yeah, they're Catholic in name, but they rarely ever go to

church, and they certainly don't know much.

So when they would say that no one can know, it just hit me

like a ton of bricks. They don't know because of

course the Catholic Church doesn't teach eternal security

and they don't even go to church.

But is there anything more important than internal

security? Is there anything more important

than your assurance of salvation?

I think not. So last our preacher on Sunday,

Mr. Mason ended up his message with a verse.

I'll begin with first John 513. I would open up first John 5,

1 John 5:13

verse 13, and it says I write in first John.

I think at least 13 times it says I write or I'm writing or

I've written 13 times. And then it says, I write these

things to you who believe in the name of Son of God that you may

know 32 times in that little book of first John that says no,

no, no, we can know. And that's what hit me.

They don't know. The lost world doesn't know, you

know, I know I have eternal life.

I know my real home is in heaven and not here.

I know that any sufferings I have are temporary.

I know the Bible is the very words of God.

I know about Jesus. I know about the Holy Spirit,

who's in me, and I know about God the Father, but when I read

Psalm 63, I wish I really knew God more.

I really wish I had the desire, the burning desire that the

psalmist had in Psalm 63, J Vernon McGee said.

This is a special song. It's ointment that is poured out

upon all kinds of sores. It's a bandage for bruises.

It's a bomb to put upon wounds to help them heal.

It has been a marvelous song for the church.

It speaks of the thirst for the water of life.

Christopher, who was early church father ordained and

agreed that the Primitive fathers that no day should pass

without the public singing of this song and the primitive

church use this song. It was sung every morning or

every time there was a public gathering, Derek Kinder says.

There may be other songs that are equal, the outpouring of

devotion, but there are a few songs that surpass Psalm 63, the

type of Psalm it is. It's a lament Psalm and I think

sometimes we forget that it's a lament Psalm.

Lament psalms expressed the need for God's deliverance.

So David wrote at least 73 psalms and maybe 30 of them are

lament psalms asking God for help.

But this is such a beautiful poetic Psalm that I think when

you read at least the 1st 8 verses, you forget that David's

actually crying out. And as a lament, the

superscription says a Psalm of David when he was in the

wilderness of Judah. And I'll talk a little bit more

about that when we get into our message.

So let's read it and we'll pray. A Psalm of David when he was in

the wilderness of Judah. Oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, My flesh faints

for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power

and glory, because your steadfast love is better than

life. My lips will praise you so I

will bless you as long as I live in your name.

I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as

with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with

joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you

in the watches of the night. For you have been my health, and

in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me, But

those who seek to destroy my life shall go down to the depths

of the earth. They shall be given over to the

power of the sword. They shall be a portion for

jackals. But the King shall rejoice in

God. All who swear by him shall

exult, for the mouth of wires will be stopped.

Father in heaven, we thank you for another opportunity to open

up the perfect word of God and to look at one of the most

special psalms there are. Father, may we leave here

tonight knowing more of you having that burning desire that

King David had to know you to be with you in Jesus name.

Amen. I hope you have an outline.

There's three simple points. How David long for God versus

one to three, and how David lived for God versus 4:00 to

8:00. And then how David looked for

God versus 9 to 11. Let's begin with point #1.

How David long for God and point number A there says where he

was, where he was. Dave begins it by saying that

beautiful verse. Oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, My flesh faints

for you, as in a dry and where he land where there is no water.

So where is David? Well if you look at the

superscription, it says a Psalm of David when he was in the

wilderness of Judah. So commentators will debate.

Most of them will agree upon there's two choices.

Is he in the desert fleeing from King Saul and that would be

First Samuel 19 to 31? Or is it when he's fleeing from

Absalom, his son in Second Samuel 15 to 19?

Well, if you look at verse 11, it says but the king, the king

shall rejoice. So it's pretty obvious, and most

commentators agree, that it's not when he's being chased by

Saul, but it's when he fled Jerusalem from his own son, King

Absalom. So because he was not yet the

king when Saul was chasing him for the most time.

And you know the story of Absalom.

He rebelled against David. It's told in Second Samuel, 15

to 19. Absalom was back in Jerusalem,

but he was estranged from David and he felt bitter and estranged

from him. So Absolom spent four years

winning the hearts of the people.

He would sit at the gate and he would lie to the people, saying

there's nobody here to to hear your request, but I'll I'll hear

them. And it it says that he stole the

hearts of the people. So when Absalom had the majority

of the people on his side that he thought he was ready to set

up a rival Kingdom in near in the nearby city of Hebron.

And David was completely ignorant or caught off guard.

And when it was told of him, he feared that there would be a

bloody and a brutal attack on Jerusalem.

So David fled and his loyal generals and soldiers fled, and

they went east towards the Transjordan desert.

He let the psalmist says he left weeping and crying in the night

as Absalom moved into Jerusalem. So David crossed the Jordan

River and he hit somewhere in this desert region, it's called

the wilderness, while Absolom in the couple days was going to

come and pursue him. This is supposedly have not been

there, one of the most barren regions of the earth.

And David uses this region as a poetic background for his

condition apart from God. He sees himself thirsting for

God as a man might thirst in the desert.

He begins by saying, oh God, you are my God.

This is a very personal song. If you count the personal

pronouns I, my and me, you see at least 20 times that how

personal this song is. David says the name, oh God,

that's Elohim. That's the name in the Old

Testament that appears over 2000 times.

It's first used in the very first verse in the Bible.

In the beginning, God Elohim created the heavens and the

earth. You know, you hear that phrase

today, don't you? Oh God, as a curse word, as a

blasphemous word in movies. And people say it much like they

take the name of Jesus. Those people aren't believers.

They don't know God. But David here, when he says, oh

God, you can sense the feeling inside of him.

He goes on to say, oh God, you are my God.

He's a child of God. He's conscious of the personal

relationship that he has. He knows his father and he knows

his father's going to listen to this lament.

He's crying out. He then continues by saying

earnestly, I seek you. I don't know if anybody out

there still uses the King James Bible or the new King James

Bible, but your translation says, I rise early in the

morning. So the early translation, the

Septuagin that was written 200 years before the Old Testament

for Christ came, says early, I will seek you.

So this is probably why Chris Lam and the early church fathers

read this Psalm at every every morning, sang it every morning.

Because those translations said early, I will seek you.

Our modern translations say earnestly I will seek you.

But I was thinking about that this might be the song that you

need. We talked a lot about the

wilderness with our study in Job and in Hebrews.

We talked a lot about it with our study in Moses and Hebrews

10. Right.

So this might be the song that you need to read in the morning

before the troubles of the day to get in the mount up.

But notice for David though, this is not a last resort.

He always prays, always continually praying, right?

Next he says, my soul thirst for you, my flesh faints for you.

In our poetry this is called the Miriism and it just refers to

the whole being, the whole body soul.

He just yearns for God's satisfying presence.

Much like the sons of Korra said in Psalms 42 as a deer pants for

the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God, my soul

thirst for God for the living. God, when shall I come and

appear before my God. Psalm 42 One and two.

I like what one commentator said about this.

Verses 1 Here in In Psalm 63, stranded in an open sea, a man

was afloat on a small raft, dying without any water.

His weakened and crumpling body was about to collapse.

His lips were parched. His eyes were seeing spots.

His stomach was in knots. There was only one thing he

wanted water. He had no interest in watching

television or any desire for amusement or entertainment.

He was not daydreaming about as many possessions back home, or

was he fantasizing about the stock market or his favorite

sports team. He had only one thing in his

mind water. He had to have water.

But until he received it, nothing else mattered.

This is precisely where David was, both physically and

spiritually. As he wrote Psalm 63, he was in

a dry and barren wilderness of Judea without water, his body

ache for liquid replenishing. Yet the deepest thirst of his

life was for the living water. David's soul yearned for God.

He did not want money or any material thing.

He wanted God for who God was. With all his passion, with all

his soul, he thirsted to know and experience the greatness of

God. It was David's great desire to

feel the presence of God. You know, do we thirst like

that? I'll talk a little bit more

about that and the application in my life.

But the mark of a child of God is to have intimate knowledge of

God and and of God the Father. It's the biggest and most

important thing in our life. You know, in the New Testament,

in John we have the story of the woman at the well right in John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. And it says that in John four,

I'll just paraphrase it real quickly.

The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, How is it that you, a

Jew, asked for a drink from me, A woman of Samaria, for Jews

have no dealings with Samaritans.

And Jesus answered her and said, If you knew the gift of God and

who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink.

You would have asked for him and he would have given you living

water, The woman said to him. Sir, you have nothing to draw

water with, and this well is deep.

Where do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob?

He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons

and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who

drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks to the water that I will give him will never

be thirsty again. The water that I will give him

will be coming him, a spring of water welling up to eternal

life. The woman said to him, Sir, give

me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here

to draw water. And she got that living water,

didn't she? Just two chapters later, in John

635, Jesus said to him, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to

me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never

thirst. And just the next chapter in

John 739 on the last day of the feast, that great day, Jesus

stood up and cried out. If anyone thirsts, let him come

to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as

scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow over livers,

rivers of living water. Now he said this about the

Spirit who had not yet whom those who believe in him were

two received. For as yet the Spirit had not

been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

And then if you go all the way to the very end of the Bible, to

the very last chapter, Revelation 22, it says in verse

17 the Spirit and the bride say, come and let the one who hears

say come and let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price.

Does your soul thirst for God? Does your flesh long for God?

If that's not your experience now, well, what will it be like

when you go into the wilderness someday?

Like David, all earthly satisfactions are ultimately

unsatisfactory because they're earthly.

I was thinking tonight of Maui, Hawaii.

Did you see the pictures? I've been there twice.

Tomorrow's my anniversary and we first went there, but everywhere

we were in Maui is gone. Just a wildfire in the wind just

completely wiped out. It was there yesterday and now

it's gone. Everything on earth is just

temporary, isn't it? Everything you see, it could

just be wiped out in an instant. But living water that Jesus

gives gives us everlasting eternal life.

So that's where he was in the wilderness of Judea.

What did he want? Some point B, verse two and Tim

Reddit. So I looked upon you in the

sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

David had a spiritual appetite. How did you acquire it?

By worshipping God in the past, at the sanctuary or at the

Tabernacle before the temple was built.

It was there where David saw God's presence in the sanctuary,

is there where David beheld God's glory.

I think there's a verse that's probably read from this pulpit

more than any other verse, and it's Psalms 27, four Lance

quotes that often I've quoted it and I think A J quoted it

recently. One thing I have asked to the

Lord that I may 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 David out of passion, to

come to the Tabernacle, to to sing the songs, to learn about

God, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

There the sons of Korus, set in Psalms 84 One and two, How

lovely is your dwelling place. So Lord of Hosts my soul longs,

yes, feints for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

And then verse 10 says, For a day in your court is a better

than 1000 elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper

in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked

and then back to Psalm 42, that wonderful Psalm says in verse

four. These things I remember as I

pour out my soul how I would go to the throng and lead them in

procession to the House of God with glad shouts and songs of

praise, a multitude keeping festival What?

Because David had seen God's power and glory in God's house,

he wanted to experience that in the wilderness, as he had so

often in the House of God. It was Spurgeon who said a weary

place and a weary heart make the presence of God more desirable.

What did David want? He wanted to be in God's

present. Why?

Why? He worshipped verse three.

He says, because your steadfast love is better than life.

My lips will praise you. We talked about the past in

verse 2. This is the present David.

David would say in verse three, your steadfast love is better

than life, he says. In verse six, when I remember

you on my bed, he says in verse seven you have been my help.

He says you're right, him and upholds me.

And I think that's verse 8. So here even though David is cut

off from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, God has not cut

himself off from David. David knew the steadfast love of

of God was better than anything in life.

Spurgeon also said there was no desert in David's heart, though

there was a desert around him. You know, we spent a lot of time

I mentioned talking about Moses and the wilderness and Job and

the wilderness these past six months.

But even before David spent time in the wilderness and Moses,

Elijah would spend time in the wilderness.

You know, a true Christian will say, oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly, I seek you. Many people call themselves

Christians, right? But when something goes wrong,

either personally to them or perhaps to their loved ones.

Their immediate reaction is to say, why has God done this to

me? And often they turn away from

God. They're like Job's wife who said

curse God and die. But a true believer does the

opposite like David does here in the desert.

A true Christian is always driven by adversity to God.

A true Christian is always driven by adversity to God.

When I like to share with someone who's suffering or going

through a hard time, I'd like to go to 2nd Corinthians 4 versus

16 to 18, and you probably know it.

It says so. We do not lose heart though.

Our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed

day by day. And then you have that beautiful

verse 17 that says for this light and momentary affliction

is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory behind all

comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the

things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are

transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

That verse 17 is one of my favorite verses because it

reminds me, he says that our light momentary troubles,

they're light momentary. Many years ago in Siliguri,

India, a preacher came and he was talking about sufferings.

And he used this first. And he brought a rope and it was

a really long lope, and it wasn't a big church, probably

just about this size, but he took the rope and it went all

around, went out the church and out the church.

And and the point was that the rope just would kind of go

forever. And then on that rope he had a,

he put a piece of black tape, about just about an inch.

And he said that black tape on that long rope, maybe 100 feet

or 100 yards, that black tape represents your trials, your

sufferings, your troubles. But then when you look at that

rope, someday in heaven, you're going to look back and say,

yeah, those were light. Those were temporary, momentary

troubles when you look at eternal life, eternal glory

forever and ever. And I've never forgot that why

he worshipped Because David long for the love of God.

He longed to be with God. Let's go to sub our point #2,

how David lived for God. And here you have four points.

He worked for God, he witnessed for God, he waited for God and

he walked with God. So First off, in verse four he

worked for God. He says I'll bless you.

As long as I live in your name, I will lift up my hands.

David was serious about worshipping working for God.

You think back about David. He was the king that moved the

Ark to Jerusalem right now. Incorrectly the first time

right? And Josiah died.

But he did get it right the second time.

David was the one who organized the temple worship.

He first assembled the Levites. He assigned their duties, their

divisions in the Tabernacle, which was soon to be the temple.

Then David assembled the priest to do the temple sacrifices

every day, and the many types of sacrifices.

And then he organized the temple worship, the singers, the

divisions for singing and playing the musical instruments.

And finally he would assemble the gatekeepers to be the

soldiers outside and protect the temple.

And it was also David who would prepare the materials for his

son Solomon to build the temple, because he says that that

Solomon was a young man. And David got all the the the,

the, the, the rocks, the temple, the the gold, everything ready

to build that temple. David was serious about working

for God. He loved and valued the things

of God. So he wanted to work for God.

It's a good reminder for us. Move on to point number reverse

five. He witness for God.

He says My soul will be satisfied.

As with fat and rich food. My mouth will praise you with

joyful lips. Now this is just a metaphor for

joy, a metaphor for greatness, for satisfaction of intimate

knowledge of God that completely satisfies him.

God feeds the hungry soul with rich and bountiful food and that

leads to joyous praise. 1 Commentator says that this

metaphor is of a royal banquet prepared with the choices to

food. David probably remembered the

stately feast he enjoyed as Israel's king.

With the this regal background. He's reminded in his own heart

that only God, only God could satisfy the true yearnings of

his soul. And I like what David says.

I talked about the past, talked about the present.

Here I I think of the future. David knew of God's faithfulness

in the past, present, and now. The future, he says, will be

satisfied. My soul will praise you because

of David had a longing passion for God.

It resulted in him praising God. And many of David's 73 psalms

are praise psalms. This one is a lament Psalm.

Then let's look at verses 6 and seven.

He waited for God and he First off, he says when I remember

upon my bed, and then we'll talk about meditation .2 The key here

is that David meditated upon God's faithfulness in the past.

He says, You know thou have been my help when you remember him.

The phrase remember you means to recall what God has said and

done in the past and apply it to our present situation.

Many of the Psalms talk about that.

Psalm 7711 says, I will remember the deeds of the Lord.

Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

Psalms 105, which is a history of the The children of Israel,

says in verses one to five, Give thanks to the Lord.

Call upon his name, make known as deeds among the people, sing

to him, sing praises to him, Tell of his wondrous works,

glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek

the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord in his strength.

Seek his presence continually. Remember the wondrous works that

he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered.

And in Psalms 11955 says, I remember your name in the night,

oh Lord, and keep your law, You know, our God is called the

great. I am not, I was.

But he must always be recognized in our present situations.

And that's what David remembered him when he was in the desert,

remembering those good times. Then he says and meditate upon

you in the watches of the night. Now the Jews had three watches

at night, from sunset to 10:00, from 10:00 to 2:00 and from 2:00

to sunrise. So David saying whenever he

awoke in the night he's going to remember the Lord.

Now I believe I mentioned in the last two years when I talked a

little bit about meditation, I believe the art of spiritual

meditation has been lost by our current generation.

Maybe it's because of our social media television or just being

visit all our gadgets we have. But older Christians used to

meditate upon scripture. And last summer of Psalms I told

you if you remember take one verse write it down like today's

verse for me was I'm in Psalms 86 today.

So I Psalms 8611 was teach me your way, oh Lord that I may

walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear a name.

That was my verse to meditate upon today.

But why don't you just take the one that we looked at today.

Psalm 63, verse one. Oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you my soul. Thirst for you, My flesh faints

for you, as in a dry and weary land where there's no water.

You know, if you would write that down in a on a sticky note

or a cue card in the morning, and you could memorize it

literally a minute or two by saying it five times.

And I bet a lot of you already haven't memorized.

But then you start to meditate upon it and you ask yourself, is

he my God? Do I talk about God like David

does? Do I call him my God?

Are there any idols in my life that would prevent him from

being my God? Do I seek him?

Is there anything that I need to get rid of in my life that I

would thirst for God like David did and and then has my thirst

for God diminished since my conversion?

You know, when someone comes to the Lord, usually they're really

excited. They're out doing Evangeline to

Sharon. But as the years progress, it

seems that they they lose that love.

Remember in Revelation chapter two and three, five of the seven

churches, God tells them they need to repent, they need to get

right with God and then think about it.

What can I do to restore my relationship?

What can I align my priorities? So you know, we'll talk more

about meditation later, but David would meditate upon God in

the night, and boy do we need to do that.

He then says, You've been my help, and in the shadow of your

wings I will sing for joy. Psalm 64 one verse 4 says, Let

me dwell on your tent forever. Lately, let me take refuge under

the shelter of your wings. David remembered the past and

how God had protected him and how and it would cause him to

sing praises in the present. When and you know when you

meditate upon Scripture, it should lead you to sing joyous

praises for God. The more I read the Psalms, the

more I study the Psalms. There's been some incredible

amount of music coming out by Sovereign Grace, Music by the

Gettys, by City of Light, one of my favorite groups.

There's just so much beautiful worship music out about the

Psalms now. And so when I, when I and now

there's even a Grace Community Church has put out a book on

Psalms and you read the Psalm and they have maybe 1-2 or

three, four sometimes more songs to sing with that song.

It's wonderful what's out there now.

But when you meditate upon the Psalms, it should lead to joyous

praise for God. You know, when you when you.

I was thinking about it's not necessarily a Psalm.

But when when I was reading in John today, you know, I was

thinking about that when I surveyed the wondrous cross.

And you know those words there says love, so amazing, so divine

demands. My soul, my life, my call.

That's where David was. Let's look at he walked with God

verse eight, he says. My soul clings to you.

Your right hand upholds me. You know, there's a phrase.

It says, Tim read this. We had the song tonight, right?

God will hold fast to it. But I I've noticed in

Deuteronomy there's this phrase hold fast to him, Deuteronomy

4/4 says, But you who held fast to the Lord your God, are alive

today. Deuteronomy 10/20 says you shall

serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear

Deuteronomy 11/22. For if you will be careful to do

all his commandments that I command you to do, loving the

Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to

Him. Deuteronomy 13-4.

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep

His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve him

and hold fast to him. And finally, Deuteronomy 30,

Deuteronomy 30:20

verse 20 says, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and

holding fast to him. For he is your life and length

of days that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to

your father's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So what does it mean to hold fast?

It just means to stick. Stick to him.

Israel was to clean like David saying here intimately to her

God. David clung to God in the good

times and now it prepares him for the bad times which he's in

right now in this wilderness experience.

So he walked by with God by holding fast to God.

In the New Testament we have that verse Galatians 220 that

says I have been crucified with Christ.

I no longer live, but I, but Christ lives in me and the life

I live now in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

We don't live for ourselves, we live for Christ, and we need to

cling to Him. So you know, in .1 we saw that

David had this passion for God, and because that passion, he

would ultimately praise God. And then in .2 we just saw that

David would pursue God in those four ways.

Now we're going to move to point #3, and we'll see that the the

passion, the praise and pursuit leads to protection from God.

So .3 how David looked for God. Now these there are many

commentators, liberal ones of course, that don't believe

verses 910 and 11 belong with verses 1:00 to 8:00, because

they're not the same poetically. If you just read this verse

verses 1 to 8, the poetry is just incredible, even in

English, let alone Hebrew. But when you get the verse nine,

it changes. But OK, so they're commentators

who attack this song, but I don't believe that they are

different poetically. But remember what our

superscription said, right? A Psalm of David when he was in

the wilderness of Judah. And we've explained the extreme

danger that David was in. So Dave is in the wilderness.

He's fled from Absalom, you know, he's lamenting out to God.

And finally you get the verse nine.

We see the first indication of David's distress.

So two points there. He looked for victory and he

looked for vindication. So he looked for victory first.

OK, God is on his side. Absalom is the upsurper.

So he's looking for victory. So during this song you see

expressions like better than life in verse three, as long as

I live in verse four, and here in verse 9, those who seek to

destroy my life, it reminds us of the danger that David was in,

the danger of death. Because Absalom, even though

David had fled Jerusalem, the situation was very dangerous.

But you know, I think David knew here, even when he's in the

desert that he was going to win. Because remember what happened

in in Second Samuel 15, David's leaving Jerusalem.

His army and soldiers are going with him.

And the priest come Abathar and Zadit came with the Levi's and

they brought the arc of the coming of God, and they were

going to take the arc of the coming of God to be with David.

But what did David do? He said no.

He said put the arc of the coming of back where it belongs.

He says carry the arc of God back into the city.

If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back

and let me see it both and its dwelling place.

I know David knew he was the king and Absalom was the

Upsurper. And David knows that his foes

are going to be doomed. Those who would kill him would

be doomed. Remember he said, I I know he

had the victory, but he cried to He told Job and told the

generals, deal gently with my son Absalom.

Because generally what you need to do in Upsurper, you slaughter

him, right? And Job didn't listen to David.

He slaughtered Absolom, but David.

David didn't have to execute his enemies, but he knew that they

were doomed. All he had to do was ask God to

deal with them. Well, David and the believer

hold fast to the Lord. The wicked will be cast into the

depths of the earth. So his foes were doomed.

His foes were also defeated. He says they shall be given over

to the power of the sword. When you read the story of the

battle in 2nd Sangle 18 it says that 20,000 men of Absalom were

killed. But when you get the verse eight

it says and the battle was spread over the face of the

country and the forest devoured more people that day than the

sword. I love that verse.

I I can't get the thought. It's like that movie, The Lord

of the Rings, one of my favorite movies.

And they have those ants, those three people, and they devoured

all those people. They keep thinking about that

when I read that verse. So more people, the forest

devoured, more people than were killed by the sword God killed,

more people than the soldiers killed, but the foes were

defeated and the foes were devoured.

The last part of verse 10 says they shall be a portion for the

jackals. What this means is they're not

getting the proper burial, You know, the wicked.

Their bodies will be left exposed to be eaten by the

jackals and the birds. No proper burial.

So then we come to the last verse here, verse 11.

David, look for vindication. But the king shall rejoice in

God. All who swear by him shall

exult, for the mouth of liars will be stopped.

I said I believe David knew he would win.

That's why he wanted them to deal gently with absolent.

But triumph always succeeds over liars.

Absolom lied to the people, Absolom absurd the throne.

Absolom lied and he stole the hearts of the men.

But ultimately he would fail. You know the Bible tells us in

in Second Samuel and get tonight second to 19 David will go back

to Jerusalem and it looks like he would have about another 10

years to reign of that reign. So he was vindicated.

He would rejoice in God. He would go back to that temple.

He would repair, he'd go back to the Tabernacle and he would

prepare the stones, the gold, the iron so that his son solvent

could build the temple. He would arrange all the the

things that would have to be done for that temple.

So tonight just a our apple. You've seen a lot of application

through this Psalm already but just a couple points.

Number one, do I see God above all earthly pursuits?

Do I desire God above all else? The Westminster Shorter

Catechism says the chief end of man is to glorify God and to

enjoy him forever. Do I glorify God?

Do I enjoy him forever? You know, this Psalm 63, so much

of what I've said just kind of dovetails everything Lance has

been teaching recently for the last six months.

We've had a lot of messages, I think at least eight of them on

the church, its meaning and it's ministry, right, about loving

God and loving the church and not being away from it.

And and then do you remember that message?

One of my favorite messages Lance taught was he said was do

I adore God, Do you remember that one?

And Lance gave us seven points there.

There's an excitation to be with him.

There's a proclamation about him.

If you're excited about him, if you adore him, there's a

meditation upon him. There's a satisfaction with God.

There's a celebration with him, There's a presentation to him,

and there's the appreciation of him.

So do I seek God above all earthly pursuits.

Our lives are to be like that of the Apostle Paul, who said in

First Corinthians do too. But I desire to know nothing

among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

So I hope that when you leave here tonight, you'll have your

Your earthly pursuits will be temporary, like the all that,

all the Lana and Maui that burned down.

You desire God and the number two.

Do I spend sufficient time meditating upon the character of

God? You know, I mentioned many

times, there's five disciplines to scripture, right?

And hearing the word of God is 1.

And we do that on Sunday. But let's be honest, most people

are going to forget 90% of the message by lunchtime unless

you're taking good notes. So hearing the word of God is

number 1, #2 is reading the word of God.

And I trust the Wednesday night crowd is the choir of our

church. You're reading God in the

morning and having a quiet time. #3 would be studying the word of

God. You've got a help book, a

commentary, maybe MacArthur Bible.

You're you're studying, what is it?

What does it say? Maybe reviewing the messages out

there. Number four, of course, is

memorizing scripture. And I think we used to have

Bible, Bible, memory, association.

We used to have to memorize one verse a day.

And if we did it for I can't remember how many weeks we got

to go to summer camp. I don't know if they still do

that anymore. But you know, we're lucky if we

can get our kids to memorize one verse a week, But #4 is

memorizing and the number 5 meditating.

So I mentioned briefly about meditating, but meditating upon

scripture is is a lost art, I mentioned.

And it used to be when we didn't have all the social media, all

the sporting events, all the things going on.

And I remember 23 years ago I thought something like that

right before I went to India, there was a man in our church

named Omar. Have you any graduate from the

master seminary and began a church at somewhere out in the

Riverside. But he taught a sunny school

class right before I left to go to India and I think maybe Gil

Martha remember that class. Basically it was a follow up

from Doctor Ruska about how to pray one of the professors at

the master seminary and it was an hour prayer and you had a

chart. You would pray 5 minutes on this

particular 5 minutes for this, 5 minutes for that five, and you

went through one hour of prayer. And I took that to India because

when I went to India, you know, I didn't have a wife, I didn't

have a daughter, I didn't have a ministry because the pastor that

I was going to work with was in Manapor and I couldn't go there.

So he said stay in Syligori, work, stay there for six months,

I'm coming learn the language, you know.

But so I show up, I'm, I'm living in a missionary's house.

Who's not Who's home in America? You know, I don't know the food.

I don't know anything. I don't know how to cook

anymore. Finally realized that I need a

wife. But what was it was the most

special time of my life, because every morning I would get up and

I'd go through that prayer for one hour and I would sing songs.

That was one of the best times of my life.

And and by the way, at that exact time, Lance was preaching

in Genesis 24, how to choose a wife.

Now I left. He only had three of the

messages done. And so I had to wait to get

message for, but I I relisten to those cassettes is what we had

then. But that was a special time

because I had sufficient time to meditate upon God and marriage

and all the things of the Bible. And that's what I want to get

back to. That's what I want you to get

back to. You know, today, you know, we

have that saying I'm busier than A1 arm wallpaper hanger, got a

wife, got a kid, got a ministry doing this, doing that.

But remember the song Take time to be holy.

Speak off with the Lord, Abide in him always, and feed upon his

word. Make friends with God's

children. Help those who are weak,

forgetting in nothing. His blessing to seek.

Verse two says, Take time to be holy.

The world rushes on. Spend much time in secret with

Jesus alone by looking to Jesus like him.

Thou shall be thy friends in thy conduct.

His likeness shall see. I'm going to pledge myself to

spend more time meditating upon God and less time upon the

Dodgers and all the other things in the world that are out there.

And #3 do I cling to God, and do I depend upon his power to

uphold me? You know we need to stay so

close to God that no sin can get between us and God or us and

Jesus. We need to spend time alone with

God in the word of God and prayer and cling to God.

You know, we are all going to have wilderness experiences.

Maybe you've had them, Maybe you're over them.

Maybe you're going through that wilderness experience now, and

maybe you haven't had it. But it will happen in the

future. And I trust, like David and

Psalm 63, it will drive you into the arms of our Savior and our

God the Father. Psalm 63 has taught people for

centuries how we should deal with ourselves when we find

ourselves in a wilderness situation.

So I hope that you will cling to God.

I hope that you will spend more time meditating upon God.

And I hope that you will seek God above all earthly pursuits.

May you leave here tonight saying, oh God, you are my God.

Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, my flesh faints

for you, as in a dry and worry land where there is no water.

Let's break. Father, may we leave here

tonight, thirsting for you the living water.

The Holy Spirit has given us living water if we have Jesus

Christ and you. But Father, we can get

distracted like the churches and revelation.

We can get busy now that we're married, now that we have kids,

now that we have jobs, now that we have ministry, and sometimes

that that relationship you is lacking.

We don't spend time talking to you in prayer.

We don't spend enough time studying your scriptures and

growing and knowledge of who you are.

And we need to spend more time just meditating upon what you

have done. The miracles of the past and the

Old Testament. The miracles in the New

Testament. Father, may we leave here

tonight trying to do more and more thirsting for you like a

dying man in the desert. Thirst for water.

May we thirst for the living water more and more.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.