July12_2023Psalm54

The speaker discusses the importance of God as the sustainer of our souls and the need for communication and conversation with God. They highlight the significance of salvation through Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. The speaker also mentions the challenges and opposition faced by David in the Bible and emphasizes the importance of submitting to God and seeking his help. They express gratitude for God's grace and mercy and acknowledge that God is our helper and ally. July 12th, 2023. Treasures in Christ. Psalm 54. Jehovah samach nefesh. Our Lord God, who is the sustainer of my soul. Psalm 54, 4. Behold, God is my helper and ally. The Lord is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life. Oh, Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful this morning. It's afternoon, I should say. It's a wonderful thing when we think about your goodness and your sustaining of our soul. We worship you this morning, Father God, as we bring our lives, Father God, to you to transform. We come in this place of humility where we can submit under that powerful hand because in this very place, the transformation happens. No matter what comes our way, Father God, we know that you are at work in us and through us. That your glory can pour forth and the light of Christ can shine. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, who came to redeem us and give us that access to the throne of grace and mercy that we need to be at today, knowing that we are going to need to get what we don't deserve and not get what we do deserve as we operate in your kingdom. For you desire none to perish today, Father God, but all to come into repentance. For that is your very will for each one of us and for all of your creation. So we thank you for that good news gospel. We thank you for our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we thank you for the Holy Spirit of power that transforms us into his likeness, the very sealer of our salvation until the day of redemption. So I pray you'll transform me by this word today as we seek you, Lord God. I pray we'll find you and we can know your way better and know you more. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. Oh, I'm encouraged today. When I see this sustainer of my soul, I'm always encouraged when I think about it because it's just an amazing truth that it's the soul of a man and woman that matters to God. And he's the one that sustains it because it goes through those periods in life where it can be very discouraged and it can have its challenges. So we thank you for that truth today. I'm going to see if I can adjust my volume level here a little bit. Let's try this. No, that didn't help much, but that's okay. We're just going to go with it. It is what it is. So I'm going to be going to Psalm 54 today and taking a look at this. It's a short passage. Again, we see another passage where somebody comes to snitch David out to Saul who had been coming after him. And so let's just see, but it's applicable to the body of Christ today, so we're encouraged by that. And let's just take a look and see what God has to say. Psalm 54.1. It says, Save me, O God, by your name. Judge and vindicate me by your mighty strength and power. And it's interesting that he starts with salvation and he's looking at, he's talking to the Father here. And it's the name above all names that we know that we're saved. There's no other way a man can be saved other than through Jesus Christ, our very Lord and Savior. And David was speaking prophetically here, but he understood the truth because God had been operating in him. He had the spirit of God in him. And this is an interesting part as it goes. So we see the salvation and then we go into the second part of verse one where it says, judge and vindicate me by your mighty strength and power. Now we know that David's not going to be talking about judging him for his perfection because we know that's just not an option. And let me just see here. Let's see if there's a way to turn that down a little bit. Oh yeah, there we go. I see how to do that now. All right. Well, it's a little better maybe. Who knows? We'll see. So, but judge. See, God brings in that sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in all of our lives where he's judging the works that we do because he's desiring us to walk in the kingdom in proper, in that proper place, you know, where we're supposed to be. And this is what David's talking about. See, it's not like judging me, condemning me. He's not talking about a condemnation here. He's talking about a vindication and, you know, where we are in the wrong, but God in his redeeming power that wants to vindicate us and bring us into right relationship with him because that's what he desires. So it requires God to judge in our lives the very things that we're doing. And this brings about the vindication of God, you know, the, where we get that grace, that mercy, that righteousness of Christ. And the trans, through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit there, we come into this place of vindication. And that's just an amazing truth. And it's of course by God's strength and power that this happens. This is not because of how good David is. This is not because of how good Adam is. This is not how strong I can pull myself up by the bootstraps. This is how God can come in and cleanse from me those things that are not pleasing to him. And David goes on in verse two to say, hear my pleading and my prayer, O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. See, we have to be getting to have these conversations with God, these communications with God. And when we start to recognize that we're sinning against God and God alone in our lives, that we begin to come to this place of pleading and in this place of communication. God wants a relationship. That's what he wants. The perfection can only be obtained through the righteousness of Christ and the transforming, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. But this tells us where we have to begin. We have to know that it's a conversation and I have to know that it's a communication with God. Today, for example, I got some bad news. You know, I got, I thought maybe he had opened up another job opportunity ahead of schedule because I know he had already set me up for September as far as what he's put in my spirit. And I wanted to bail on the situation I was currently in. And so I jumped the gun and went ahead and just try to do this on my own and come into this place of pushing the agenda that I had. And when I got the news today that it wasn't going to happen, I was distraught because my flesh wanted it. I wanted to get out of the situation I'm in and get into this new season of life that God has for me. But he has an appointed time and training that he has to do in me to prepare me for what's ahead. See, God's good like that. That's the nice thing about God. He's so good like that. And we're going to bring that down so we're not blasting everyone out. We'll see what happened. I just turned down the volume. So this is an amazing truth. And the place David gets – this is why David had a heart after God's own heart. Because no matter what was going on here, he was having oppression and affliction come against him for not even doing anything wrong, really, just being the anointed one God had anointed for the next role in kingship. But David submits himself in sacrificial worship and pleads with God in conversation and communication with God. And in this place, he's not – oh, there we go. Okay. I'm learning a new audio recording program as well. So we'll see what happens at the end of the day. So that was an incoming phone call. I had my Bluetooth set up to hear the phone. And that's why I interrupted. But I love this because David's not being pretentious here with God and boastful. He's staying in the sacrificial worship. And we see that out expressed in the second part of verse two. Give ear to the words of my mouth. He's pleading and praying to God. He's not demanding from God. And that's an important place to be. And so today I noticed that was a new thing for me, was that when it hit, when I got the news, normally I would just go wallow in that pity or whatever they say. And here I didn't do that. So – and then I'm going to try one more option here. Nope. Microphone. Nope. Okay. And sorry. We're working out some technical things as we go along here as we're learning new software interfaces and things. But, you know, I just decided, you know what, I'm just going to give that to you. You know the appointed time. If I jump the gun, then this is – I don't deserve to get anything other than what you want for me because I don't want anything else. And so this is what – the place David's in. So he's pleading and praying in this situation. And he's not just presumptuously, you know, demanding of God. He's just pleading and praying that God will give ear to the words of his mouth. And he says in verse 3, for strangers and insolent men are rising up against me. People he doesn't even know and people who just want to come against him and in his face. And it says, and violent men and ruthless ones seek and demand my life. They do not set God before them. And this is the key to what David's looking at. He recognizes the fact that when things come against us when we're operating in sacrificial worship, they're coming against God. They're not following God. And so because God is the shepherd of our soul, the sustainer of our soul, he's the commander and chief of our soul, that that's what really matters at the end of the day. So let's read the first three in a row. It says, save me O God by your name. Judge and vindicate me by your mighty strength and power. Hear my pleading and my prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers and insolent men are rising up against me. And violent men and ruthless ones seek and demand my life. They do not set God before them. Salah, pause, and calmly think of that. Verse four. Behold, God is my helper and ally. See, this is why David had a heart after God's own heart. His attention immediately turns when David is crying out to God, pleading with God, knowing God is the one who is the judge, civilly and criminally. He is the judge and the vindicator. And so his heart is correct. This is why we know there's no Pollyanna doctrine because we're just not going to have it. We're going to be, there are going to be those things that come against us. He even goes to the extent of demanding my life. Ruthless, violent, strangers. And so it's an amazing thing. But I love verse four because he says, behold, he's encouraging himself right now. God is my helper and ally. The Lord is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life. And I like the translation that I, the NASB, I think it is for the, you know, the characteristic of God. I just think it keeps it beautifully simple. And it says in the NASB, behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. Now, he uses others to work this out in our life. Absolutely. I know I was encouraged. Today after the phone call, my daughter called and wanted to talk about some stuff that was extremely encouraging. And it helped lift my soul, which was kind of in a depressing state because I didn't, it didn't go the way I would hope. But the reality is my hope needs to be in God for he is my helper and my ally. And he is the lifter and upholder of my soul. And I just love that. I love that verse today, that focus verse, because my soul was a little downtrodden today. But when I realized that God is my judge, God is my vindicator, God is my helper and ally and the upholder of my soul, I was encouraged and pressed on. And so this is, that's a beautiful verse right there. And I like the way David gets his attention correct, his direction correct, because if we stay focused on what's coming at us, we can neglect to remember what God is for us. And that's an amazing truth. And David's showing us how to do it. And he's even reminding himself even further. Verse five, for God will pay back evil to my enemies. In your faithfulness, Lord, put an end to them. See, God is faithful to fight for us. God is faithful to take vengeance for us. God is faithful to do these things for they're really an enemy of God. That's what we see in verse three, because they do not set God before them. This is what makes them enemies of God. But they become our enemies, because if they're an enemy of God, they're going to be an enemy of ours unless we're not in sacrificial worship in relationship with God. Then, of course, they're not going to be. And it's his faithfulness that can put an end to that. With a freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you, he says in verse six. With a freewill offering, he's offering his life as a freewill offering, as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is what he's doing long before that passage was ever written, because it was written by the Holy Spirit, and David was operating with the Holy Spirit as he was writing the oracles of God. And from that, he says, I will give thanks and praise. I will give thanks and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. And we learn this, I learned this yesterday, that God is good to his people. He returns the favor when we're in situations where the situation is unfavorable. God brings favor, and he fulfills promises. And it gives us a heart of gratitude because he's so good. And we know the outpouring of fulfilled promises in our life is praise. And there's no other reason necessary other than God is good. And he's reflecting on the fulfilled promises, which lead him to be thankful, grateful, and pour forth praise to God. But he has to be in this freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you. With a freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you. We have to be in sacrificial worship. It's just not, you know, God's just going to be good to us because he's just a good God. I mean, he does that in the sense of the grace that he gives us and the mercy. But the reality is, in times of need where God fulfills promises in our life, that's truly the place where praise and gratitude come forth. I mean, if God's not working in our life, what would we be grateful for? Unless it's just a mechanical thing we're doing. And how do we get him working in our life? We offer our lives as living sacrifices. It's very simple. In verse 7, he's given some more brass tacks of what God's done in him. Because it's a good thing to recount the things God has done. And to remind ourselves, to encourage ourselves. And he says, verse 7, for God has delivered me out of every trouble. And we know the scriptures are true. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers them out of them all. So we know deliverance is what God brings to the table for us when we get ourselves in these situations of trouble. Or trouble just comes to us because we're operating in the sacrificial worship. Either way, it's trouble, right? And it says, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. Because we know God will thwart the plans of the wicked, and he will make the enemies stumble and fall at his own device. And vengeance and all of these things. So we see what God does when we get victory. And it's not what we might always think. Because sometimes we think victory over our enemy is like, okay, we won a battle. I mean, we won like a physical war or something like that. Like we're going to show them. It's not that at all. That's not what it is. But it's the attack, the power that presumably the enemy seems to have is reduced and gotten rid of. Because we have victory in God. Because there's a name we serve that's above every name. And nothing comes back in. No weapon formed against us can prosper. Now, it can hit us. And God may need that to hit us to get us vindicated into this place that he's transforming us. Absolutely. But the prosperity of it won't be there. It won't have any lasting effect. Because God will fork the plans of the wicked and bring deliverance to us from this situation. But not in a cocky, pretentious way. He's not going to pull us out of that situation so we can come back and thumb our nose and I told you so. Yeah, you deserve it. That's not God's way. Because he wants none to perish. Even those who are enemies, God wants not to perish. He wants to come into repentance and come into a relationship with him. And this is what sustains our soul. This whole Psalm 54 shows us what's going to come against us, where we've got to be, where our help comes from, and the fact that God fulfills his promises in our life when we offer them as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord. And from that comes deliverance out of the oppression, affliction trial. You know, as he said, well, he delivers us out of them all. So he can't lie. And he does. And I've noticed he does. Now, if I try to put it in my own way of thinking, in my own concepts and precepts and whatever, then all bets are off. David is in a sacrificial worship we see in verse 6. Free will. I free choose. Not I'm just going to bring it to you so that you can go smash them in the head. I'm going to bring it to you so that gratitude will come forth for what you do in my life and the fact that you deliver me from all these things and that you uphold and sustain my very soul. This is an amazing truth. And I love this psalm. What a beautiful, it's a short psalm, but it is awfully beautiful. And it's a reminder that Psalm 54, yes, is the standing operating procedures in the body of Christ and shows God's, gives us more knowledge of who God is. And this is what makes it a treasure in Christ because none, we can't go to the Father except through Christ. And why it is an eternal treasure in heaven because things of Christ are eternal. And that God is Jehovah Samach Nephesh, our Lord God who is the sustainer of my soul. Oh, Heavenly Father, I'm just so grateful today with this short but beautiful passage. What a beautiful passage, Lord, to show us the standing operating procedures. That when things come against us, Father God, then we start getting the afflictions and oppressions and troubles that you are our help and ally. And our place and position is to come into sacrificial worship, offering our entire lives as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to you. And cry out to you, Father God, for the help that we need, knowing that you will deliver us and hold us until the day of redemption. I pray this truth over the body of Christ today. I know that it will be transforming as it goes forth. In Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen.