Series: Psalms
Title: God is for Me
Text: Ps 56:4-11
Date: February 6, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Psalm 56 is a Psalm
of David. He was being daily pursued by king
Saul and his men. David had been taken
by the Philistines in Gath where he feared king Achish. But these are prophetic words of Christ Jesus
as he walked this earth, pursued by a host of enemies.
Title: God is For Me
Proposition: When enemies attack
us and we do not perceive God’s presence, rely upon God’s word because in it God’s
child finds, God is for me.
Psalm 56: 4: In God I
will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh
can do unto me.
The foundation of David’s assurance, the foundation
of Christ’s assurance and the foundation of our assurance is God’s word. When God does not make his presence known in
our hearts, flee to God’s word where we find his immutable promises to his
people in Christ.
Psalms 12:6: The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
The enemy’s goal is to shake our faith in God. But God’s word reminds us the battle is not
ours but God’s. When all Judah and Jerusalem
were facing a large host of enemies, the Spirit of God came upon his prophet,
2
Chronicles 20: 15: And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not
afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not
yours, but God’s. 16: To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up
by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the
wilderness of Jeruel. 17: Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set
yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah
and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for
the LORD will be with you.
God’s word is immutable
so his promises are sure and certain promises to Christ and to his people. God’s promise to David is a type of God the
Father’s promise to the Son of God,
Psalm 89: 34: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is
gone out of my lips. 35: Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie
unto David 36: His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before
me. 37: It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful
witness in heaven. Selah.
We have that faithful witness in heaven—King Jesus is now sitting victorious
on his throne in glory. Therefore, as God’s elect chosen freely by the sovereign
grace of God, as hie people redeemed from the law’s curse by the precious blood
of Christ, with God’s justice having been satisfied toward us, having been regenerated
by the Spirit of God, we have the same sure promise from God our Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 13: 5: Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6: So that we may boldly say, The
Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
The Hebrew writer got
that word from our text at the end of verse 4, “I will not fear what
flesh can do unto me.” When scripture
speaks contemptibly of man as the lowest, weakest creature, it calls him
"flesh." What can flesh do
unto me? Which is greater flesh of man
or God’s word?
Isaiah 40: 6: The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All
flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower
of the field: 7: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of
the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8: The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
So believer flee to God’s word and you will
find great reason for assurance and great reason to praise God our Savior.
Psalm 56: 5: Every day they wrest my words:
all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6: They gather themselves
together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
Here we see what proud, self-righteous flesh does.
This is what false religion did to Christ
when he walked this earth. Proud,
self-righteous men distorted, wrested everything Christ said and did.
Matthew 22:15: Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might
entangle him in his talk.
John 2:19: Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up. 20: Then said the Jews, Forty and six years
was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21: But he
spake of the temple of his body.
Matthew 26:60:…At the last came two false witnesses, 61: And said, This
fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three
days.
All their thoughts were against Christ. They gathered together to consult and scheme how
to do him all the hurt they could.
Matthew 26: 3: Then assembled together the chief priests, and the
scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who
was called Caiaphas, 4: And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty,
and kill him.
Matthew 26: 59: Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought
false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
They hid and marked
Christ’s steps and waited for opportunity to capture, condemn and kill the
Prince of life.
Luke
11:54: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth,
that they might accuse him.
Luke 20:20: And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which
should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that
so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
Acts 4: 27: For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28: For to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
O God! Help me to
remember that! Help your people everywhere to remember that! No matter what men do to us, believer, they are
only doing what God’s hand and God’s counsel determined before to be done. Remember, flesh can only wound flesh; they
can never hurt a child of God in spirit.
Psalm 56: 7: Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine
anger cast down the people, O God.
Leave your enemies to God. Do not take vengeance. God will take vengeance for the sake of his
people.
If the one overcome by their flesh is God’s child then God
shall cast down the old man of sinful flesh in them that he might spare his
child for Christ’s sake. But if that
one committing iniquity against God’s saints is not his, God shall cast them
down in righteous judgment and vengeance forever.
Psalm 56: 8: Thou
tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not
in thy book?
Take comfort,
believer, because God knows every step we take and every affliction we suffer. David’s life was full of wanderings: from
the sheepfold to his father’s house to the palace of Saul then to the camp of
Israel then to the wilderness then to the cave Adullam then among the
Philistines, eventually to the throne. Men
count twelve great changes in David’s life.
God knew them all! God
knew every tear and heartache, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my
tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” God knows all the
wanderings and trouble of his people.
Concerning the children of Israel’s wanderings scripture says,
Psalm 105: 12: When they were but a few men in number; yea, very
few, and strangers in it. 13: When they went from one nation to another, from one
kingdom to another people; 14: He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he
reproved kings for their sakes; 15: Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and
do my prophets no harm.
All the tears of his
saints are in his bottle and all the afflictions in his book of purpose and
providence.
Malachi 3: 16: Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to
another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his
name.
Isaiah 63:9: In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of
his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he
bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
The day has not yet come when Christ shall wipe away all tears from our eyes
and there be no more. But the day is here
right now when the tears of his saints awaken sympathy in our Redeemer's heart.
Mary Magdalene anointed Christ’s feet with precious ointment; but her tears,
wherewith she washed them, were far more precious to our Redeemer.
Believer, God knows everything
that is happening to you right now! It
is all according to God’s purpose and it is all governed by God’s hand. He knows every tear and heartache and shall
provide.
Matthew 10: 28: And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. 29: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them
shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30: But the very hairs of
your head are all numbered. 31: Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value
than many sparrows.
Psalm 56: 9: When I
cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is
for me.
Instead of fearing
man, cry unto our Savior. This verse tells
us what is true of every sanctified child of God. “This I know”—by God’s
grace—"God is for me.” Believer
you can say this of yourself. God was for
me when he chose me freely by his grace and entered covenant to save me. He was for me when he put away my sin and made
me righteous. God was for me when he protected
me in my blind unbelief then crossed my path with the gospel and regenerated me
to faith in Christ. Right now in our
present trials, every believer can say, “This I know, God is for me.”
Therefore what are we
to do?—"I cry unto thee.” The
effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. Our Saviour told Peter the reason why Peter should
put up his sword, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"
(Matthew 22:53). Prayer to God is twelve
legions of angels strong! We do not need
to fight with carnal swords. Call upon
God!
What does God do for
me when I cry unto him?—"Mine enemies turn back.”
Romans 8:31: If God be for us, who can be against us?
Gamaliel told the Pharisees at least one
thing that is true. He said, “Refrain
from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men,
it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply
ye be found even to fight against God” (Ac 5:38-39).
Psalm 56: 10: In God will
I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.
Once again we praise
God’s word. Notice the difference in the
names. God and the LORD are the same God. It is different names but the same God. But "Elohim" denotes
justice, “Jehovah” denotes mercy. It was
to make justice and mercy meet in harmony in the salvation of his elect that God
sent his Son. On the cross in Christ justice
and mercy kissed in harmony. So I can be
assured as a child of God that God is for me in justice and mercy. The justice of God that demanded I be crucified
in Christ now demands I be saved since Christ laid down his life in my
place. The mercy of God calls for the
same. They do so in perfect
harmony. Therefore, “I will sing of
mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing” (Ps 101:1).
Psalm 56: 11: In God
have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
When news came to Martin Luther, that both the emperor and the pope had
threatened his ruin, he bravely answered, “I care for neither of them, I know
whom I have trusted.” Brethren, whether
God makes his presence known or delays, having God’s word, let us put our trust
in God and praise God’s word saying, “I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day” (2Ti 1:12). “In God have I
put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”
Amen!