2 Samuel 22:1-7

We’re going to be reading two passages of scripture tonight. The first is in 2nd Samuel chapter 22, verses 1 to 7. And then we’ll be looking at Psalm 18, 1 to 6. Psalm 22, verses 1 to 7. And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, the God of my rock, in him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior, thou savest me from violence. I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. When the waves of death come past me, the floods of, ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell come past me about, and the snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried to my God, and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. And then, if you would, over to the book of Psalms, and chapter 18, or Psalm 8. 18. I want to read the first six verses. The preface of the Psalm is to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake under the Lord the words of this song, the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said, you’ll note that the preface here is basically the same as the verse that we had. It shows us that this preface here actually has, inspiration behind it. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death come past me, and the floods of ungodly men may be afraid. The sorrows of hell come past me about. The snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God, and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him even into his ears. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. And you’ll notice that Jesus Jesus often spoke about farming in his various teachings, particularly in his parables, you’ll find this to be the case. He speaks about sowing seed, about the different grounds the seed falls upon whether it is on the hard path or whether it’s on rocky ground or thorny ground or good ground. He relates to the problem of tears being among the wheat and the difficulty of separating them. He talks about sowing and reaping, the harvest, the gathering of the weed into the barn and the burning up of the tears and so forth. Now everything that Jesus says about farming is true. If you ask a farmer, particularly in that particular time frame, and certainly I think today it would certainly be applicable. Any farmer would agree with the assessment that what said is true. But the reality is that Jesus isn’t really talking about farming per se. That wasn’t his purpose. He’s using farming as an illustration. It’s not like he is the Department of Agriculture and talking about how to do farming. He wants you to look beyond the earthly account of things to the spiritual reality behind it. Because it speaks about Christ and his kingdom, he tells. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like this. And therefore, that is the teaching behind the farming. Now, obviously, David, the inspired writer of this Psalm that we find in, Psalm 20, in 2nd Samuel 22, and in Psalm 18, records something about his personal deliverance. It talks about being delivered from all his enemies and from Saul and so forth. and we can understand that. The fuller version of this Psalm is found in Psalm 18. It is what we might call David’s final version that’s included in the sultan. He made some slight revisions to it and it is included in our Psalter. And as we see, it was used in the public worship of God. If this was just a personal song, if it was just about David, then it would hardly be suitable for the whole congregation, as he tells us it is in Psalm 18. But what we need to understand, and what I hope to talk to you about tonight and set the stage for looking at the psalm in more detail, Lord Willie, next week, is that it is a prophetic song. It is a Psalm about Christ. It takes us far beyond David to the son of David. It is a Psalm of David. It is a Psalm about Christ. It is a Psalm about Christ. It takes us far beyond David. Jesus Christ. And so we find something here about Christ in this Psalm. Let me begin by saying this, that you should understand that this Psalm is ultimately about Christ. You should realize that David, as Peter said in Acts Chapter 2, being a prophet, speaks here about the Lord Jesus Christ. This Psalm arises from David’s personal experience. He has many enemies. We certainly could talk about Saul and Absalon, and we’ve talked about Shiba in the past here in our studies, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Edomites, and we can go on and on and on. But the Lord ordained all of this in David’s life so that David would portray for us something about the life of Christ. himself and the many enemies that he would face. David’s preservation by God in times of tremendous suffering would portray for us the preservation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as David here is despised and rejected, so Christ is despised and rejected of men as Isaiah. 53 tells us. Certainly, the Psalms are messianic, and we come to a Psalm like this, it’s unquestionably something that refers to Christ. Whatever it meant to the psalmist himself, the meaning goes beyond the psalmist, and it looks to the person and the work of our Savior. Peter argues in his Pentecost sermon, that Psalm 16 isn’t speaking about David, even though he’s the writer, because David’s still in the grave. His body is corrupting. But the Psalmist says in Psalm 1610, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And Peter draws from that the resurrection Christ and preaches Christ from the Psalms. So you should realize. David being a prophet speaks here about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are two basic principles in the song that certainly enable you to identify the Psalm as speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a perfection of character in this Psalm that goes way beyond David. Let’s look at verses 21 to 25 tonight. The Lord Reward me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness on my hands, hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore, the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness. I clean this in his eyesight. Do you believe that David said this of himself? What do you think he said this of someone else? It’s interesting. When we sing this Psalm, I once had a man in the church. He came to me up afterwards. He said, you know, I have trouble singing this song. And he said, I can’t match up to these verses here, verses 21 and 25. I can’t say, hey, reward me for the righteous. I’ve done because I’m a sinner. Well, the truth of the matter is we’re all sinners. We’re all unworthy. In many cases, David acted righteously regarding his enemies. We know in the way he dealt with Saul. He did fairly well, but certainly he failed with Nabal, as we see from Scripture. What about David coveting his neighbor’s wife? What about his adultery with Bashiba? what about him murdering Uriah? What about him multiplying wives and even taking four wives contrary to the law of God? What about him escaping the wrath of Saul and then lying to the high priest about being on a special mission for the king and the whole city of the priest that Knob were put to death? What about David doubting God’s promise that he would be king? He said, surely one day I’m going to fall by the hands of Saul, and he flees to the Philistines. While joining with Israel’s bitter enemies, the Philistines, David lied to Akish, the king of Gath, about where he was raiding. Can David personally claim that he has not wickedly departed from God and deserved to be recompensed according to his righteousness? What human being can make that claim? Well, there’s only one that I know of, and that’s the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He’s the only perfect man that can make such a claim. This is a messianic statement. Also, we should realize, my second major point here, is that the New Testament quotes this Psalm and applies it to Christ. The New Testament provides for us the inspired meaning of the text. Regardless of what you may think, if the apostles quote this Psalm and say this speaks about Christ, then it speaks about Christ. And we should look at it from that perspective. It should be viewed as messianic. There are several New Testament quotations, either quote a verse of this Psalm or a phrase from this Psalm and apply it to Christ. For example, let’s say, look at Psalm, or excuse me, Second, or Second Samuel 2250, if you would. Therefore, I will give thanks unto thee, O God, or O Lord, among the heathen. I will sing praises under thy name. You find this also in Psalm 18, verse 49. But look in the New Testament at Romans 15, chapter 15, verses 8 and 9. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister. of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made under the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written. For this cause, I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing under thy name. And here we find the quotation from Psalm 1849 and also from this Psalm 1349 and also from this Psalm 3,000. 22, 50, that’s worth of quotation for this cause, I will confess the among the nations of the Gentiles here. So the Psalm, according to Paul, is prophetic and speaks here about Christ. In particular, the conversion of the heathendom, that the Gentiles would be brought to salvation and sing praise. Christ will sing praise with his brides. brother and among the Gentiles to the Father. Look at 2 Samuel 22 and verse 3. The God of my rock in him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior, thou savest me from violence. And then if you would, to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 11 through 13, for both he that sanctifeth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, I will sing praise unto thee, and again, I will put my trust in him. Here we have the phrase. being taken from this Psalm. Christ is the captain of our salvation. The Word of days of his flesh was exceedingly exposed to great troubles and trials and and sometimes even perhaps fearful of his life. But he puts his trust in the Lord. He trust in the Lord and certainly sets the example for us in our day of trouble and difficulty. And then one more in 2 Samuel 22, verses 4 to 6. I will call upon the name of the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. When the waves of death come past me in the floods of the ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell come past me about. The snares of death prevented me. They were before him. Notice this, the snares of death, that particular phrase. We find this also in Psalm 18, verses 3 and 4. It’s the same thing. But look at Acts chapter 2, verse 24. Whom God hath raised up, meaning of Christ, having loosed the pains of death. Here’s that phrase again, that loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Peter in the day of Pentecost seems to lift this phrase. He loose the pains of death from Psalm 18 and applies it to Jesus Christ. The Hebrew word for snares signifies two things, a cord or a bond, or a bond, or it can be referred to pangs or pains, such as a childbirth situation. In the Greek Septuagint, it’s rendered pangs. From their example here, these, the Old Testament here, Luke has used these words, pains or pangs of death in verse 24 of Acts chapter 2. From the fact that Luke speaks of loosing from the pains of death, implies that Christ at one point was held fast by the pains of death. And therefore, the word bands or bonds or cords comes into play with this same thing. But the resurrection involved a breaking of the pangs of death, as he triumphed over death. Well, what this means again without question is the reference is to Christ. And so these little phrases and the other quotation for Momens 15 indicate to us the direction that we should go and we interpret this particular Psalm. As we shall see, Lord willing, it speaks of the kingdom of the Messiah, his sufferings, his resurrection, his rights, the conquests of his enemies, the conversion of the Gentiles, the judgment that falls upon the Jews, all these things will find in this Psalm. As we look at it, Lord willing, in our next study. Now, why is this Psalm inserted in a historical section of Scripture here? Well, this Psalm articulates something of the essential significance of David’s personal experience as the Lord’s king over God’s covenant nation. If this Psalm ultimately is speaking about the Messiah, then it speaks of the Messiah as the king over all true Israel and as the one who indeed is the Lord’s king, as Psalm 2 indicates to us, who has been established by the Lord. The psalmist speaks these words prophetically, as if they came from the mouth of Christ himself. And as Christ as the head and the church as his body give praise together under the Father for their deliverance from all the enemies that they are confronted with, we see in this then something that’s useful and beneficial. for today and for us. Now let me stop tonight because it’s going to be, I ended up having to divide this sermon to two because it ended up being a lot longer than I expected it to be. But let me stop tonight and make some application here with regard to what we just talked about. With regard to the fact that you saw that this Psalm, even though it was in a historical section, it was later slightly revised and put into the sultan. It was for the purpose of singing for the whole church. The whole congregation of Israel, the chief musician, was given this particular composition. Let me ask with all this in mind, what song should you sing as a New Testament worshiper? Now, there are various views within the church as to what should be sung in worship. The most important activity you engage in is the worship of God. And part of that activity, the Bible says, is singing. We read that Psalm 9-11, sing praises to the Lord. Psalm 34, sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and so forth. When we have congregational singing, there are a variety of approaches. Some churches sing just humanly composed songs from a hymnal. Some sing a combination of Psalms and humanly composed Psalms, sort of like that we have from the Trinity. Some sing exclusively scriptural songs, the Psalms that we find in the Psalms that we find in the Psalter. Today, Psalm singing is so rare among churches, some people have never even really heard of it. They’ve never experienced. They’ve never knew anything about it. I never knew anything about when I was growing up. Some people, when they’re exposed to it, think it’s old, it’s dull, it’s old-fashioned, it’s out of touch with New Testament worship. What most Christians should realize is that at one point, the whole church sang the Psalms exclusively. Today, the use of the Psalter has faded away, and the church is engaged in composing its own songs for worship. And so this is where we are. today. But I want you to realize the scriptures command you to sing the Psalms in worship. There’s no question about this. Look at Psalm 95 with me this evening in verses 1 and 2. Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with what? Psalms, the Bible says. Look at Psalm 105 in verse 2. give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him. Talk of all his wonder’s works. Now let’s go to the New Testament, the Colossians chapter 3 in verse 16. I’m just going to give you a few passages of scripture here. Let the Word of Christ. Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And then if you would, James chapter 5 in verse 13. Is any afflicted among you, let him pray? Is any merry, let him sing Psalms? And so you see here that the command of Scripture, even in the New Testament, is the command to sing Psalms. And we said that Psalm 18 was designated as Psalm, and it is certainly for public worship. This Psalm was composed under divine inspiration for the entire congregation, indeed the entire church in all ages to sing. Now think about this a minute. If God has given his people a book of Psalms to sing, and he is, has commanded them to sing the Psalms when they gather for worship. What right does the church have to compose its own songs? There is no evidence in the Bible that God’s people ever sang anything that was not inspired of God. God has commanded his people to sing the Psalms in worship. No one can honestly deny this truth, and yet few practice it. So you’re commanded to sing the Psalms. That should be. obvious if we look at it careful. Now, I want you to notice that divine inspiration is a requirement for the composition of songs for worship. David did not just give his personal reflections. He was moved by the spirit of God to write this Psalm. Psalm 18 is the result of this. At this point, people sometimes do not understand what needs to be clearly understood. David, who is called the sweet psalmist of Israel, and we get to 2nd Samuel chapter 20, the next very next chapter and the very first two verses, it states clearly that he composed these songs because the spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The worship of Jehovah is so important that nothing less that in infallibly spirit-inspired lyrics are to be used in the worship of our God. Calvin said this. He says, now what Augustine says is true, namely that no one can sing anything worthy of God which he has not received from him. Therefore, even after we have carefully searched everywhere, we shall not find better or more appropriate songs to this end than the Psalms of David inspired by the Holy Spirit. And for this reason, when we sing them, we are assured that God puts the words in our mouth, as if he himself were singing through us to exalt his glory. And so divine inspiration is required for the songs that are composed for worship. Let me mention another thing tonight. And that is the regulative principle of worship dictates what you should sing. Look at Deuteronomy with me tonight in Chapter 12. Let’s really look at verses 29 to 32. When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whether thou goest to possess them, thou succeedest them and dwellest in their land. Take heed to thyself that thou be, not snared by following them after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, how did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God. For every abomination to the Lord, which he hateeth, have they done under their gods, even to their sons and their daughters, they have burnt in their own. the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. You might say to me, well, why can’t we compose our own songs for worship of the Lord? Can’t we decide what is pleasing to God? Well, you’re looking at the matter the wrong way. The scripture would have you look at the matter of this. this way. What is it that God has commanded us to sing? This is known as the regulatory principle. Now God warns us we’re not to take earthly heathen ideas and bring them into his worship. And it tells us only what he tells us to do are we to worship. The key verses verse is verse 32. This is how you’re to do it. God honoring worship means doing what he is commands. This means that everything that he has not ordained for us to do, commanded us to do, is forbidden. The plea to permit in worship what is not forbidden is a Trojan horse that lets into the church all kinds of activities into the worship of God that he has not authorized. John Newton once had a cat and a little kitten. And so to avoid interruption, he just he was going to cut two holes in his door. He cut a big hole for the big cat, and a little hole for the little cat. I guess not realizing that both cats could get through the same hole. But what he soon had to realize is, well, it wasn’t just cats that would come through that hole. But squirrels and chipmunks and rodents like rats and mice and so forth, they all came through the hole. And so when you open the door, and even if it’s a small open, you’re allowing all kinds of things into the worship of God that he would not allow. And so we have to be very carefully, careful about what we do in the worship of God. One final thought here in this, and that the Psalms are completely sufficient for New Testament worship. Once it is admitted that God by His Spirit has given the Church, church, a book of Psalms for singing. And God has commanded us to sing the Psalms. You can only not sing the Psalms by coming up with a reason why you shouldn’t. You can only do this on the assumption of the inadequacy of the Psalms for today’s New Testament worship. That’s the only possible reason that someone could set aside the Psalms and you uninspired, humanly devised hymns. Isaac Watts, who, you know, the hymn writer of such hymns as joy to the world, and when I survey the Wonders Cross, said this. He said, some of the Psalms, he says, are almost opposite the spirit of the gospel. There are a thousand lines in the book of Psalms which were not made for a church in our day to assume as its own. I should rejoice to see David converted into a Christian. That’s a pretty serious statement, isn’t it? So the common argument is that the Psalter, being composed in Old Testament times, isn’t up to date enough, if you would. It is not relevant enough with regard to the doctrines and the teachings of the New Testament concerning the person and work of Christ. So the church needs something written after the redemption of Christ in order to, meet the needs of the New Testament Christians. But I again refer you to Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16. When Paul talks about the Psalms and the spiritual songs and the hymns, he calls them the words of Christ. These words that we sing in the song are Christ words. That changes the verse. perspective of everything when we come to singing the Psalms. Not only does this argue for the inspiration of the songs and that they speak about Christ, but they’re telling us that the very words of the Psalms are Christ’s words. Now think about that a minute. What hymn book can make that kind of claim? Do you realize you have more about what Christ is thinking and feeling in the Psalms than you do in the Gospels? You don’t have the inner thoughts of Christ so much in the Gospels. Gospels. You have it here and there. This Psalm that we’re going to study, this Psalm 18, reveals Christ’s sufferings and deliverance and the punishment as enemies and the kingdom of Christ and so forth. And so when we sing about this song and we look at it carefully, we’re going to be realizing that it says a lot about New Testament worship and the things that we certainly would be focused on today. the Psalms themselves provide a powerful testimony regarding the work of Christ, his divinity, his eternal sonship, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his kingdom, his agony of the garden, his trial, his rejection, his ascension, the second coming, the judgment of the nations, all of that can be found in the Psalms. The Psalms are so rich in the truths of Christ that, that no humanly devised hymn book could possibly match it. Luther said this. He said the Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book. If for no other reason than this, it promises Christ’s death and resurrection so clearly and pictures his kingdom and the condition and the nature of all Christendom that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly, everything that is in the entire Bible. In the New Testament, when the apostles, one that teach the gospel, about the death, burial, and resurrection, where did they go? Where did they, what did they quote? How often did they quote the Psalms to do so? So the Psalms are completely sufficient for us and our use today. When God commanded Moses to go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh, let my people go go, He didn’t want to do it. Remember all the excuses he came up with? They’re not going to really believe me that you sent me. They’re not going to believe that you appeared to me. So God gives him the shepherd’s rod that turns into the serpent and so forth. He gives him the putting the hand in his bosom and pulling it out and it’s leprous and putting it back in and taking it out and it’s clear again. And changing the water and the blood, he gives him all those signs. He says, well, but I’m not an eloquent speaker. Okay, I’ll give you your brother Aaron. We know he speaks well. He can go down. He can be your spokesman for you. And yet, Moses hesitates. He still doesn’t want to go. And the scripture says that God became angry with Moses. Because of these objections, because he was resistant to the command of God. The same problem exists today and plagues the church today when God gives us a salter, a hymn book, if you would, tells us to sing that hymn book, sing those Psalms, and yet man doesn’t want to do it. That man will come up with all kinds of excuses. How can God not be angry when we don’t do when we’re not doing what he commands us? He says, this is what I want you to do for worship. I tell you all this so that we see the relevance of this Psalm, and I hope is we go along, we’re going to see how important it is that it speaks so much about Christ. So when we sing it, remember, we’re not talking about our righteousness because we don’t have any righteousness that’s worthy. But we’re talking about Christ’s perfect righteousness, his perfect life, and because of that, we live and we are benefited. And so when we sing, we have to sing with that intelligence in mind. So, yes, this song, is composed for public worship because we’re supposed to sing it. And we should be singing it today. Well, let’s close with the word of prayer.