Sermon: Vindicated (Psalm 17) | Jan 16, 2022
Tag Archives: psalms
Hit the Hay | Bible Gleanings – Aug 14-15, 2021
It eats up one-third of your life, and there are over eighty disorders that prevent you from doing it: sleeping. Hitting the hay is the God-designed mechanism that allows you to physically recharge. Therefore, sleeping like a log is crucial for your brain and body. However, a large number of people are restless and can’t sleep a wink. According to the Sleep Foundation, many individuals aren’t sleeping well or long enough, regardless of how many sheep they count.1
Although many of us suffer from sleeping ailments such as insomnia or sleep apnea, King David was one of the few people who always got a good night’s sleep. He once said, “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me” (Psalm 3:5). And similarly in Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” But what was his secret for snoozing? It wasn’t a shot of Nyquil or sleeping on a Tempur-Pedic mattress, since neither existed back then. Apparently, David slept peacefully because of his faith in a trustworthy God. While David slept, the Lord was awake, keeping watch over him all night—and that tranquil thought was a pillow for David’s head.
A lot of things will keep you up at night. Anxiety is a restless pillow. Worry is an itchy blanket. An unclear conscience is a bed of nails. Sometimes melatonin knocks you out. Sometimes a hot bath soothes restlessness. But the greatest medicine for a deep sleep is resolute trust in the sovereignty of God. As C. H. Spurgeon said, “The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.”
God can run the world without you. He will take care of business while you sleep because He doesn’t sleep: “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:3-4). You don’t have to sleep with one eye open—God is watching over you. God is not a man, so He doesn’t need seven to nine hours of rest to function properly—but you do.
Are you worried at night? Does your mind wander in the nightmarish realm of uncertainty? Then pray, trusting that God will meet your needs: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).
Are you restless because of unconfessed sin? Confess your sins to the Lord and He will purify your conscience (1 John 1:9).
Lay down tonight and rest, “For he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2b).
- 35.2% of all adults in the U.S. report sleeping on average for less than seven hours per night. As many as 15-30% of males and 10-30% of females have some form of sleep apnea. See Suni, Eric. “Sleep Statistics.” Sleep Foundation, 8 Feb 2021, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/sleep-facts-statistics
Bible Gleanings is a weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky. In the event that the column is not posted online, it is be posted for reading here.
Beat the Heat | Bible Gleanings – June 5-6, 2021
Beat the Heat
I would say we were crying for relief, but our bodies were too dehydrated to produce tears. The scorching sun spewed its wrath upon us as we hiked on trails desolate of shade. We sizzled like bacon in an iron skillet with every step on the preheated rocks. Although we guzzled water and paused for a break every half hour, the blistering heat convinced us that we had a fever.
We couldn’t sleep. We couldn’t eat. The boiling humidity evaporated every ounce of our strength, and all we wanted was one moment of cold refreshment. Fortunately for us, a nippy swimming hole lay only a few miles away. We dove into the rejuvenating oasis, rested on the surface a while, and swore off camping in the angry mid-July heat.
You know how we felt if you’ve ever camped in the peak of summer or pushed yourself too hard in sultry weather. One man knew exactly how we felt: king David. He once wrote in the Psalms,
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:1-4).
There is one difference between us and David, however. He wasn’t parched by summer’s searing heat waves because of a poorly planned camping trip. Instead, he felt the heat of God’s discipline sapping him of strength because he dealt poorly with his sin.
He celebrates the blessedness and freedom of forgiveness, but acknowledges that he forfeited the enjoyment of such forgiveness because he failed to confess his sin. He kept quiet about it. He hid it inside. And his unconfessed sin caused the heavy hand of God’s fatherly discipline to come down upon him and drain him of all his vigor and joy, just as the torrid heat of summer dries up all your energy.
I have felt the heat of God’s discipline. David felt the heat of God’s discipline. Have you?
The good news is that the discipline of the Lord is evidence that you truly belong to Him (Hebrews 12:7). However, the hand of the Lord will dry up your strength until you dive headfirst into the oasis of confession. The longer your sin remains unconfessed, the more God will vaporize your gladness and spiritual stamina. Crying out to God in confession is the only way to cease crying for relief. You must do as David in the following verse: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (v. 4).
Bible Gleanings is a weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky. In the event that the column is not posted online, it is be posted for reading here.
Don’t Slip!
“My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped” (Psalm 17:5).
When hiking, it is best to avoid things that might make you fall. I have found that going around creeks with a strong current is better than going through them. It is safer to step on dry rocks rather than grimy ones, even if it’s only a little grime. Walking on beaten dirt paths is preferable to muddy hills and slopes.
The psalmist David certainly understood the importance of avoiding slippery and unstable surfaces while keeping your feet on the right path. Of course, David wasn’t talking about hiking – he’s talking about living. The Christian should long to attain the kind of life David exalts in this verse. Believers should walk on the righteous path of life and avert things that might cause a damaging fall.
Your feet should be fixed to the path of obedience and you must turn aside from slippery and unstable ground. You must bypass tempting situations which threaten to sweep you under. It’s best to keep your feet on the solid path of righteousness. Your feet will only slip if you take the wrong steps and venture off the right path. Thankfully, even if you do fall, God doesn’t leave you on the ground. God will catch and hold you up: “When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up” (Psalm 94:18).
Watch where you put your feet as you walk the dangerous terrain of life, and don’t slip!
For further study, see Psalm 18:36; 37:31; 38:16; 66:9; 73:2.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (Aussiedor), and Dot (beagle).
Trusting in the Lord During Trials (Psalm 3)
The following sermon was delivered at Lakeview Baptist Church, in Benton, KY on the 8th day of October 2017:¹
“A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
“O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.7 Arise, O LORD!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.8 Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people! Selah” (Psalm 3).
Introduction: Sorry, But Rodney Atkins Was Wrong
There is a popular country song on the radio today that’s been around for a while, and I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with its meaning. I know I’m overly critical of things in general, I know my wife can attest to that. I like country music myself, we listen to it all the time, so don’t get me wrong. However, the song If You’re Going Through Hell, by Rodney Atkins should have never been written. While it has some good themes and a good tune, it is the worst possible explanation for what is going on in the trials of life. I know its not meant to be a sermon on the trials of life, but what astonishes me is that many people have a theology of trials almost synonymous with the message of this song! I believe Rodney is seriously mistaken when he describes what’s going on in the trials of life and what to do about them. Here’s the chorus we all know:
If you’re going through Hell
Keep on going, don’t slow down
If you’re scared, don’t show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you’re there!
First of all, trials are not hell – not even close. Trials do not compare with the eternal wrath of God poured out on the nonelect. Though I know Rodney is using the term loosely, the fact is, some people actually believe that trials in life are hell on earth. Secondly, self-pride and self-strength are not the way to get through them. A lot of people think this way. Thirdly, if you are scared, it’s okay to show it. Don’t hide your fear of the unknown as many people do. Fourthly, most of the time you don’t get out of them. I’ll give Rodney credit here – he says you might get out. But for believers and nonbelievers alike, we will never been done with trials on this earth as long as we’re here. And finally, the devil isn’t always watching to see if you are in a trial. Though the devil is a crafty enemy, I think people give him way too much credit these days. He is rarely the direct cause of trials in life, and he is certainly not always watching you, though he does strike at moments of weakness which may happen during trials of life.
Rodney Atkins’ song is not what is happening in the trials of life, and that’s not the way to react to them either. But you know, just as worse sometimes is the way that we do react to trials. Sometimes we do have an outlook on trials like the one portrayed in the song, and sometimes our outlook is even worse! It has been my experience in speaking with people as a pastor, and in dealing with my own trials, that we as believers do not usually react to trials in the right way. We usually react with a desire to escape, or having great despair, suffering from anxiety, being depressed, or perhaps even being angry with God. If we always reacted rightly during trials, there certainly wouldn’t be a plethora of biblical commands concerning this very matter (John 16:33; Romans 12:12; James 1:2-4).
Whatever way that we tend to react to trials of life, it is certainly the teaching of Scripture that we should react to trials by trusting in the Lord. We could spend our entire time together proving that fact, but I’ll just note a few examples. Consider Joseph – he certainly trusted in the Lord during his troublesome times when he was sold into slavery by his own brothers. He had confidence in the Lord during the turmoil he faced along the way. He confessed at the end of that account in Genesis that he believed the Lord was doing what was good and right the entire time. Remember that he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20). The book of Psalms themselves are each an expression in some way of trusting in the Lord during times of lament, sorrow, persecution, trials, and even joy. In fact, there isn’t one psalm that doesn’t have an underlying confidence in the Lord. It may not always be explicitly written, but it is always the thread which binds the verses together. James tells us in his letter that we should count our trials as joy because of knowing and trusting that the Lord, through the trial, is developing us into stronger believers (James 1:2-4).
And assuredly, David trusted in the Lord during the trial he faced as he was being pursued by Absalom his son. This entire psalm is an expression of trusting in the Lord during the time when David was fleeing his own son. That situation is what fostered the writing and praying of this psalm we have read, and we see clearly in this psalm that David trusted in the Lord in many ways. To give you some understanding as to his situation, look at the superscript above verse 1. It’s the smaller print above most of the psalms which will give you insight as to what spurned the writing of the psalm, or instructions regarding how to use the psalm. The whole narrative is in 2 Samuel 15-17, and we see there that David’s son, Absalom, conspired a revolt against David and his kingdom. Absalom wanted to be king, so David fled from Jerusalem in search of safety. Absalom would eventually pursue David to try to kill him.
The way David reacted is what we have recorded in Psalm 3, and it is easily recognizable that the way he reacted was by trusting in the Lord. He trusted in the Lord because he went immediately to the place of prayer. He trusted in the Lord because he knew who He was. He trusted in the Lord because he slept peacefully. And because he petitioned God for what he needed and believed in His promises, he trusted Him. The whole psalm is a beautiful call for all suffering believers to trust in the Lord during the trials they face in life. And because the psalms themselves model for us how we should pray, what we should believe, and how we should respond as the authors did to their various situations, we will see from this psalm that, like David we can and should trust in the Lord during our trials. We will learn from David’s prayer here exactly how we can trust in the Lord during our trials. We will look at each verse this morning and learn that we can trust God during trials if we will:
I. Lament in the Presence of God (3:1-2)
II. Reflect on the Person of God (3:3-4)
III. Gain Relief from the Peace of God (3:5-6)
IV. Express Petitions to God (3:7a)
V. Believe the Promises of God (3:7b-8)
Do you want to trust in the Lord during your trials? That’s something we should all want to attain, so let us look now at Psalm 3 to find out how we may do so.
I. Lament in the Presence of God (3:1-2)
The first thing we need to do in our trials is lament in the presence of God. We need to go immediately to the place of prayer. When the winds of trials are violently gusting upon our lives, we need to take cover in the place of prayer, and talk to the Lord about what is going on. We are by nature people who think we can handle problems by ourselves—we’ve been that way ever since Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin and deal with it by themselves and without God (Genesis 3:7). But prayer reverses that tendency. Instead of handling trials and troubles with our own hands, going to the place of prayer puts trials and troubles in the hands of God. By prayer, we acknowledge our dependence upon the Lord for everything we need. And sometimes, the trial our trouble we’re going through is so extremely intense, we often need to pour out our hearts to God immediately—before we ask Him for anything or resolve to do anything about our trials.
And this is precisely what David did. David went immediately to the presence of God in prayer, and lamented about his situation to God. In vv. 1-2, David laments in the presence of God, expressing his situation to God. David lets the Lord know about the enemies he is facing because of Absalom’s rebellion. David laments to God regarding his enemies, noting that they are many in number and they taunt him, claiming that God is unable to deliver him. And it’s not because God doesn’t already know what’s going on—but it so that David can gain some relief from his distress—so that he can get some of these burdens off his shoulders. So what David does in the first part of this psalm is what we are to do when faced with extreme trials—we should lament in the presence of God. We should go immediately to the place of prayer, and talk with the Lord. Notice how David does this:
“O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
“There is no salvation for him in God.”
The psalm begins with a lament, which is an expression of great sorrow. And this lament is divided up into two parts—David tells God about his enemies, and then about what they are doing to him. So first, David tells God about his many enemies: “O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me” (v. 1). David is pouring his heart out to God concerning his many enemies. David wants to be delivered from his many enemies, that is abundantly clear. His enemies are great in number, for notice the language, “O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul.” It is not just Absalom who is pursuing David, but many other enemies which Absalom convinced to join him! The author of the account in 2 Samuel tells us this when it documents Absalom’s conspiracy against David. It wasn’t just Absalom and a few soldiers who were coming up against David, it was a great number of people. The author of that narrative describes it this way, that “Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (v. 6, 13). So, there was a great number of enemies who were pursuing David—that fact is only confirmed by David’s second lament: “Many are rising against me,” conveying a similar meaning that David is being surrounded by enemies all around.
That brings us to the second part of the lament, where David’s enemies taunted him by mocking his relationship to God. In verse 2, it gets interesting because we see that David’s enemies are concerned with much more than his physical life. They taunt David with an insult towards God. The second part of David’s lament is this: “Many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” The taunt and insult that David’s enemies hurl at him is directed at his soul, not just his physical body. Their taunt is in regards to David’s relationship with God—they claim that God is unable to save David. They say, “God will not deliver you,” indicating that David’s enemies do not believe in the power of God to save. David’s enemies attack him in the area which is dearest to him—his relationship with God. They are saying, “There is no deliverance for him in God!” or “God can’t save him!” They taunt, “No deliverance shall be his as we pursue him, for his God cannot save him at all!”
David is expressing all of this to God in prayer through his lament. We see David lamenting in the presence of God through prayer here, and this is the first principle in learning how to trust the Lord during trials. It should be our default setting to run to the place of prayer as soon as we are afflicted with difficulties and trials. We should be in the constant mode of prayer anyway, regardless of facing trials and troubles (1 Thess. 5:17). But we should especially go to the place of prayer when facing extreme troubles. Now, we must be careful that we are not just talking at God—moping and soliciting, as it were, in His presence. That is, spending time there and not accomplishing anything. And we must not stay there in lament-mode, but move on in prayer to reflecting on the person of God, trusting in Him, bringing our petitions to Him, and believing His promises. But the point is, it is okay to begin your prayers as such—the point is that David responded to trials with prayer, and so should we. We need to tell the Lord about what is going on in our lives.
Now, why should we lament about a situation God already knows? Why tell Him what’s going on if He is all-knowing? Jesus does say in the Sermon on the Mount to consider this truth when praying: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Why am I speaking to God about a situation He already knows? Well, because we do not pray to inform God, but to conform ourselves to His will. We pray to get burdens off our shoulders. Prayer is a means God has provided for us to be changed and gain relief from our communion with Him. 1 Peter 5:7, though written first to all elders in the church, instructs all believers, “[cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
We also pray in order to recognize that our trials aren’t as big a problem as we think. Sometimes we just need to vent, and as soon as we start describing the situation, we most of the time will realize that we may have exaggerated it and made it into something bigger than it is. But we can’t exaggerate to God—He knows the situation or trial we’re going through. Once we talk to Him honestly about it, it seems to shrink in size.
We pray also because it is simply obedient to do so. Scripture tells us to do so, and this verse implies that we should. It is what David first did, and it is what we must first do. During trials, we need to first lament in the presence of God. But we also need to reflect on the person of God.
II. Reflect on the Person of God (3:3-4)
As I noted earlier, let he who has ears to hear understand that it is a grave mistake and contradictory to the very nature of prayer to remain at the place of lament when praying about your trials. After we cry out to God in lament, we must reflect on who He is. In prayer, it is not enough to say, “Alright Lord, here’s what’s going on,” we must instead say, “Alright Lord, here’s what’s going on—but I trust in You because You’re a great and sovereign God.” We must reflect on the character and person of God during our trials—we must know who He is, and based off of knowing who He is, we should then trust Him.
That’s the second thing David does in this prayer. David expresses trust in the person of God, because he is reflecting on the person of God. In vv. 3-4, David refutes the taunt of his enemies by describing God’s character, and pointing to his relationship with God. Underlying what David says about God, and what David says about his relationship with God is a confident trust in Him that God will see him through. And we will see from these verses that, like David, we too must trust in the person and character of God during our trials. Listen to what David says in response to his enemies:
“3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah”
First of all, observe here that David reflected on and was confident in God’s character. David refutes the taunt of his enemies, that God is unable to save. David’s enemies say, “There is no salvation for him in God,” and David replies by pointing to who God is, that He is indeed, a God who grants salvation to His people. David defends the fact that God saves in this part of the psalm—he destroys their staggeringly foolish taunt with proof that there is “salvation for [David] in God.” And it’s because of who He is. “God can’t save you,” says David’s enemies—and David replies, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” David describes God’s character in three ways:
God is a Shield. God is a king who protects—that’s what shields do, they protect. God is a shield of protection all around David, even when he sleeps. God has promised to protect His own and this is the first thing David points to in order to refute the claim of his enemies: “You, O LORD are a shield about me.” This is a repeated theme in the Psalms, the fact that God protects His people from physical and spiritual danger. God is described very often in the Psalms in terms of a protector. He is a refuge, protector, deliverer, a warrior, a keeper, the preserver, the rock, a fortress, a stronghold, a rescuer, a shepherd, and a king. You can learn all of that just from reading up to Psalm 23.
God is David’s Glory. God is also David’s glory, meaning here David’s “power.” God is the Glorious One who provides strength to His people, and especially to His kings. God is so glorious that He can marshal the angelic host to aid His children (Psalm 34:7; 91:11).
God Lifts David’s Head. This phrase means that God has raised David up. God raises the humble, and those with their heads down. While David may be down and afflicted, God is ultimately the one who raises him up again.
Now in v. 4, David gets more personal in reflecting on God’s character. Secondly, notice that David reflects on the person of God in terms of his relationship with him. David turns from reflecting on God’s character to reflecting on God’s relationship with him. And what’s interesting is that David uses answered prayer as the greatest display of his relationship with God: “I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill” (v. 4).
David explains that he prayed to the Lord, and God answered him. He cried aloud to the Lord, meaning he prayed. And God answered him from His holy place—where He sits high and lifted up. And by the way, David was not in Jerusalem when he prayed this prayer. Even when David was removed from the presence of God in Jerusalem, he knew that the Lord would answer him when he called. David understood that he didn’t have to be in Jerusalem for God to hear his prayer—and neither do we. We don’t have to be in church or even in some quiet room with Bible verses everywhere (as in the movie War Room). Anywhere we are, we can pray and God will hear us.
Here’s something else extremely important to notice about this part of the psalm. Consider the order of the verses here—David first reflects on God’s character, then he prays. David points to who God is as a protector and shield, and then he prays. David’s prayer comes after he has reflected for a time on who God is. The prayer of verse 4, comes after the reflection of v. 3. David first looks up to God and then he cries out for help. From this we see a great truth, which is worthy of imitation: David’s understanding of God is what lead him to pray and ask God for help. David’s reminiscing of the power and protection of God leads him to cry aloud to the Lord. And you want to know why we so rarely pray and trust the Lord during trials? Verily, it is often because we do not understand who He is. Often times, the reason why we do not immediately respond to trials by trusting in the Lord is because we don’t understand the character and person of God. David truly did, and it was only a few truths about God at that. David acknowledged a few key truths about God, and that is what lead him to the place of prayer. I mean, just consider this for a moment. Would you be more inclined to pray if you knew God “who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6)? Would you be more inclined to pray if you knew, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27).
Maybe the reason why we don’t pray during afflictions is because we haven’t reflected on God’s character. Maybe if we knew more of God’s character, we might be more inclined to pray. If we stopped and remembered that God is “[working all things] together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28), we may be more inclined to pray. This is the biblical order of prayer—reflecting on God’s character—who He is, and then expressing our needs in prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Philippians 4:5b-7). That’s precisely what David did here. Now, the importance of doing this comes in the next section—why reflect on and trust in the person of God? Because of the benefits of doing so, and that we take up in the next two verses. We will see in the next section (vv. 5-6) why it is so important for us to reflect on and trust in God’s person and character during trials.
We need to reflect on the person of God during our trials. We must know who He is through His word, and in those times of trials, remember who He is. The only way to do that is to be saturated with the word of God—to be so much in the word so that life’s most difficult trials can’t get the word out of you.
III. Gain Relief From the Peace of God (3:5-6)
Trusting the Lord during trials requires for us to lament in His presence, and reflect on His person. And when we do, we will gain relief from the peace of God. Now, there is no command here in this section, neither is their stated anything we should do during trials. Rather, this is something which will happen if we respond to our trials the way David did. This is what God does in response to our lamenting to Him and reflecting on who He is, and thereby trusting in Him. You can observe here that David explains what God did in response to his prayer. Because David reflected on the person of God and therefore trusted in Him, he can sleep peacefully and have no fear of his enemies, even if there were more of them.
And this is what God will do if we will trust in Him. He will sustain us, and we can rest our weary head on the pillow of His sovereignty. God will give us “peace which surpasses all understanding,” says Paul the apostle, but we must first “let our requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6-7). That is, God will grant us peace in our trials but we must trust in Him and pray. We must rest in who He is as a sovereign God, and He will sustain us during our trials. C. H. Spurgeon preached once on this very thing, stressing the need and importance for us to trust in the Lord to sustain us during our trials. He said, “The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.” If we will understand the truth about God from Scripture, namely the sovereignty of God, we will trust in Him as David, and gain relief from the peace God will give us.
And to that point, David expresses two ways in which he gained relief from trusting in God. He can sleep because God sustains him, and he can have great courage in the face of his enemies. Listen to what he says,
“5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.”
David explains that he is able to sleep peacefully because God sustains Him: “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.” After lamenting, after trusting in the Lord by reflecting on His character/person, he says that he went to sleep. Now, remember—David is in great danger at this time—his life is being sought after. Nothing has changed about his situation and his trial. But something has changed about his perspective. After reflecting on who God was and praying, he is so confident in God’s ability to deliver him that he prepares to go to sleep. Now that is what you call confidence. A king is either insane or truly protected to respond to war by going to sleep! But not only does he lay down to sleep—he does sleep (indicated by “slept”), and he wakes up again the next day! And David expresses trust once again in the person of God by telling us why he can sleep in the midst of trouble: “for [or because] the LORD sustained me.” So we get a picture of David no longer having fear of his enemies, so much so that he can lay down on his bed, go to sleep, and wake up the next day—all because God has sustained him. But notice too, not only does David have a great peace to come upon him because of how he has responded to his trial, but also he no longer has fear.
David expresses that he no longer has fear of his enemies: “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (v. 6). Notice again—David’s problem hasn’t changed at all. In fact, he expresses that he will have no fear even if it does—even if it gets much worse! Even if there were more enemies surrounding him, he would still have no fear. Compare v. 1 to v. 6—a lot has changed since v. 1! A lot has changed since David has lamented in God’s presence, reflected on the person of God. David’s problem hasn’t changed at all, but his perspective certainly has. Now there is a new perspective on the same problem. What a great change from simply reflecting on God’s character and praying!
Everything changed when David reflected on who God is. This experience of peaceful sleep and courage in the face of more enemies comes only after David brings his prayer to God and reflects on the person of God. That’s the central thrust of this psalm—David wants everyone who reads this psalm to understand that they too can have peaceful sleep and courage in the face of trials if only they will pray and understand who God is! We too can experience sustenance, peace, and courage in our trials if we will do what David did. Our problems may not change, and they may even get worse (and most of the time they do), but we can change our perspective! We can get through the trials we have in life when we pray and recognize who God is. Once we understand who God is, our perspective and attitude will change—we will trust the Lord.
And another thing too, note how brief David’s reflection of God’s character is—David only needs to understand a few key truths about God in order for him to gain confidence again. All he acknowledged about God was that God protects him, God answers his prayer, and God sustains him. This just goes to show you that the length of our prayers do not matter as much as their content! David’s brief description of God’s character, and his corresponding confidence shows us that you are closer on the road to peace and faith when you know who God is, than you are if you pray for 10 hours. And you know, something I have found to be astonishing in comparing our faith to the faith of characters in the Old Testament like David is this: Many characters of the Old Testament had a better understanding of God and a greater faith in God with less Bible than we do with the whole Bible! David had peace, joy, and courage again after reflecting on only three truths about God—but it was because he knew them. He had read them, known them, and been taught them. Let me tell you something—you’ll never have a faith like David’s and you will never have the peace, joy, and courage like he had until you understand truths about God which come from His word. And it is those truths which we must reflect on during our times of trouble.
This is especially important during trials in life, because there are all kinds of emotions we are dealing with—and emotions can be deceptive. You may feel distant from God, you may feel like God has abandoned you, you may even feel like God is “punishing you,” but you need to have your faith rooted in the objective, unchanging word of God because it doesn’t matter how you feel during your trials. What truly matters is what you know and what you do with it. Once we know who God is through His word, we can truly trust in the Lord during our trials.
For a while now, my parents have had a little Jack Russel Terrier named Charlie, and one thing that has been surprising to us about him is that he likes to take care rides. He’s the first dog we’ve ever had in the family that actually likes to take rides in the car. Our dog hasn’t always been so audacious—he used to be really timid and scared. But as long as he rides up in the front with you, he’s pretty calm. He usually puts half his body out of the driver side window, while burying his nails into your knee. But you know, I’ve noticed something about him. When he is hanging out the window while we’re going 45, or while we are driving on a curve, he will start to lose his footing. He gets freaked out and comes back inside the car for fear that he may drop out. So usually I hold on to his side or his back leg so he won’t go out the window when we turn on curves or are going too fast down the road. He is pretty fearless when you’re holding on to him—he has faith in me because he knows who I am. He knows I’m not going to drop him. He knows that if the ride gets rocky, too fast, or swings him around, he’s going to be just fine because I’m not letting him go. Charlie has no fear because he knows who I am.
Let me tell you something—we should have no fear of what might happen to us when we’re driving through life because we know that God isn’t letting us go. You may be suffering so much that you feel like you are being thrown out of the window. You may be in such a tumultuous situation that you feel like your life has crashed—but all you need to do is look over to the driver seat, my friend. God is there, and He is the one driving. He is holding on to you, and He won’t drop you—all you need to do is trust Him. Don’t trust your hold on Him, but trust His hold on you.
Once we lament in the presence of God, and reflect on the person of God by knowing and believing His word, we will gain relief from the peace of God—He will allow us to sleep peacefully and have courage.
IV. Express Petitions to God (3:7a)
Trusting in the Lord during trials begins by lamenting in the presence of God. We then must reflect on the person of God, and when we do, we will gain relief from His peace. Fourthly in this psalm, we see that we must express our petitions and requests to God. After all of these things in the psalm, David prays for what he needs. David petitions God for salvation and deliverance saying, “Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God!” (v. 7a). David made mention in v. 4 of a prayer he prayed that God answered, and the first part of v. 7 contains that prayer. David wants for God to rise up and deliver him. Though many have arisen against him, David wants for God to rise against his enemies. He wants God to get up from His throne, and to come down and save him from his enemies. We won’t spend much time here in this point because there’s not much said in this part of the verse—but one thing we can glean from this for sure is that David petitioned God. And this too is an essential element to learning how to trust the Lord during our trials. Whatever it is that we need, we need to ask the Lord for it. We need to petition God as David did here. What is it that you need during your trial or difficulty? Ask the Lord for it. This is certainly included in Scripture’s teaching on responding to trials and anxieties (Phil. 4:7; Matthew 7:7-12; James 4:2).
V. Believe the Promises of God (3:7b-8)
Lament in God’s presence, reflect on God’s person, gain relief from God’s peace, express petitions to God, and finally we need to believe God’s promises. Finally, David expresses belief in the promises of God. Why does David have such a request as the one in v. 7a? Why does David believe that God will answer that petition/prayer? Because he believes in the promises of God. Listen to the way David explains this: “[Petition] Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For [or because] you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!” (vv. 7-8). David prayed because he rested in God’s promises—and these two statements in this section are two promises of God. One is a promise from God to His enemies, the other a promise from God to His people.
The first is a promise to God’s enemies (v. 7b). Now, this phrase may seem harsh to our ears, but it’s what this phrase conveys that is really important. David is resting in God’s promise that He will protect His covenant people by destroying their enemies. This was a promise from God to do this. God will strike the enemies of the king, and wipe them out.
The second is a promise to God’s people (v. 8). This was also a promise that David rested in. David knew that God had promised to deliver His people, and it was the only source of David’s confidence that God would answer his prayer for deliverance. God has promised to eradicate the wicked, and has said previously that salvation belongs to Him. And these promises are what gave David the confidence to pray such a thing as he did. These are promises David recalled which are specifically applicable to his situation. They speak directly to what he was going through. And because David rested and believed in these promises, he was able to pray confidently. He prays, “Arise and save me, for here is what You promise to the wicked, and here is what You promise to Your people.” These specific promises of God from His word are what gave David his confidence that God would hear His prayer and answer it. And let me just ask this morning, considering that these are promises specifically applicable to his situation—how many promises of God do you know which are specifically applicable to your situation? If we do not know the promises of God, we will have no rest nor confidence that God will answer our prayer or see us through. The promises of God are the blood flowing through our arms when we lift up our burdens to the throne of God. If we know what God says in His word about our troubles and trials, then we can rest in those promises. If we don’t know the promises, we will have no rest. How many promises of God do you know?
We need to believe the promises of God in order to trust the Lord during trials.
Conclusion: A Hymn With the Wrong Name
One of my favorite hymns is What a Friend We Have in Jesus because it conveys to us the importance of prayer in our pain. It explains to us what God will do when we pray. Really, I think this hymn has the wrong name. It only speaks of Jesus as a friend remotely—it’s main emphasis is how God works through prayer. I love this part of the song:
“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!”
We forfeit peace and bear needless pain when we do not carry our pain and burdens to the Lord in prayer. It’s what David did, and it is what we must do if we will learn to trust the Lord during our trials. We do not have to go through our trials without peace and bearing needless pain—if we will trust in the Lord, He will take care of the rest. We don’t have to act like we’re not scared during trials—but we should trust the Lord to calm our fears. Like our dog Charlie, we should not fear what will become of us because our Father holds us near Him.
As God enables us, may we trust in Him during our many trials by going to Him in prayer, reflecting on who He is, gaining relief from His peace, expressing our petitions to Him, and believing His promises.
- This sermon was also delivered at LaCenter First Baptist Church in LaCenter, KY; Ohio Valley Baptist Church in Barlow, KY; New Concord Baptist Church in Melber, KY; and Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, KY.
The following sermon audio was recorded at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, KY:
The Invincible Kingdom of Christ (Psalm 2)
The following sermon was delivered at Ohio Valley Baptist Church in Barlow, KY on the 26th day of February, 2017:
“1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”7 I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2).
Introduction: Jesus is an Invincible King
Something unique about and exclusive to Christianity is that we worship and serve a King. Not just a King, but the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Yes, we worship Christ who is our Shepherd, Savior, Prophet, Priest, Mediator, and Lord. But something that distinguishes us from other religions is that it isn’t just a man we are worshiping. He isn’t just a good man, or even just a deity, or a God-like being—Jesus Christ is a King. He isn’t an enlightened man like Buddha, He isn’t a prophet visited by an angel like Muhammed or Joseph Smith (Mormonism). He isn’t among a host of other gods, as in Hinduism. He is a King greater than any religious figure. And He is a king greater than any political figure, greater than Caesar or any government, administration, or president (Acts 17:7).
He is the “King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim. 1:17). He is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). Jesus Christ is a King and His kingdom is invincible. When Jesus appeared the first time, His kingdom was inaugurated—His first coming marked the beginning of the coming of the kingdom of God, His rule and reign on the earth. When He came the first time, died on the cross, rose from the grave, and ascended to heaven—that’s when the administration of Jesus took over! He dominates, rules, and reigns in the world today through the Holy Spirit which He and the Father have sent to the world to carry out His purposes.
So it is clear from Scripture that the kingdom of God is invincible—and not just because the Spirit of God is here today accomplishing the will and purpose of God. It is invincible not just because Jesus is ruling in the hearts and lives of millions across the world. The chief reason that the kingdom of God is invincible is because one day, Jesus is coming back to finish what He started. One day, the King of Kings will return to gather in all His sheep, conquer anyone who stands in His way, and dominate the nations so that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). He will come to rule, He will come to reign, He will make war and will dominate all nations, and conquer His enemies. And while this gives great hope for the church today, it also highlights the foolishness of anyone who might seek to revolt and fight against Him.
Scripture says that when He comes, those who are in rebellion against Him will mourn and wail—they will be put to shame, because they won’t stand a chance against Him. It is foolish and deadly to be against Jesus because, while we don’t know the day or the hour of His second advent, we are always one day and one hour closer! But oh, the folly of those who reject Him—oh the absurdity of those who are unsaved and the dangerous ignorance of those who revolt against Him! It is foolishness in the highest degree to reject Jesus because His kingdom is absolutely invincible, impenetrable, and it is impending—getting closer and closer to the time when Jesus will conquer all. And that’s the thrust of the second psalm we have before us. We’re going to see in this psalm that it is foolish for man to revolt against the Lord because of the invincible and impending kingdom of Jesus Christ—instead of revolt, one should submit to and take refuge in Jesus. This is a call to both nonbelievers and believers alike. Nonbelievers need to take refuge in Christ to avoid the terrible fury of God’s wrath, and we as believers need to continually take refuge in Christ daily so we may overcome sin and have our eyes fixed on the day when He comes again.
The psalmist writes this from an observer’s point of view and speaks of a great rebellion, and a greater king who will conquer all rebellion. The psalmist speaks of the nations of the world who are revolting against the kingdom of God, how God will conquer them all through His king, and ultimately through His Son. And the psalmist invites all who read this psalm to trust in this King who is the Lord Jesus Himself. We will see in this psalm:
I. The Revolt of the Apostates (2:1-3)
II. The Response of the Almighty (2:4-6)
III. The Rule of the Anointed (2:7-9)
IV. The Recommendation to the Apostates (2:10-12)
Let us look now at the word of God:
I. The Revolt of the Apostates (2:1-3)
First of all, we see in vv. 1-3 that it is foolish to revolt against the Lord, expecting liberation. It is absurd to rebel against the Lord, thinking that you can overthrow His sovereign rule. The psalmist expresses here that the apostates are fools to plot a revolt in order to be liberated from the rule of God and His anointed one. Listen to the underlying tone of foolishness in the way the psalmist describes the world’s revolt against the Lord:
“1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us” (vv. 1-3).
The psalmist opens this psalm with a question: “Why do the nations and the peoples plot in vain?” (v. 1). He sees the nations and peoples of the world plotting and raging against the Lord, and asks why. You can even hear the concern in his voice in the way he penned v. 1—he views the nations’ revolt against the Lord as absurd, foolish, and stupid. And this idea leads the psalmist to ask, Why? Why would the nations do such a thing, he asks. Of course, “the nations,” in this psalm (and the Old Testament), are those who are outside of God’s covenant family. They are Gentiles, apostates, those who are outside of the faith—those who are pagan, worshiping other gods like Baal and Molech. These are not nations which worship the true God. It is said that these nations “rage,” and “plot in vain,” meaning they are restless, raging, and conspiring to do evil. They are upset about something, restless about something. And even this far in to the psalm the psalmist views their rebellion and revolt as absolutely foolish: Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? Don’t they know they are planning destruction for their own selves?
Notice also, their raging now leads to plotting. In v. 2, they move to greater action than just raging and being restless: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed.” Now the psalmist tells us what the apostates actually do in an attempt to carry out their revolt against the Lord and His anointed. The kings of the earth come together and the rulers come to take counsel together—they meet to discuss what they must do. They draw up plans, prepare weapons, train their armies, enlist their generals, locate their targets, and prepare reinforcements. They are meeting together to conspire a great revolt, a great rebellion. But it is not against another army, not against another nation, not to conquer land, not even to conquer the world—they plan a revolt “against the LORD and his Anointed.” That’s why the psalmist views them as dimwits, and it’s as if the psalmist is saying, “Why would you revolt against God? He is all powerful, all-knowing, all-present and who destroys His enemies.”
But that’s the focus of their rebellion—they rebel and revolt against the Lord God of heaven and earth, and they rebel against “his Anointed.” The anointed one would be the king of Judah—likely David at this point. Those who ruled God’s people were considered anointed—set apart by God Himself for His purposes, namely, to carry out His rule and reign among the people. Often you will see David saying things like, “[God] shows steadfast love to his anointed” (Psalm 18:50), or “the Lord saves his anointed” (Psalm 20:6). Statements like that are references to himself because he was the anointed king who ruled in Judah. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “anointed” here is masiah, which sounds a lot like Messiah, who is truly God’s anointed One. We know that the true Messiah is Jesus, God’s Anointed One. Keep that in mind for now, we will say more on that later.
And finally in v. 3, we have the goal of their plotting. The reason they are angry, the reason they are plotting, the reason they are planning a revolt against the Lord and His anointed king is this: “Let us burst their bonds apart, and cast away their cords from us” (v. 3). They want to separate the bond that exists between the Lord and His anointed king, for if they can get the Lord out of the picture and have the king by himself, they can be victorious in their revolt. So they first want to “burst” apart the “bond” between the Lord and His anointed. Secondly, they want to be liberated from both the Lord and His anointed! “Let us . . . cast away their cords from us.” They want to be free from His restraints on them as well.
So all throughout this section (vv. 1-3), it is clear that it is foolish to revolt against the Lord, expecting liberation. And that is the first thing the psalmist tells us about King Jesus and about His invincible kingdom. It is very clear from what we’ve just read that it is deadly, foolish, and even audacious to revolt against the Lord—but let’s not make the mistake of leaving this passage in the dust of ancient time, because anytime we sin, we are declaring a revolt against the Lord as well! This idea of attempting liberation from the rule of God has been mankind’s central problem since the beginning – and it never ends well. Adam and Eve took the fruit because it was a “delight to the eyes,” so that they “could be like God.” The real sin was not mere disobedience, but idolatry of their own selves. They wanted to be like God, and they didn’t want the rule of God over them. And this is what happens when sin is committed. It is saying: “Let me be free from slavery to God!” It is declaring an insurrection upon God—declaring independence from God, saying by our actions that we do not need Him. Sin isn’t a mistake, it isn’t an accident, or a blooper. Sin is a willing revolt against an invincible King. And the utter foolishness of it is seen in that, when we sin, we are standing upon the very ground which God created and sustains – having a beating heart, breathing lungs, and a working mind – all of which are completely owned and operated by God! Sin is foolish, for we are using what God has created against Him. Sin is deadly and audacious foolishness.
Since the Fall, we have been in a revolt against God and His rule—it is deeply threaded within the very fabric of our existence to rebel against God and His dominion over us. We want to rule, we want to be in control of our lives and our decisions. The only solution to this problem is to have God be Lord over us again—and this happens through the gospel. This happens as God uses His anointed King Jesus to conquer the rebellion in our hearts and have us joyfully submit to Him by His grace. But even as believers today, when we sin against God it is a revolt. Do you view your sin that way? Pray that God would help you view your sin as a revolt against Him. We could certainly use more help in viewing our sin for what it really is. And the more we are sanctified through the word of God, as the Holy Spirit applies it to us, we will naturally view sin as “exceedingly sinful” (Rom. 7:13). Our distaste for sin should continue to grow, so that anytime we come in contact with sin or a tempting situation, we will see it as a bitter poison. If your distaste for sin isn’t growing, it’s because you don’t view it as an attempt to overthrow the rule of God on your life. It is foolish to revolt against the Lord, expecting liberation.
II. The Response of the Almighty (2:4-6)
But how does God respond to this? Does God get enraged with anger at their revolt? Does He open up battle plans on a table? Does He worry about the well-being of Israel and Judah? Does God stop their revolt because of the threat it poses to the kingdom which will one day bring forth the Messiah?
Not only is God not bothered, but He laughs:
“He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill” (vv. 4-6).
God is not bothered by men’s revolt because of His established King. The psalmists notes that God is unaffected by their revolt and responds with laughter, terror, and confidence in His appointed king.
The psalmist says, “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” God laughs at them. God scorns and laughs—He is unchanged by their conspiring and plotting. God is He who sits in the heavens—He is in control of all things and He is far above them. He could wipe them out in a second. The ground upon which they stand could swallow them up to Sheol at any time—just as soon as God gave the command for it to do so. So of course, He laughs.
Not only does He laugh, but “The Lord holds them in derision.” He views them with contempt—a scornful laugh comes from His throne as He sees apostates attempting to throw off His rule over them. The one who sits in heaven is the Master of the universe—He isn’t bothered by a tiny spec of humans on one planet in His universe who attempt to overthrow His rule.
Secondly, God terrifies them by His word. “Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury” (v. 5). Instead of being terrified, God terrifies. God speaks and terrifies them when He speaks. Isn’t that amazing? What God does in response to their revolt and uproar is He speaks. When He speaks, the peoples are terrified by His words.
What does God speak? He says, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (v. 6). This is the most interesting verse in the passage, in my estimation. I mean, you might expect God to say, “I will make an end to you,” or “My judgment shall quickly come upon you.” You would at least expect some other pronouncement of judgment on the nations as retribution for their plotting against the Lord! Instead, God Himself points to His established king as the very thing that should terrify the nations. What terrifies the nations of the earth is that God has installed His king. The king is God’s solution to the world’s revolt against Him.It is the establishment of this great king that should terrify the nations, it is this king who “is set on Zion, my holy hill.” “Zion” or Jerusalem, was God’s chosen dwelling place. That’s why it’s referred to here (as many other times) as His “holy hill.” Zion is God’s territory—it is the city which God had sanctified by His presence. God wasn’t limited by a city or a hill, or a temple—but He chose to carry out His rule in the world through Israel and through Zion. Zion is truly then, God’s “footstool.”
The nations were right to feel terrified, for God would empower any king who sat on the throne of David—it’s what God promised. The rebellious nations stand no chance against a king who has God on his side. God is not bothered by men’s revolt because of His established King. What is so great about this king? Well, let’s look at vv. 7-9 for that answer.
III. The Rule of the Anointed (2:7-9)
We’ve seen the revolt of the apostates and the response of God – notice now the rule of God’s anointed. Listen to the psalmist in vv. 7-9:
7 I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
What is it that makes this king so great? Because he is God’s anointed who will rule all the earth. This anointed King is God’s Son who will rule the earth by His might. The psalmist interjects to explain the decree which God has spoken to His anointed king-Son and the promises included in it.
The psalmist reaches back into the past and declares: “I will tell of the decree,” meaning it was one which was previously spoken. And it is likely that this decree is a retelling of the decree which God spoke to David in 2 Samuel 7,
“Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (vv. 8-16).
In this decree, God promises David that His throne will go on forever. God will be a father to him, and David would be to him as a son. It is this decree which David is recalling, and it has many implications for the Messiah who is truly God’s Son, and who will also sit on David’s throne. And the psalmist is saying here, “I remember this exact decree, and here’s what it said.”
So in this decree, notice first the identity of the anointed in v. 7. “You are my Son,” says the Lord. The anointed king is God’s son. God would father King David as He loved and disciplined him, but this also looks forward to Christ who is God’s Son, His only begotten. Secondly, notice the rule of the anointed. In v. 8, the anointed king is promised worldwide rule and his kingdom shall extend to the ends of the earth: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” God invites the anointed king to just ask of Him and He will make Him the ruler of all the earth. The anointed king will have the nations, the very nations who have rebelled against him—he will have them as his heritage. The ends of the earth shall be his possession. In reality, this worldwide domination points beyond any earthly king because David, Solomon, and all other kings after them failed to do this. It doesn’t mean God’s promise had failed—it means that Someone greater would one day fulfill it completely. And notice finally how this anointed king will conquer all things: “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” He shall break them, and dash them in pieces like pottery. Certainly the might of this king is very great! Again, it is clear that the dominion and rule of this anointed king looks beyond any earthly king. The language used here is elsewhere used in the Bible when talking about God and His judgment, His wrath, and His power. No earthly king will make the ends of the earth his possession. No earthly king will destroy his enemies like pottery—but a heavenly King will. Any nation or person that rebels against this Davidic King, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ—He shall one day be conquered. One day Christ will fulfill completely what is spoken of in this psalm—He will return and claim what is rightfully His, He will dominate the nations. The psalmist is recalling it now as his confidence that his enemies will not prevail over the kingdom of Judah, but it is also a confidence in the future installment of the King of kings who will wipe out all who stand against Him.
Believe it or not, Jesus Christ will one day rule over the United States of America. Some folks like to say that the USA is a Christian nation, but just wait until He comes. He will one day rule in the poorest places of India, He will one day rule over any tyrant such as Kim Jong Un. He will one day terminate ISIS and terrorist groups from the face of the earth. He will one day make every nation, tribe, and tongue His inheritance. He will one day rule and reign from the east to the west, from the north to the south—for He will diminish His enemies with a rod of iron, and He shall break them like pottery smashed on the ground. Revelation 6:15-17 says that this day will be so severe that people would rather be crushed by boulders than to face Jesus: “Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Sorry if you don’t like it, but this is who Jesus is—a conquering King. He’s not some sissified, needy Jesus who is just begging you to come to Him. He is a judge called Faithful and True who will one day return to bring all things to their rightful place. And for believers today, this speaks much to how we deal with worldliness, worry, persecution, and perspective. If Jesus is coming back to conquer, then this carries many implications as to how we deal with problems in the world today. Here’s a few things Jesus’ return in this psalm means for us today:
1. We should avoid worldliness at all costs. There is no logical sense in building up earthly possessions and being concerned with worldliness, if Jesus is going to make a new world. Certainly, obsession with accumulation of possessions should be avoided because you can’t take it with you after death, but even more so because it will all be destroyed! Jesus warns us about this in Matthew 6, saying that we should not exhaust ourselves in worldliness because there will one day be no world such as the one we are in (Matthew 6:19-21).
2. We should not worry about anything earthly. We have no reason to worry, because everything will one day be in dominion under the rule of Christ, the King (Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 4:6-7). Why worry about things of the earth, when one day, there will be no things of the earth?
3. We should be joyful in persecution. We know nothing of real persecution in the United States, but what persecution we do know – bring it on. Kill us, persecute us, do what you want – you aren’t slowing Him down from destroying you. We as believers literally have nothing to lose. We are soldiers in battle waiting for our king to return—even if we die on the battle field, He is still coming (2 Tim. 3:12).
4. We should have a heavenward perspective. Those of us on Jesus’ side should earnestly look forward to that day when He returns (Titus 2:13). We should have a perspective looking towards heaven, as we wait for Him to return in the same way He was taken up (Acts 1:11). But for those who don’t know Him, look toward Him in repentance and faith! If you do not, your fate is so terrible and dire that no description in language can capture what you will suffer.
This is the rule of the anointed and nobody will be able to stand in His way.
IV. The Recommendation to the Apostates (2:10-12)
Finally in this psalm we see a recommendation from the psalmist to those who revolt. The foolishness of their revolt has already been explained in this entire psalm. A man is a fool who revolts against the Lord because He has an installed and powerful King, His anointed one, who will conquer not only those who rebel, but the whole world. So then, the kings who revolt should be afraid, they should abandon their rebellion, they should be terrified that God has a mighty, invincible king who will conquer them with one swipe of a sword. So, the psalmist gives them a warning:
“Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (vv. 10-12).
It is clear that the only appropriate response to God’s king is service and submission. The psalmist concludes with a warning for the apostates—they should serve and submit to the Lord. First of all, he exhorts them to be wise and be warned. They would be wise to heed the warning of this psalm. “O kings, be wise,” he says, and “be warned, O rulers of the earth” (v. 10). Instead of foolishness, the wisest thing to do would be to view this decree as a warning, and heed it with all their might. Secondly, they are exhorted to serve the Lord: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (v. 11). They should serve Him rather than seek to subdue Him. And they should “rejoice with trembling,” taking pleasure in God while fearing Him for who He is. And finally, they are called to take refuge in the Lord Himself. Now this is where the psalm is at its highest peak. They are exhorted: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him!” Embrace the Son if you are among those who revolt against the Lord and His anointed! Embrace Him or face Him! Notice this is the Son of God, indicated by His powerful wrath and the capitalization of the word son. Obviously, this is no ordinary king, if His wrath is quickly kindled. This is a Son who can be angry, cause His enemies to perish, and have His wrath stirred and kindled. They would be very wise to embrace Him. The psalmist concludes with a final invitation saying, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him!” Instead of revolting foolishly, take refuge in Him!
Let me encourage you, if you are not submitting right now to the lordship of Jesus Christ, these are His terms of peace – take refuge in Him right now. Surrender to Christ if you haven’t—instead of revolting against Him, take refuge in Him. Turn to Him right now.
Conclusion: He Is Building a Coffin For Your Empire
Flavius Julianus was a Roman Emperor for a short period of time, and he was known for reinstating pagan worship which had been abolished under the rule of Constantine. With great fury, Flavius opposed the followers of Christ and he viewed them, in his own words, as “powerful enemies of our gods.” With fanatical resolve, he sought to remove Christianity from the face of the earth. But he never realized the stupidity of his endeavor. Still, history records that Flavius persecuted many Christians and took the lives of many who stood for their faith in Christ. One day Flavius was taunting a Christian believer named Agaton, in an attempt to entertain some of his friends. With so many Christians being put to death, the emperor asked him, “So, how is your carpenter of Nazareth? Is he finding work these days?” Without hesitation Agaton replied, “He is perhaps taking time away from building mansions for the faithful, to build a coffin for your Empire.”
Agaton was right—centuries have passed and the Roman Empire has risen and fallen, but only one kingdom has withstood time, persecution, bloodshed, heresies, splits and divisions—and it is the invincible kingdom of God, ruled by King Jesus. And the Son of God still takes time away from building mansions to build coffins for those who reject His lordship. This is a rebellion you don’t want to be in.
It is foolish for man to revolt against the Lord because of the invincible and impending kingdom of Jesus Christ—instead of revolt, one should submit to and take refuge in Jesus.
Do you understand that you sin is a revolt against God? Do you view it that seriously? If not, pray that God would help you to see that way. As you get more into the word, by His grace, God will increase your hatred and sorrow for sin. Are you expectantly awaiting the return of Jesus Christ? Is the promise of His return affecting your perspective on worldliness, worry, and persecution? And do you know Him today as your Savior and Lord? Are you taking refuge in Him this day? If not, realize you are a sinner, turn away from sin once and for all, and place your faith in Jesus Christ. He is a conquering King whose kingdom is invincible – don’t reject His lordship over you, lest you wind up in a coffin He has prepared for your empire.
Living the Unrighteous Life (Psalm 1:4-6)
This sermon was delivered at Ohio Valley Baptist Church on the 29th day of January 2017:
Living the Blessed Life [Part 2] (Psalm 1:2)
Living the Blessed Life (Psalm 1:1)
The Believer’s Sanctification (1 Peter 2:1-3)
Introduction: How We Act in God’s Family
I read a story recently about a boy named Roger who had a difficult time getting adjusted to his foster family. His parents had died from a drug overdose, and there was no one to care for Roger. So a kind Christian family decided they would raise him as their own.
At first, it was difficult for Roger to adjust to his new home. Several times a day, you would hear the parents saying to Roger, “No, no. That’s not how we behave in this family,” or “No, no. You don’t have to scream or fight or hurt other people to get what you want,” and “No, no, Roger we expect you to show respect in this family.”
In time, Roger began to change. Did he have to make those changes to become part of the family? No. He was already part of the family by the grace of the foster parents. But did he have to work hard because he was in the family? You bet he did. It was tough for Roger to change, and he had to work at it. But he was motivated by gratitude for the amazing love he had received.
That story captures well what it’s like to live the Christian life.
We have been adopted into God’s family by His redemptive grace. And since it is a new way of life, sometimes we will fail and sin, and the Spirit will say to us, “No, no. That’s now how we act in this family.” And we make those changes in our lives through God’s grace because we are His sons and daughters—not so that we can become a son or daughter—but because we already belong to Him. And this process of learning how to act in God’s family is known as sanctification. Sanctification is “the process of God’s grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God’s righteousness.”¹
It’s growing in holiness because God has declared us holy in Christ; it is a holy cleansing; it is daily overcoming the power and presence of sin in our daily lives through the power of the Spirit and the work of the Word. It is becoming adjusted to God’s family.
And it doesn’t happen overnight, and the reason it doesn’t is because you haven’t always been in God’s family – in fact, you were “alienated” from the family of God (Eph. 2:12), you were God’s enemy (Rom. 5:10); you were “children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).
But God saved you and now you are a part of God’s family – and learning how to live as God’s child in God’s family will be tough, and it will take time. And overcoming our sinful behaviors and living obediently as His child is what the Bible calls sanctification.
Sanctification is sanctifying ourselves from ungodliness and associating ourselves with God and His word, like the blessed man in the first Psalm:
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).
Sanctification is being set apart through God’s word, as Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:17:
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Sanctification is living as those who have been brought from death to life:
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:12-13).
Sanctification is possible only through God, by His grace:
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
And here in our text for this evening, we have a passage of Scripture that spells out sanctification in more detail. It is 1 Peter 2:1-3, and in this passage we have three things that are necessary for us to live lives that are continually being sanctified. Now let me say at this point, just from hearing these passages of Scripture about sanctification, and relying on your current biblical knowledge about sanctification and holiness, you probably understand the importance of sanctification in the Christian life. Every day perhaps you strive to be more holy and walk straighter on the narrow path. It is necessary and crucial to know and understand that we need to be living lives that are consistently being sanctified – but what if you don’t know how? Do you know what sanctification looks like practically? Do you understand how to live sanctified as well as you understand why you are to live sanctified? If someone approached you, seeking to grow in their sanctification, would you know what to say to them? How does one truly live a sanctified life? It’s not enough to know that we need to, but we must know how.
Maybe that’s you today. Maybe you understand that you really need to live sanctified – you really need to live a life that is holy unto the Lord, and you really want to. But maybe you don’t know how. Well, with unwavering confidence I can truly say that this passage of Scripture is for you. Because in this passage, Peter tells us exactly what we need to live continually sanctified lives. This passage is the triad of Christian living; three essential components for obedience to God; the triangle, if you will, of sanctification. We will see that three things are necessary for our sanctification: renouncement of sin, craving the word of God, and a constant examination.
The Text: 1 Peter 2:1-3, ESV
“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
I. The Renouncement for Sanctification (v. 1)
First, we see in this passage that for our sanctification, we must renounce sin. At the most fundamental level, this is exactly what sanctification is—the process of God’s grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God’s righteousness. Sanctification involves a daily renouncing of sin.
So Peter writes, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” He begins this passage by commanding his readers to put away sin from their lives—that’s what it means to renounce. Renouncing is to abandon something, reject it, and put it away from you.
And as you can see here, he gives a list of five things to put away (and we will look at these in more detail later), but what is most important to notice at the beginning is the reason he gives for putting away and renouncing sin. When Peter says, “So put away,” this command is not alone. By using the word “so,” or as some translations render it “so then,” he is pointing back to what he has just dealt with in the previous passage. So is a conjunction – a connecting word. This means that Peter is giving this command to put away sin, solely on the basis of something previously stated. Here’s a few examples of using this conjunction:
Pokémon Go is the greatest virtual mobile game for phones, so then, download it for free.
Justin Bieber is the girliest, most unmanly excuse for a pop artist, so then, do not buy his albums.
In Peter’s use of the conjunction, he is essentially saying that because of something that has already taken place, his readers are to put away sin from their lives. So what is that something that has already taken place? The believer’s salvation.
Notice in the previous verses that he talks about a salvation that has already taken place in the lives of his readers:
“since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1:23-25).
Peter stated there that these believers were born again, and that the gospel had been preached to them – all indicators of their salvation which has already occurred. So because they have been “born again,” Peter says they should put away sin from their lives. In fact, the Greek actually adds more emphasis to it than do most of our English translations. The Greek reads something like, “Having laid aside all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” Renouncement of sin, according to Peter, is something that actually should already be taking place because of salvation—but because of the tendency to fall into those sins again, Peter reminds them to put away these sins from themselves because they have been saved.
Several times throughout this letter, Peter describes the Christian life this way—that we should be living obedient and holy lives simply because of the salvation and regeneration that we have experienced and received. Often times in this letter, the only reason he says we should live a godly life is because of salvation—and really, it’s the only reason he needs. Because true salvation will always lead to sanctification and a holy life. True salvation always results in a godly life. When God saves us, inevitably we live saved lives.
In 1:3-12, Peter says that God has “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (v. 3), and then spells out many other blessings of being a believer. Following this immediately, he then commands them: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (v. 13). Because they are born again, they should set their hope on God’s grace and it should transform the way they live their lives.
In 2:4-10, he says that believers have “come to [God]” (v. 4), and that they are now a “chosen race, a royal priesthood” (v. 9). Even more, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (v. 10). Then he commands them because they are those who have received God’s mercy: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (v. 11).²
Indeed, becoming a Christian is no four-step initiation into a social club, but a complete life change from the inside out because we have been “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5). All of that was a brief look at why we should renounce sin—because we are saved and born again. And it was crucial that we spent time looking at it, because if you’re wondering why it is a problem to continue living in sin, it is because it is an eternal issue—you’re not saved if you’re not being sanctified.
So after giving the reason for renouncing sin, what does it actually mean to renounce sin in the first place? Well, Peter says we should “put away” sin. He doesn’t mean the kind of putting away like we would put away leftovers in the refrigerator, or put away dishes that we’re just going to use again. The kind of “putting away” he is referring to is putting something away for good. In the Greek, the command “put away” denotes something like taking off and laying aside old clothes. So Peter is picturing Christians taking these sins off like you would with old clothes, and then casting them far away.
That’s what you do with old clothes that are no longer wearable—you take them off and put them in the garbage. That’s what Peter says to do with these sins. To renounce them, to put them away from us, to stop wearing them, to be rid of them all together.
He has a list of five sins that we should put away from ourselves. And the important thing to notice here is that these sins are sins that affect relationships with people, namely people in the church. Peter isn’t listing these here in random order, or just because he thinks these are worse than adultery or stealing. He lists these here because they are sins that will harm our fellowship with others, especially Christians.
And renouncing these sins are absolutely essential to our sanctification, because sanctification cannot be done alone. Sanctification is meant to be done in the Christian community—the church! If we have these sins present in our lives, we are hindering our own sanctification and the sanctification of others. So when we go through this list, if you happen to notice even slightly that these sins may be present in your life and in the way you view others, then pray as you hear them that God would create in you a clean heart (Psalm 51:10), and renew a right spirit within you.
Malice. Malice is best defined as “the intention or desire to do evil.” It is like premeditated murder—it is planning on committing sin. Malice is a force that can destroy Christian fellowship. This should not even be named among the congregation of believers. Malice is a grave sin because it is the intention and desire to commit sin before we even do (which by the way, is committing sin already). If we intend to gossip about someone, or a church member, or say in our hearts, “Man the next time I see them, I’m gonna . . .” Or if we intend to mistreat someone and disrespect them in the church, then we have a problem with malice. We must put it away and cast it far from us.
Deceit. Deceit is speaking or acting with a motive for deception. It is lying or living in a manner that is deceptive. We cannot live our lives together lying to one another, and we cannot live lives that are deceptive and untruthful. We are to be those who present God’s truth to each other and to the unsaved, both by our words and actions—we are to be lovers of truth, not deceitful. We must renounce and put away deceit far from us.
Hypocrisy. We cannot live double lives. In Greek theater, a hypocrite was one who played different parts in a drama. And it is no mistake that Peter names hypocrisy right after deceit, for they go hand in hand. Deceit and hypocrisy are two branches of the same sinful weed that should never be growing in the life of one who abides in the True Vine (John 15:1-4). We must be honest about our faults and shortcomings, and our behavior in the church and our behavior at home or in the workplace should be consistently the same. We must put away hypocrisy from ourselves.
Envy. Envy is synonymous with jealousy. It is a desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute which belongs to someone else. It is when we desire what belongs to someone else. It might be a position in the church, nicer clothes, someone’s boyfriend/girlfriend, a nicer home, or a shinier vehicle—but we must put away envy from ourselves.
Slander. And finally, we have slander. It is defined as “making a false statement about someone.” It is lying about another person, gossiping about them, or any type of speaking that is false or unhelpful. Paul says in Ephesians that we should speak only that which “is good for building up” (4:29), and slander is the opposite of this. In fact, it is more satanic than any sin in this list, for the word devil in the NT actually means slanderer or “one who slanders.” So committing this sin is contributing to Satan’s notorious schemes. We should put this sin away from ourselves.
These are all sins that should not be found in our lives, but like old clothes, we should put them away from ourselves. Renouncing sin is something we did at our conversion, and it is something we must continually do throughout our Christian life. The moment you were saved was only the beginning of a lifelong process of sanctification unto God, to be set apart from sin daily for God’s glory.
How can we renounce these sins? Repent when you see it present in your life, and pray for a clean heart. Ask for trusted brothers and sisters in Christ to keep you in check—be accountable to them, a mutually watch your lives and confront each other with grace and correction when these sins are present. For our sanctification, we must renounce sin.
II. The Nourishment for Sanctification (v. 2)
Second, we see in this passage that for our sanctification, we must long for the word of God: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (v. 2).
After exhorting his readers to renounce sin, he says that they should be longing for the word of God, the “pure spiritual milk.” Peter had described in v. 1 what they should not do (commit those sins), and now he turns to the positive and describes what they should be doing. That in itself teaches us that sanctification is twofold in this sense: it is overcoming sin, and doing good things. It is not enough to avoid committing sin and resist temptation, we must also be doing good things.
They should be craving and longing for the word of God. Peter uses a familiar image here of a newborn baby longing for its mother’s milk, to illustrate how the believer should long for the word of God in order to partake of it, and grow by it. He tells them, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk.” He tells his readers that they should do something just like newborn infants do. And by the way, this is the only passage of Scripture in the whole Bible where we are commanded to be like infants. All other places in Scripture exhort us against being an infant and tell us to grow up (Eph. 4:15).
So Peter’s readers, like newborn infants, should long for the pure spiritual milk of the word. The phrase “long for,” carries a deal of weight to it in the Greek. It is epipotheo, which speaks of an intense desire or longing for something. It is the intensified version of the Greek word potheo which speaks of simply longing. It means to long greatly for something.
What is the object of their longing? The pure spiritual milk. And of course, he is referring to the word of God and nothing else. It was the preaching of the word of God that brought about their salvation (1:25b), and now it is the word of God they are to consistently long for.
It is pure, meaning it is stainless, clean, and free of contamination. This confirms the truth that Scripture is perfect and without error because it has been inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16-17). It is spiritual, meaning it is more than just milk because it deals with our inner being. But it is like milk, because we can take it in and be nourished by it. We can long for it, and we can digest it. So to sum up what Peter is saying in this part of the verse, in the same way that newborn infants long for their mother’s milk to satisfy their hunger and be nourished, so we should long for the word of God in order to be nourished for our sanctification.
We are to be like newborns, craving and starving for the word of God so that we can gain strength and sustenance for our sanctification.
This intense desire for the word of God has been characteristic of God’s people since the time of Job. I love how Job describes his intense longing for the word of God in Job 23:12:
“I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food” (ESV).
Let me just stop right here and ask: When have we ever longed so much for the word of God that we would rather read His word than eat a meal when we are hungry? Have we ever had a desire like that? When you first wake up in the morning, do you wake up hungry for the word, or are you scrolling through Instagram, checking Facebook, and looking at Snapchat? Let me give you a word of advice, if you want to grow spiritually and hunger for the word of God, you need to be opening your phone and getting into His Book, and chatting with Him daily!
And in Psalm 119, the psalmist speaks often of his desire for the word of God:
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (119:103).
“Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above find gold” (119:127).
Peter says that this is the kind of intense longing for the word of God that we should have. And we should crave it because we need it. That’s why a newborn infant does—because they need the nourishment from it. That’s the idea here: the word of God gives Christians sustenance, nourishment, and growth—just like milk gives sustenance, nourishment, and growth to a newborn baby.
But what is the purpose of longing for the word of God? Why is it such a big deal to long for and crave the word of God? According to Peter, “[so] that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Peter says that we should long for the word of God so that we will grow up into salvation. Once again, that’s what sanctification is—growing up into salvation.
And why will longing for the word of God result in growing in our salvation? Because once we long for the word of God, we will partake and be nourished by the word of God. I’m sure you don’t believe that you hunger for no reason. You’re not hungry just because you want to be. I mean sure, Subway is pretty good, but you still don’t hunger for it randomly. You hunger so that you will eat. Your physical hunger is an indicator to your consciousness that you need nourishment. So what do you do when you’re hungry? You go get something to eat.
Same principle here: we must crave and intensely desire the word of God so that we will read it, study it, take it in and digest its precepts for our lives. We are to have a hunger and craving for God’s word, because we need it. Deuteronomy 8:3 illustrates this perfectly:
“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
And so the expected result of craving for the word of God is “growing up into salvation,” as Peter says here. Of course, we are already saved, but salvation is also ongoing—that’s where sanctification comes into play. We are being saved daily from the power and presence of sin in our lives. And we need to crave and hunger for the word of God like a newborn infant, so that we ill partake of it in order to be nourished and strengthened to live the Christian life!
So how can you crave the word of God? First, understand your utter dependence upon the word of God for sustenance and growth. Understand that you need the word of God for your Christian life and growth. You don’t have anything else in the entire world that can take its place and cause you to grow spiritually. So measure your spiritual strength and growth by your time spent in the word of God. If it doesn’t bother you to go without the Bible for a few days, then something is definitely wrong. You must understand that the transformation effected by God’s word cannot be replaced by anything else. Secondly, understand that craving is directly correlated to tasting. I’ll never forget the first time I tried the arroz con pollo at Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant close to where I live. It’s a beautiful dish of rice topped with chicken and cheese. Well, let me tell ya, I’ve been hungering for it ever since I tried it. But I never had a hunger for it until I tried it. And as you taste the word, as you feast on the Scripture, as you have your breakfast of God’s word every morning, you will notice a deep desire for more of the word of God like you’ve never had before. The more you read the word, the more you want to read the word. The more you study it, the more you want to study it. As you find out just how delicious every verse of Scripture really is, you will keep coming back to it like your favorite meal. If you don’t have a hunger for the word, then perhaps it’s because you haven’t tasted it. For our sanctification, we must long for the word of God.
III. The Examination for Sanctification (v. 3)
“if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (v. 3).
Third and finally, we see in this passage that for our sanctification, we must examine our lives. Once Peter has exhorted the believers to renounce sin, and crave the word of God, he finally calls them to examine themselves. Notice the if (some translations since) in this verse. Most of the time in the Bible, it is the smallest words that make all the difference. Peter is saying that if we have tasted that the Lord is good, we should be renouncing sin and craving the word of God. “Renounce sin and crave the word if you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
This verse functions as an examination for sanctification. In other words, if we are daily being sanctified, we should be seeing evidence of these two things in our lives. Of course, if you know your Old Testament even remotely, you will recognize that the phrase “tasted that the Lord is good,” has its origins in Psalm 34. There, the psalmist gives a loud, open, outstretched and broad invitation to anyone within his hearing to experience the Lord God:
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (v. 8).
That verse in the psalm is an invitation to those who have not experienced the Lord, saying essentially, “Just see for yourself how good the Lord is!” But notice that the way Peter uses the phrase is past tense: “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” In the Psalm, it is “taste and see.” In Peter it is, “you have tasted.” So if Psalm 34 is the invitation to experience the Lord, then Peter assumes that we and his readers have already responded to that invitation.
So if we have been saved, if we have responded to this invitation in the Psalms, we should be able to see clear evidence of renouncing sin and craving the word in our daily lives. If we have responded to God’s invitation to experience Him, our lives should demonstrate a positive response to that invitation.
A young man once asked me a stunning question. We were having lunch and talking about Scripture and he asked me, Is it a sin to doubt your salvation? He struggled with the assurance of his salvation at the time, and he asked me in this restaurant if it was a sin to doubt your salvation and to have no assurance of salvation. As I pondered this, I answered in this way: “Well, it really depends on what brought about the doubt in the first place.” I went on to explain that the Scripture does command us to seek assurance for our salvation, and to rest in that assurance (there are a plethora of Scriptures that speak to assurance). So in that sense, it would be sinful if you fail to seek out those Scriptures that talk about assurance and then gain assurance by reading and believing them. But if your doubt arises from an inconsistency in your Christian life—then that is a good doubt to have! If you see no evidence of renouncing sin and craving the word in your daily life, then you have great reason to doubt your salvation!
One Scripture came to mind as I was talking with him. It was in 2 Peter 1, where Peter lists off a range of godly qualities that should be present in our lives. He names things such as “self-control, godliness, brotherly affection, love,” and many others. And listen to this—Peter says that the reason we should see these godly qualities in our lives is “to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (v. 10, KJV). And I told him, “The life you’re living should be enough evidence to confirm your salvation. If you see no transformation, you never had salvation.”
But sometimes we backslide don’t we? Of course we do. And God will give us grace to move forward on His path as we seek His strength and power to do just that. But if you don’t see sanctification and transformation in your life, if you see no evidence that you have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good,” then there are basically two options on the table if you’re not living a sanctified life:
Option #1: You are spiritually sick and unhealthy. You are malnourished in your soul if you see no regular transformation. What do you feel like doing when you’re sick? Nothing. Do you act like yourself when you’re sick? No. Do people want to be around you when you’re sick? No. Now, apply all of those questions to your spiritual health. Are you doing anything in the Christian life? If not, you may be unhealthy. Are people positively influenced by you? If not, you may be unhealthy. If you’re not craving the word and renouncing sin daily in your life, I urge you to go the Physician who knows your heart—and get as much of His prescription (the Bible) as you possibly can.
Option #2: You are unsaved. Not only does the unsaved person have no desire for the word of God, he has no desire for God (Rom. 3:11). Obedience cannot proceed from a heart that has not been changed. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of these things in your life either—and I ask you, Can you honestly think of a time in your life when you realized you were a sinner, and surrendered your life to Jesus Christ for salvation
Conclusion
Peter has explained in this passage that these are the necessary requirements for living a life that is continually sanctified. We must renounce sin (v. 1), we must be nourished by Scripture (v. 2), and we must continually examine ourselves for evidence of these things (v. 3). Sanctification is part of the Christian life from beginning to end, and we know what is required in order for sanctification to take place—and just like Roger, there will be times when God says, “No, no. That’s not how we behave in this family.” But it will be said to us because we already belong to Him—and because we are continually being set apart for His purposes and His glory each and every day.
Is God saying that to you tonight? Is God saying to you, “You know you don’t need to be in that relationship,” or “You know you need to get that pornography out of your life,” or “You know you need to apologize to him,” or “You know you need to start getting into the Bible more.” If God is saying things like that to you, He wants you to respond to Him. Confess that sin to Him, and ask Him for His sustaining grace to help you. The good news is that you can change and you can live faithfully because God has already given you everything you need for it.
But perhaps God is saying something different to you – maybe when you look down through the history of your life, you have never renounced the sin in your life; maybe you’ve never craved or desired the word of God; maybe you don’t have a relationship with the Lord. If you’ve never been saved and you know you need to be – let me tell you something: God is telling you right now that you need to be saved and have a relationship with Him. You need to understand that God is holy and requires holiness of you. You need to understand that you have sinned against Him, you have not lived a holy life, and God considers your sins to be as crimes. And like any crime, He will punish them if there is no payment for them. The good news is that He sent Jesus Christ into the world to live a perfect life, and die on the cross to pay for your sins. All you must do is realize you are a sinner, turn away from sin, and trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior – believe that what He did on the cross is enough for your salvation.
So I read to you again this text: “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
- Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1986), 948.
- Peter states here that a costly war is taking place in the Christian’s life. You can read more about that in one of our past Bible studies here.
Brandon's Desk 