The Greatest Rescue

 Psalm 27

Welcome! Today, in addition to a short teaching, we will spend time remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, as He instructed His disciples to do, and we will also have a sharing time where everyone is invited to share what the Lord has been teaching them and working around and through them in the past month. First, as we have been doing this year on communion Sundays, we will go through a Psalm together. Today we will look at Psalm 27.

Psalm 27 was written by David. David most likely wrote it reflecting on recent experiences he had gone through or was going through, especially including dealing with enemies, and although you may not have any earthly enemies you are dealing with, one of the wonderful things about the Psalms is how they find express truths packed with emotion that can be expressed by anyone, no matter what they are or are not going through. The Psalms speak to our heads through our hearts, and since the Lord wants us to worship Him with our entire hearts, souls, minds, and strength, it is good for us to not only read the Psalms, but agree with them, to say, “Yes, Lord, me too!” And this is what I would like us to do with Psalm 27 this morning. You may find some verses resonate with you more than others. If so, that’s great! Just make a note of what verses do speak to you, and use these as a basis for how you pray before we take communion. Here is how the Psalm begins:

The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. – Psalm 27:1-3

Reading the opening of this Psalm, I am reminded of John 1, which we went through earlier this year. John 1:4, speaking of Jesus, the Word, says, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” I also think of I John 1:5, which says, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”

  

But knowing of this truth is different from appropriating this truth for ourselves. In fact, John 1 goes on to say in verse 5, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” And I John 1 goes on to say in verses 6-7, “If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

What is so powerful about this opening of Psalm 27 is that it is personal. The Psalmist here does not say the Lord is light; he says the Lord is my light. And in the same way, he doesn’t say the Lord is salvation, he says, the Lord is my salvation. The Hebrew word for this, yehshah, elsewhere is also translated deliverer and rescuer. I have found it interesting that this word is so close to yeshuah, which is the Hebrew word for Jesus. Yeshuah is our yeshah.

And it is only when we personally affirm that the Lord is our light and salvation, when we “own it,” so to speak, can we agree with the Psalmist with the next few verses. I encourage you to test your own hearts. One way to do this is to replace the phrase “an army besiege me” with something more appropriate for our day-to-day lives. Though I lose my job, my heart will not fear. Though I fail a test, even then will I be confident. Though my health takes a turn for the worse, my heart will not fear. Though my child becomes very sick, even then will I be confident. This not fearing, this confidence, does not come from our own strength; it comes from walking with God, from letting Christ truly be “my” light and “my” salvation.

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. – Psalm 27:4

In our general culture, if you ask people about what they would most like about heaven, you will almost always hear that it would be being reunited with your loved ones. David would give a very different answer, based on this verse. And although I do not want to minimize the joy we will in fact have at seeing those who have passed on before us (or after us) again, it honestly does not compare to being with the God of the Universe, of being with Jesus, in intimate fellowship for all eternity.

We are being rescued. What we are being rescued from is not that we don’t get to see our loved ones again. We are being rescued from an eternity without being in the presence of God who is Love. And what we are being rescued to is not just that we get to see our loved ones again. It is that we do get to dwell forever in the house of the Lord, that we do get to gaze upon the incomparable beauty of the Lord, that we do get to be with Him and enjoy Him forever.

It is good to think on this here in this present life on Earth. It is good, like the Psalmist, to hunger for this, to ask, to seek it. Yes, because of what Jesus has done we, if we have given our lives over to Christ, will have this future. But just because we have it does not mean that we should stop hungering for it, stop yearning for it. In fact, because we know it is true, we should yearn for it, groan for it, all the more. As we struggle through the trials of this life, as we hope in Christ but only see Him dimly, how much more should we yearn for the day that never ends when we see Him plainly and know Him fully, know His love fully, know His goodness fully, know His joy fully.

And maybe I shouldn’t say this, but honestly, spending eternity with people, if that is all there was in heaven, if these were people like people here on earth, people not changed, not transformed fully by God’s Spirit, well, I think it would get old. There would be no more jokes to tell. We could just say a number, like 173, and everyone would remember what that joke was, but no one would laugh. We, in our current sinful natures, are finite, and are only finitely interesting. God is infinite – getting to know Him, experiencing Him, will never get old.

For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. – Psalm 27:5-6

I love the imagery in verse 5. Where in the Tabernacle will He hide us? What would be the best hiding place? Would not the best place be the Holy of Holies? Of course, in Old Testament times, nobody could go there, except the High Priest, and only once a year, and only with the blood of sacrifice. To go in otherwise would be to die. But Christ is our rescuer, and Hebrews tells us,

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. – Hebrews 9:11-12

And when it says He set me high upon a rock, I can picture the power of God physically lifting us like we were a feather and gently setting us up on a rock. And symbolically, what is the rock? It is Jesus. This imagery is used in I Cor. 10:4 and in I Peter 2:8. It is also implied in the parable of the man who built his house upon the Rock.

And I love the imagery of worship and praise. Every Sunday morning we begin our services by singing and making music to the Lord. Do you see this as a chore, or as optional? Or do you look forward to this? Do you have the heart of the Psalmist? He wants to celebrate to the Lord because he knows he will have been rescued. We are the recipients of the greatest rescue of all history. We too should want to sing praises to our Rescuer. If we don’t, we should ask the Lord to re-quicken to re-soften our hearts, to restore unto us the joy of our salvation. Perhaps we remember we are saved but have partly forgotten our Savior. We should want to celebrate Him.

Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of You, “Seek His face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. – Psalm 27:7

I love this. It is God’s Holy Spirit in us that calls us to “Seek His face.” God calls us to greater intimacy with Him, greater openness to Him, greater brokenness before Him. He calls us to seek His face. But what do we seek? It is so easy to fall into seeking something else. Some seek safety. Some seek comfort, autonomy. Some seek recognition, fame. Some seek wealth or power.

What does the Psalmist seek? He seeks none of these things. Instead, he seeks the face of the Lord. What does it mean to seek His face? To seek intimacy. To talk with someone face to face at close proximity is very different from seeking so many things we can fall for. Even though we may realize it is wrong to seek safety or comfort or recognition or wealth or power apart from God, we still can fall short of seeking His face.

Some of the kinds of things we can seek are not bad in and of themselves, but they can become bad if they cause us to settle for a distant relationship with God. What am I talking about? Here is an example. Suppose I seek God’s approval. Suppose I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” What can be wrong with that? After all, it’s scriptural, isn’t it? That is, this statement appears in one of Jesus’ parables. Well, yes, it does appear in a parable. But it is possible to desire this in the context of a distant relationship with God, one in which we might do things for God, and we hope God gives us a receipt of sorts.

But God does not settle for a distant relationship. He desires intimacy with us. This is why He died for us. Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying we shouldn’t do stuff for God. But neither should our relationship with God be based solely on us doing stuff for Him. It should be based on seeking His face, that is, seeking an intimate relationship.

If you read through the Psalms you will see this is true in David’s life. He truly sought intimacy with God. And one way he did this was through pouring out his heart to God. He told God what he was feeling, what he was thinking. I believe this is a big part of why in I Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:4, David is described as a man after God’s own heart.

Do you struggle with fear? Tell God. Do you have a problem with procrastination? Don’t procrastinate about telling God about it! Do you struggle with your finances, or with following through, or with thinking about others before yourself? Whatever it is, come to the Lord and tell Him!

We have been rescued; we are the recipients of the greatest rescue of all time, rescued by Jesus Christ. But Christ is not like a professional fireman who pulls someone out of a burning building and then, after making sure you are all right, moves on to others, leaving you alone. As we sang today, we are now children of God. God is not moving on. He rescued us to be and stay with us. Seek His face.

Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. – Psalm 27:8-10

Are these verses contradictions? Will the Lord receive the Psalmist? Yes. Do we need to worry about God hiding His face from us or turning away from us in anger? Not if we are repentant at heart. This reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector:

 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:9-14

In our past series on love we spoke about dysfunctional families. Some of us come from dysfunctional families. The Psalmist here talks about his own parents forsaking him. God, as our Father, will not forsake us; He welcomes us with open arms. He will seem distant if we forsake Him, if, in our pride, we continue in unrepentant sin, but the answer to this is for us to return to Him, to confess our sin, to choose to walk step by step with Him.

Teach me Your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. – Psalm 27:11-12

Although some of us do have oppressors, foes, or false witnesses against us in this world, for most of us, our primary enemy is Satan. His main methods of attack are to tempt us and to whisper lies and accusations to us. The Psalmist’s prayer here applies to us every bit as much as it does to him; we too should cry, “Teach us Your way, O Lord; lead us in a straight path.”

I am reminded of a well-known verse from Proverbs: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. – Prov. 3:5-6

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Do you know what this idiom means, about making a path straight? I can give you an example. In the building where I have my office on campus, we actually moved into it and worked there for about a year before the building was officially dedicated. The dedication was a big deal. The trustees would be there. The Clemson President would be there. Important state government officials, maybe the Governor (I can’t remember) would be there. Big and hopefully future donors would be there. So what did they do? They spruced it up. Even the stairways were cleaned and given a paint touch up.

Likewise the hallways received paint touch ups. The building was cleaned immaculately. I honestly think they had every single custodian worker working that building the day before they came. The lights were checked and any burnt-out or fading bulbs were replaced. And the window air-conditioning units were removed.

That last part might need a little explaining. When the building was new, there were major problems with the central air conditioning. The air flow in the building was very uneven. There was one row of offices on the top floor that had it worst of all. On hot days they were extremely hot. My office happened to be one of these offices. One of the professors in these offices decided to use some extra funds to purchase a window A/C. He opened one of the big windows in his office, windows you really weren’t supposed to open at all, stuck in a huge piece of plywood with an A/C-sized hole in it, and stuck in the A/C unit. The rest of us had been continually asking our Department Chair to do something about our A/C problem, so he purchased more A/Cs for the rest of us. The result was a terrible eyesore in this new building. But they had to make the road straight for the Trustees and President and State Government officials, so they removed the units and actually managed to get the A/C working once they realized the officials would notice how hot it was up on the top floor unless they did fix it. And so, to make everything perfect, they brought in an army of A/C workers and construction workers, and rerouted the air flow so that the A/C worked properly.

Likewise, if a king was coming into a particular town back in Bible times, there would be a massive town cleanup. They would fill in the potholes, making the road perfectly smooth, and do everything possible to make everything perfect. This is where the idiom phrase make my paths straight comes from. The prayer of the Psalmist is that God would do this for him, treat him like a king. It sounds a little outrageous, doesn’t it? But now listen again to Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

 That is a promise from God. By trusting and acknowledging Him, the path you go on through life will be carefully and perfectly prepared and made ready for you. This does not mean you will not have challenges and troubles in life; many other verses make it perfectly clear that these things come to everyone. But what this verse is saying is that even these trials will be perfectly prepared for you, that the trials you experience will be there because our loving God knows they are the best thing for you, that they will grow you into the person He means you to be. The alternative, not trusting in God with all your heart, leaning instead on your own understanding, will set you down a different path.

God can still use it for good, but He will not be able to grow your character in the way that was the best way, the prepared plan. So often Christians become so worried about finding God’s will; in my opinion it is far more important that we focus on living this verse, trusting in God with all our hearts, leaning on Him instead of on our own thinking. Much of what many people talk about with regards to finding God’s will is actually just a carefully disguised version of leaning on our own understanding. Our effort should be placed on our relationship with God, on trusting Him, and the path will straighten; that is, we then don’t need to worry so much about the choices we have to make, because God will use whatever we choose for good.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. – Psalm 27:13-14

Are you still confident? We, the rescued, will see the goodness of the Lord forever! He will never leave or forsake us. Are you going through tough trials right now? Do not lose your confidence. Like the Psalmist, do these three things: be strong, finding your strength in Him, not in yourself, take heart, that is, keep up your courage and keep up your hope, don’t give up now, and wait for the Lord, that is, endure the present with eyes firmly fixed on our eternal future with Him. And if you are going through tough trials right now, don’t go through them alone. The church is the body of Christ, and Christ means it to function as a body, bringing support and healing and help to one another. Reach out to someone in the church so you and they can be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord together.

And so I encourage you now, as the music plays, to reflect on our Rescuer, as well as on any parts of this Psalm that spoke to your heart today. Remember Jesus, who gave His life because He loves us and wants us to be with Him forever. As you take of the bread, remember how His body was broken for you. As you take the cup, remember how His blood was given for you. He was the perfect sacrifice, the sacrifice that ended all other sacrifices that were only symbols of His perfect sacrifice to come. He was the sacrifice that opened the way for us to be hidden with Him in the Most Holy Place, to experience a relationship of intimate friendship and love for all eternity.