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020b0604030504040204}Verdana;}}{\f40WHERE PSALMS ARE WRITTEN\par In His

Pavilion\par Psalm 27\par Jerry Vines\par 7/15/98\par \par \par #8\par \par David
wrote a series of psalms that came right out of his life experiences he had \par
along the way. Every experience of life, it seemed, was an opportunity for David
to \par compose a psalm. Just as every experience you and I have with the Lord is
an \par opportunity for us to learn something about the Lord we may never have
learned in any \par other way. It becomes an opportunity for us to sing songs of
praises to the Lord for His \par deliverance and for what He does for us. This
psalm is one of those.\par This psalm is a beautiful psalm. It’s a psalm that
has often been set to music. I \par think about those opening words of the psalm
and it reminds me of the beautiful anthem \par from this psalm that Mary Frances
Whittaker used to sing for us. And how she thrilled \par our hearts as she would
sing, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear. \par The Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.” \par There’s a lot of comfort
and beauty and encouragement in this psalm. It is \par believed by most that this
psalm was composed by David during the circumstances of the \par Absalom rebellion.
David’s son, Absalom, had raised an insurrection against him. \par David, the
king, had been driven out of Jerusalem like a dog. During that period of time \par
when he was fleeing for his life from Absalom may have been the circumstance that
is the \par background for this particular psalm. As you read through it you can’t
help but see the \par ebb and flow of circumstances that must have been David’s
during that time. At times he \par seems to be on the mountain of faith. At other
times he seems to be in the valley of fear. \par There is a sharp break between
verse 6 and verse 7. So much so that some people have \par even believed that we
have two psalms here that have been put together. The first six \par verses and
then verses seven to the end are so very different in their mood and \par
atmosphere. Some have said they may be separate psalms altogether. I think rather
than \par looking in that direction to find the answer to the sudden change in mood
it would be \par better for us to be aware of the fact that the Bible is a real
book and the Bible deals with \par life just as people experience it. I think all
of us know exactly how David must have felt. \par Surely along the way there were
periods during this crisis when David was confident in \par the Lord. Times when
David was sure that God was going to deliver and the victory \par would be his.
There were other times when David wondered how it was all going to turn \par out.
I think that’s what you have here. Something very true to life. Something I dare
say \par that everyone of us experiences in our own daily lives and in the problems
and crises you \par and I experience. Sometimes we are on the mountain of faith.
At other times we find \par ourselves in the valley of fear.\par Fear can be
a terrible thing. FDR said in 1933, during the economic crisis in \par America,
that time of Depression, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Of course \par
that statement is only partially true. But we do know that fear can be a very,
very terrible \par emotion.\par Let’s look at the first 6 verses and talk
about -\par I. CONFIDENCE on the Mountain of FAITH.\par In these 6 verses David
is referring to the Lord in the third person. He is talking \par ABOUT God. He
says in verse 1, “The Lord (third person) is my light and my salvation; \par whom
shall I fear?” \par In these opening verses you see how David delights in the
Lord. He is rejoicing \par in the fact that the Lord is his light and that the
Lord is also his salvation. Light comes to \par us before salvation comes. God has
to enlighten us, give us light, before we have enough \par information to receive
salvation. The Bible says, “The entrance of thy word giveth light.” \par So, the
Lord gives us light and then He gives us salvation\par Spurgeon put it this
way. Salvation may find us in the dark, but it doesn’t leave \par us there. When
we were in the darkness of sin, one day God shined the light of the Holy \par
Spirit and the Word of God into our hearts and enlightened us and made us aware of
our \par lost condition, of our desperate need of a Savior. Then Christ came into
our hearts and \par into our lives.\par David is not saying merely that the Lord
gives light, he is saying the Lord IS light. \par He is not saying that the Lord
just gives salvation, he is saying the Lord IS salvation. The \par Lord IS the
light. The Bible says in Psalm 103:2 that God wraps himself in light as a \par
garment. It says in I Timothy 6:16 that the Lord dwells in unapproachable light.
In I \par John 1:5 it says, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” In
sin you are in the \par darkness. But when you come to Jesus Christ you step out
of the darkness into the light.\par Notice something. Notice the use of the
personal pronouns here. The Lord is MY \par light, MY salvation, whom shall I
fear? The Lord is the strength of MY life of whom \par shall I be afraid?” David
is talking on personal terms about his experience with the Lord. \par Are you on
personal terms with the Lord? Can you give testimony that the Lord is MY \par
light, MY salvation? Salvation is not merely an experience. Salvation is a
person. Jesus \par Christ is our salvation.\par Acts 4:12 puts it this way,
“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is \par none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” \par David is delighting in
the Lord. \par In verse 2 and 3 he talks about past experience and on the basis
of what he has \par experienced in God in the past, he expresses great confidence
in the future. In verse 2 he \par says, “When mine enemies and my foes, came upon
me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled \par and fell.” One has paraphrased it this
way. These bullies and toughs fall flat on their \par faces. He is referring to
previous times when he has had enemies around him and how \par God has delivered
him from his enemies. David had his enemies. The prophets of the \par Old
Testament had enemies. Read the New Testament and you will find that New \par
Testament believers and disciples had their enemies. Jesus had His enemies. You
and I \par have our enemies. Not everyone rejoices when you come to Christ. Not
everybody is \par happy if you live for the Lord. So, David says, “I want you to
know that in the past God \par has delivered me from my enemies.” On the basis of
that he expresses confidence in the \par future in verse 3. “Though an host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: \par though war should rise against me,
in this will I be confident.”\par Every experience we have with God increases our
confidence that God will be \par with us in future times of need. He is saying
there comes a time maybe when the enemy \par will besiege us. Sometimes just the
fear of the approach of the enemy is worse than the \par battle itself. It can be
an unnerving experience when enemies gather themselves around \par us. We need to
take the confidence that David had and be confident in the fact that the \par Lord
is in our lives. Delight ourselves in the power of God to give us victory in every
\par crisis and in every problem and in every time of pressure, and in every time
of need.\par David has delighted in the Lord. He expresses that delight in
the Lord, then in \par verse 4-6 he expresses his desire for the Lord. This is so
beautiful. “One thing have I \par desired of the Lord, that will I seek after...”
Keep in mind that David is probably on the \par run. Chances are David is out in
the wilderness right now, fleeing from his own son, \par Absalom. Yet, right in
the midst of that, David has a great desire in his heart to worship \par the Lord.
Notice that he puts his desire into action. He not only desires fellowship
with \par the Lord, desires to worship with the Lord, but he seeks after Him.
Jesus said, “Ask and \par it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you.”\par These desires for Himself that God gives
us should be acted upon. He says, \par “One thing have I desired.” The power of
concentration. Paul was like that. Paul said \par something very similar. “This
one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and \par pressing toward
those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the \par
high calling in Christ Jesus.” One thing--the power of concentration.\par A
number of years ago they had a formation at the kick off time in football, but \par
they finally had to outlaw. It was the flying wedge. I don’t have time to
describe it and \par you ladies don’t care anyhow. The formation put tremendous
power and strength at one \par point on the field. The ball carrier, the runner,
would get in that wedge and they would \par move up the field. There was so much
power concentrated in the flying wedge that they \par finally outlawed it. You
just couldn’t hardly overcome it.\par There is power in concentration. How
serious are you about knowing the Lord \par and worshipping the Lord and having
fellowship with the Lord? David said, “One thing \par have I desired of the Lord;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my \par life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”\par In Psalm 23:6 David
said, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” There
\par he is referring to the Lord’s houses in a heavenly perspective. He’s talking
about going \par to the Lord’s house in heaven for ever. But in Psalm 27 he’s not
talking about that, he’s \par talking about down on this earth. “I will dwell in
the house of the Lord all my days.” \par He’s talking about an earthly
perspective. Worshipping the Lord. Beholding the beauty \par of the Lord.\par
One of the things that happens to us in worship is we get a glimpse of the
beauty \par of the Lord. The Bible says, “Mine eyes shall see the king in his
beauty.” You and I \par should get a glimpse of the beauty of our Lord when we
gather together for worship. We \par should have a sense of the greatness and the
loveliness and the moral excellence of our \par Savior when we come into these
services together. \par Did you notice the importance that David places here
on public worship? Come \par into the house of the Lord. Beholding the beauty of
the Lord. Inquiring in His temple. \par There is something special about
gathering together for public worship. There is \par something about worshipping
together as a church. I know that you can worship God \par anywhere. We ought to
worship God every day of our life. You can worship God \par fishing. I worship
God jogging. I pray while I jog. The first half of my jog I pray for \par you.
The second half I pray for my own survival. You can worship God fishing, you can
\par worship God jogging. But there is something special about gathering together
as a \par church. If that were not true, then why not have churches. There
wouldn’t be any need \par for churches if that wasn’t true. There is more to the
Christian life than just getting \par information, just getting Bible facts. If
that’s all there is to it, then all you need is a \par cassette tape or some videos
or a radio broadcast. \par But there is more to it than that. There is actually
more to it than just fellowship. \par Fellowship is a vital part of worship, but
there is more to it than that. If that’s all there \par was to it then just house
gatherings would do that. But there is a special sense when \par God’s people come
together and we sing together and we fellowship together as a church \par and we
study the Scriptures together and we pray together and we see God bring about \par
miracles together, that brings us into a unique relationship with the Lord.\par
Some of the greatest experiences of my life have happened in public worship.
I \par was saved in a public worship service. I came to Christ as a 9 year old boy
on a Sunday \par night in a church service. I was sitting on the second row. I
was called to preach, \par announced my call to preach when I was 16, in a public
service. I was sitting back \par yonder then. When you get 16 you move back. I
saw my wife for the first in church. \par God does special things when we come
together. “One thing have I desired of the Lord, \par that will I seek, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold \par the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”\par There have been days in my
life and services in my life when I have walked out of \par the house of God and I
had a new awareness of the beauty and the loveliness and the \par glory of our
Great God and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.\par Verse 5 says, “For in the
time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion...” \par That’s where psalms are
written. The pavilion was in reference to a tent that was \par especially prepared
for the king in days of battle out on the field. It was a royal pavilion. \par It
was in the very center of the army. David’s mighty men were gathered around him,
\par protecting him. David was saying, “I may be in the midst of a battle but I’m
hiding in \par His pavilion.”\par “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
me. He’ll set me upon a rock.”\par Rock of Ages, cleft or
me.\par Let me hide myself in thee.\par When you come to the
Lord Jesus Christ you are safe and secure in His hiding \par place in his pavilion.
\par I preached on that recently in the book of Colossians. It says, “Your life
is hid \par with Christ in God.” Jesus put it this way in John 10, “I give unto
them eternal life and \par they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. My father \par who gave them to me is greater than all and no
man will pluck them out of his hands.” \par That’s double security. You are in
Jesus’ hands and you are in the Father’s hands. The \par devil can’t get you
there. You are safe and secure.\par Are you in His pavilion? Are you in the
secret place of His tabernacle? David is \par expressing some desires here that
couldn’t totally be fulfilled in David’s life. David is \par saying, “I want to
just live in God’s house. I want to live in the secret place of His \par
tabernacle.” That was something in the Old Testament economy that was reserved
only \par for those who had the calling of the priesthood. Only the priests could
be there.\par We have something better than David had. You and I can indeed be
in the very \par secret place of His tabernacle. You and I can do what David could
not do. Only a priest \par could do in the Old Testament. You and I can go into
the very holy of holies by the \par blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m a priest.
“Now, wait a minute preacher, you don’t \par have one of those collars that’s
turned around backwards.” No, I haven’t, but I’m a \par priest. I’m Priest
Vines. If you are saved, you are a priest. Every believer is a priest. \par You
don’t need to go to somebody else to pray for you. It’s wonderful to get people to
\par pray for you, but you don’t have to have that to get to God. You don’t have
to get \par someone else to confess your sins to God for you. You can get on your
knees right in \par your own house and talk to the God of this universe and in the
name of Jesus, in an \par instance, you are in the very presence of the holy of
holies, of the God of this universe \par Himself. That’s good! We have it made,
haven’t we? No wonder David is expressing \par confidence on the mountain of
faith.\par Verse 6, he’s topping trees. “And now shall mine head be lifted up
above mine \par enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle
sacrifices of joy; I will \par sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.” The
Living Bible puts it this way, “I’m \par heading to His place to offer anthems that
will raise the roof.” We have something to \par sing about. We ought never to
sing half-hearted in God’s house. There should be victory \par and joy and
excitement about it. A dead church is a contradiction in terms. Lifeless, \par
indifferent, cold-hearted Christians are a contradiction in terms. We have
something to \par sing about. We have something to shout about.\par David is in
a battle. He’s fighting. He’s in a war. Right in the midst of the war he \par is
breaking out and having a concert. All of a sudden it’s just like these mountain
\par climbers. They are climbing to the top of the mountain. Then all of a sudden
here comes \par an avalanche. From verse 6 to verse 7 an avalanche comes and David
finds himself just \par tumbling down into the valley of fear. He moves from
confidence on the mountain of \par faith to-\par II. CONFLICT in the Valley of
FEAR.\par Fear and faith are neighbors. They live real close to one another.
Fear and faith \par do constant battle for control of our hearts. David is having
a mood swing here. We all \par have them. Sometimes in the middle of a single
prayer we will go from faith to fear and \par back to faith. You have a problem
and you are trying to come to grips with it. You have \par a kid that is driving
you bonkers and you don’t know what to do. You have real pressure \par on your
job. Some people are letting you down. You are praying about and you say, \par
“Lord, I’m just going to trust you. I know you are going to work it out and I know
\par everything is going to be all right.” Then two sentences later, “Lord, what
am I going to \par do?” Do you pray that way? Of course you do. We all pray that
way. “Lord, I’m not \par going to worry anymore about this.” “Lord, I’m so
worried.” This is real life. David \par was a real person. Basically things
haven’t changed since the garden of Eden. The \par names and the faces and the
technology and all of that may have changed, but the \par problems of human life
are still basically the same problems. That’s why the psalms are \par so
applicable to us today. They deal with all the experiences, the vicissitudes of
life, the \par different circumstances of life. The psalms play on ever string on
the harp of the human \par emotions.\par So, in verse 7 we see conflict in the
valley of fear. Notice the change in verse 7. \par Back up in verse 1 he is
talking in the third person ABOUT God. Now, in verse 7 the \par Lord is in the
first person. He’s talking TO God. “Hear O Lord, when I cry with my \par voice:
have mercy also upon me, and answer me.”\par In verse 8 David says to the Lord,
“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart \par said unto thee, Thy face, Lord,
will I seek.” There are those times in life when the Lord \par just seems to say,
“Seek me.” You just feel a special warmness, a special closeness. It’s \par as if
the Lord is saying what He said to David, “Seek my face.” David didn’t hesitate.
\par He said, “Lord, I’m going to seek you.” You better call on the Lord while He
is near. \par That’s why if there is anybody in this building and if there is the
least inkling of a desire \par in your heart to know Jesus as your Savior, you
ought to do something
about it tonight. \par There may be a reason why God has given you that special
desire. Too many times \par when we get that special indication from the Lord that
He wants us to seek Him in a \par special way, w say, “I’m busy Lord, I’ll do it
later.” We ought to drop everything and \par seek the face of the Lord just like
He has told us to do.\par In verse 9 he says, “Hide not thy face far from me;
put not thy servant away in \par anger:” Literally it says, “You’ve been my
helper.” “Leave me not, neither forsake me, \par O God of my salvation.” Se how
he has shifted. Now he’s fearful. “Don’t leave me, \par Lord. Don’t run out on
me, Lord. Don’t forsake me.”\par Verse 10 is a sweet verse. “When my father and
my mother forsake me, then the \par Lord will take me up.” We don’t know what the
circumstances are that caused David to \par say that right there. I tend to
believe that he was speaking in terms like this: (we don’t \par have any evidence
in the record that his mother and father forsook him) “even if it \par should
occur that my mother and father forsook me, Lord, you aren’t going to forsake \par
me.” It’s a terrible thing to be abandoned. We have boys and girls today who are
\par abandoned by their father or their mother, sometimes both. I think about some
of these \par men. I don’t know how they are wired. For a man to just walk out on
a little kid. Sir, do \par you know what that does to them? Do you know the sense
of abandonment they feel \par when their own daddy just walks away? You say, “Oh,
but I have a right to be happy.” \par Who says? What’s this happiness stuff? “I
just have to find myself.” There you are. \par You don’t have to find yourself.
You hear this from men, “I just have to be happy, I have \par to do my thing.” Big
old cry baby. It’s wrong to walk out on little boys and girls. You \par ought to
be willing to wade through hell for your boys and girls. Don’t come to me for \par
counseling, I don’t have a lot of sympathy with you. Go see Dr. Marks, maybe he’ll
get \par in the floor and cry over you, but I’m not. I know him too well, he won’t
do it either.\par Some people literally are forsaken by their mother and
father because they come \par to Christ. I have reason to believe and I think the
scholars are correct that when the \par Apostle Paul became a Christian, they
probably had his funeral. I have know of that to \par happen. People who were of
other persuasions came to Christ and they actually had their \par funeral and
totally forsook them. No more relationship with them at all.\par David is
saying that even if it got to the point that my mother and father forsake \par me,
that’s when the Lord will kneel down and draw me unto Himself.\par Some kid,
some young person, some single, some others of you have been \par abandoned. I
have good news for you. The Lord will take you up.\par In Isaiah 49:14 says,
“But Zion (Israel) says the Lord hath forsaken me and my \par Lord has forgotten
me.” That’s how they felt about it. Listen to what the Lord says, \par “Can a
woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son \par
of her womb?” Yea, they may forget. It’s even possible for a mother to abandon
her own \par baby. That happens all the in our society. Much too frequently to
even think. We all the \par time have mothers that will absolutely dump their kids
in a garbage can. God says they \par might even do it. “They may forget, yet, I
will not forget thee.”\par Verse 16, “I have graven thee on the palms of my
hands.” Isn’t that a picture. \par God is saying that He’s not ever going to
forsake you. He’s not ever going to run away \par from you. He has your name on
the palms of God’s hands. Does God have palms? No, \par that’s just a figure of
speech. It’s God’s way of saying that you are so precious and so \par special to
Him that He knows you by name and you are a part of Him. That just \par overwhelms
me.\par He is saying here, Lord, I need your grace. In verse 11 and 12 he is
saying, “Lord \par I need your guidance.” “Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me
in a plain path, because \par of mine enemies. Verse 13 says, “I had fainted,
unless I had believed to see the goodness \par of the Lord in the land of the
living. He’s moving back now into the area of trust. Faith \par is winning out.
Fear struck his heart for a few verses. Now faith is winning out. “Lord, I \par
believe in your goodness.”\par God is a good God. Remember that chorus:\par
God is so good, God is so good,\par God is so good to
me.\par God answers prayer, God answers prayer.\par
He’s so good to me.\par We have a good God. Keep that in mind. It
doesn’t matter what comes your way, \par doesn’t matter what happens to you, always
keep in mind that God is good. Though you \par may not be able to see it all, keep
in mind when you can’t trace his hand, you can trust \par His heart.\par So,
the matter of trust comes in. The matter of timing comes in in verse 14,
“Wait \par on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the \par Lord.” In music we have what we call pauses. Pauses are
not wasted times. Pauses lend \par beauty and meaning to music. The same thing is
true in our lives. Sometimes God puts \par things on hold and we have to just wait
on the Lord.\par Isa. 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength. They \par shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary, they shall walk \par and not faint.” Wait on the Lord. It’s a whole lot
easier for me to preach about waiting \par on the Lord than it is to practice it.
I preach a whole better Gospel than I practice. \par “Preacher, you mean you don’t
practice what you preach?” Yes, I try, but I’m preaching \par a perfect Gospel and
I’m an imperfect person. I can preach about waiting on the Lord, \par but in my
own personal life, it’s not easy to wait on the Lord. I’m kind of like the
boy \par who prayed, “Lord, I want you to do it and I want you to do it right now.
Lord give me \par patience and give it to me right now.” But there are those
waiting times. When God puts \par you in a waiting time, it’s a time to study your
Bible. It’s a time to pray. It’s a time to \par worship. It’s a time to wait for
God to act.\par Look at the last sentence. “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” David
says to wait. What \par do you say?\par If you have never received Christ as your
Savior I invite you to make the most \par important decision you will ever make in
your life. Come, personally, to receive Jesus as \par your Savior.\par \par \par
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