Psalm 20 - The LORD Saves His Anointed

[Music] we come now to Psalm 20 and this is an amazing Psalm that in some ways when you take a look at the title of this Amin when I talk about the title I mean the title in the Hebrew text again it says to the chief musician a psalm of David we've seen sent many Psalms in these first 20 Psalms that have the same title again to the chief musician either referring to the choir leaders among the Levites the worship leaders the music leaders perhaps referring to the Lord Himself who is the chief musician the one who invented music and is the greatest musician to the chief musician a psalm of David now that title in the Hebrew is the same yet the psalm itself Psalm 20 is different notably because it's the voice of a multitude that prays on behalf of the king of Israel in this case David as he is about ready to go into battle now this is seen in the way that the psalm speaks in the first person plural in other words we in verses 1 through 5 it speaks in the we and in verses 7 8 9 it speaks in the we now in verse 6 the one that comes between those the first person singular I is used that's probably the response of either King David or maybe the high priest on his behalf nevertheless this is a psalm of David so maybe King David took a moment of spontaneous prayer by the people on his behalf and maybe he shaped it into a song that would remember that would bring to mind sort of the spiritual strength and even the glory of what God was doing in that particular moment so let's take a look here at the passage we're talking about Psalm 20 beginning here at verse 1 in verses 1 & 2 we read this may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble may the name of the God of Jacob defend you may he send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion so here is a beginning the first two verses of a prayer that the people make on behalf of the king of Israel they're saying King may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble now again we don't come to the we until verse 5 but verse 5 makes it very clear that that in the verses preceding that come from the context of a group praying for the king the Lord answer the prayers of King David in the day of trouble and and may the God of Jacob defend you the picture here as I said before is of King David before battle perhaps something like the battle he would fight against the Syrians in 2nd Samuel chapter 10 we don't notice it David fought a lot of battles as king but maybe it was at the tabernacle of God offering prayers and sacrifices before the battle and here the onlooking multitude responds to the King's prayer with this cry they cry out verse 1 may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble Derek Kidner called this one of the most stirring of the Psalms it sort of has this tense awareness of life-and-death issues that are soon to be resolved in what he means by that statement it is simply the idea that the battle is on the horizon and the people are praying for their king that God would give him success and that God would preserve him now I want to point something out here with the eye of faith we see that this also speaks to or points to the great battle that was fought by the one who's greater than King David and you know who the one greater than King David is Jesus who's given that glorious title the son of David and who is the king of kings now we can see how this prayer is being offered prophetically for Jesus as he pointed himself towards the cross where Jesus would fight the greatest battle of all the battle against sin the battle against death the battle against Satan's power I almost see angelic choirs sing or praying this to strengthen the Son of God may the Lord answer you and the day of trouble may the name of the God of Jacob defend you now again after the pattern of Hebrew poetry the idea is intensively expressed by the use of repetition with slight variation David was about to lead Israel into battle and he needed the help of God in each of these ways and again with the eye of faith we can see this applied to Jesus as he was going to endure the Battle of the cross and because King David looking back to him again was about to lead Israel as a whole into battle the language is full of references appealing to the Lord Yahweh as the God of Israel check it out in verse 1 first of all there's the reference to the Lord that's Yahweh the Covenant name of God according to the Covenant that he made with Israel then in verse 1 you have the God of Jacob that's remembering the great patriarch of Israel from whom the 12 tribes came first two mentions from the sanctuary that's calling to mind the tabernacle the center of worship for Israel as a nation and then verse 2 mentions out of Zion that's referring to the hills of Jerusalem so we have this context of sort of God defending and blessing David on behalf of the nation matter of fact the prayer that God would look at it there in verse to strengthen you out of Zion is fitting for more than the field of battle it's also appropriate for the church pulpit you know that the pulpit of a church where the pastor preaches and teaches that's a field of battle in a spiritual sense I like what Charles Spurgeon said about this he said this verse is a benediction befitting a Sabbath morning and maybe the greeting either of a pastor to his people or a church to its minister the Lord strengthen you out of the pulpit the place where you going to bring forth God's Word now verse 3 may he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice Salah now again sacrifices were commonly made at important moments such as on the eve of battle this is a prayer that the Lord would see and that the Lord would receive the sacrifice as King David was going to make before he entered into warfare and so the prayer is on behalf of the people for their king may he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice now this understands something here that not all sacrifices are accepted before God notice the prayers that God would accept your burnt sacrifice that this sort of just takes for granted that not every sacrifice is accepted before God if sacrifices are not offered with faith and in accordance with the Levitical system that God established they would not be remembered they would not be accepted by God and this reminds us of the important place of faith in the Old Testament sacrificial system the person who brought the offering had to trust in the ultimate perfect sacrifice that God would one day provide the one that each animal sacrifice pointed towards if you want to illustration of that look in Genesis chapter 22 when God told Abraham offer your son as a sacrifice now it's important to say that God never intended that there would be a human sacrifice god always attended that you would stop Abraham from this sacrifice but God testing Abraham asked him to do it and then Abraham understood that when when God stopped him it all pointed full towards a perfect sacrifice that God Himself would provide matter of fact provide on the very same place where Jesus himself was crucified and so it says again verse 3 may he remember all your offerings may he accept your burnt sacrifices now did you notice that word at the end of verse 3 Salah the idea in the Hebrew for this word by the way it occurs 74 times in the Old Testament most the time in the Book of Psalms but not only the idea behind Salah is cause now most people think it speaks of a reflective pause it's a pause to meditate on the words that were just spoken that's true it could also be a musical instruction it may speak of a musical interlude of some kind I don't want to sound you know irreverent here but perhaps say la was something like the invitation for the guitar solo or the lyre solo or some kind of musical flourish that's possible it could be both it could be while the musician performs for a moment thoughtfully reflect upon what was just said now we take this c'est la in verse 3 as an opportunity to consider Jesus and to see that this prayer was appropriate for him as he faced the cross the prayer was worthy to be prayed that God would indeed remember and accept the offering that Jesus made on the cross which could rightly be called a burnt sacrifice because Jesus is offering on the cross was burned with the fire of God's righteous judgment now I'm not talking about the literal fire but God's judgment is often presented as a consuming fire in that metaphorical picture Jesus held nothing back in his sacrifice it was completely presented and so it was in those ways symbolically a burnt sacrifice completely offered and under the fire of God's judgment the prayer continues here in verse 4 may he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose you see in this moment King David had one desire to defend the people of God and the Kingdom that was in covenant with God therefore it was a very thing good thing to pray may he grant you according to your heart's desire and we can trust this that whenever our desires are in accord with the plan and will of God for us we can pray this same prayer with confidence you see when the people of Israel prayed this prayer on David's behalf and they say may he grant you according to your heart's desire they could pray it with full God wanted it because they knew what David's desire was he wanted to defend the people of God he wanted to offend the kingdom that was in covenant with God that was something blessed by God and we can ask God when we know we're praying according to the plan and will of God to answer our hearts desire another aspect of this is that we look to God to bring our desires more and more into conformity with his desires that's just the course of Christian growth so verse 4 may he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose again David's purpose was victory for the people of God that was a good and necessary prayer to pray now again we keep coming back to Jesus the king of kings David was the king of Israel Jesus is the king of kings we see this statement applied to the great desire and purpose for the King of Kings as he went to battle to accomplish our salvation with the perception of faith we look to Jesus struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane and we say to Jesus may he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose you know Jesus's heart's desire as he prayed in the garden ago cemani was that he would fulfill the Word of God and the work of God and the plan of God in every dimension and God granted him that purpose now on a personal level we also see that God gives to each person a purpose to fulfill in his great plan of the ages have you ever thought about that that that God gives to you a purpose a plan a role in his great plan of the ages now the key to a life of fulfilled desire and achieved purpose is to find our place in his great plan instead of hoping to make God an actor in our plan that's the way a lot of people at protons God you can be a character in the drama of my life no we want a role in God's plan of the ages and listen if you if you raise your children well I'm thinking of fathers and mothers if you work hard and raise your children well in the nurture and admonition of the Lord you are fulfilling God's great purpose and desire that is part of your it may not be the only aspect of your role but that's part of your role you work hard at your job and make a contribution to your kingdom excuse me your community into God's kingdom that is part of fulfilling your role you you serve your neighbor in the name of Jesus Christ that is part of fulfilling your role in what God has now Jesus knew this fulfilled desire and purpose when Jesus prayed before he went to the garden ago cemani but on the night that he was to be betrayed jesus prayed in John chapter 17 verse four and one of the things he said in that great prayer of John 17 is this again verse 4 I have finished the work which you have given me to do Jesus had a sense that God had a purpose a plan and his desire was to fulfill that and he did the Apostle Paul also knew this fulfilled desire and purpose it was shown by these words that Paul said toward the end of his earthly life in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 Paul said this I have fought the good fight I finished the race I've kept the faith God gave me a fight to fight and I fought it God gave me a race to run and I ran it I finished it may God give us the same sense as well now in verse 5 of Psalm 20 we come to the the more explicitly stated we notices in verse 5 we will rejoice in your salvation and in the name of our God we will set up our banners may the Lord fulfill all your petitions again verse 5 we will rejoice in your salvation this was the confidence that the people had in King David's success they had so much trust in God's deliverance that they had already set up their banners of joyful celebration that those banners like what John trapped the old Puritan commentator said about him he said those banners are our flags of the faience to the enemy or our tokens of triumph to God's glory who has given us the victory I love the idea of a flag of defiance to the enemy Jesus Christ is our victory and our God will give us in the name of our God we will set up our banners and verse 5 may the Lord fulfill all your petition but petitions once again it is both the prayer and the confidence that God would hear and fulfill the prayers of the king again once again I just have to say this was true both of David and the son of David the king of Israel and the King of Kings Jesus prayed for success in his work on the cross and it was unthinkable that the father would not answer the prayers of the son now in verse 6 we see David's response maybe the response was given through the high priest maybe it was David's but here we see that the speaking in the I verses 1 through 5 it's in the we verses 7 through 9 it's in the we but verse 6 is in the I this is David's response ready for 6 now I know that the Lord saves his anointed so here King David expressed great confidence that the Lord would answer the prayers of his people I've got my people praying for me I can't lose that's kind of David's attitude here and let me tell you something that's something that every servant of God believes and feels when people are praying when the people of God are praying for his work God is gonna get his work done let me tell you that's that's one of things I find great comfort with sometimes I'm just kind of amazed at the things that God has let me do at the extent of ministry that for me thankfully a lot of it's under the radar but but it's an extent far beyond what I could have ever dreamed of and one of the reason have prayed and are praying for me I don't mind if you pray for me I'd enjoy it I'd take that as a great privilege if you would pray for God's blessing and God's success upon the work that I do for him in his kingdom David felt I've got people praying for me now I know that the Lord saves his anointed and that's the king his anointed you see in a sense every king of Israel was God's anointed because they were all appointed to their office by a literal anointing of oil poured out upon their head that literal anointing with oil was a picture of the spiritual anointing that they had from the holy spirit needs necessary for their duty of leading the People of God is king so when he says now I know that the Lord saves his anointed David's referring to himself as king at the same time it was also understood that there would come an ultimate anointed one the perfect king of Israel the Messiah that means The Anointed One the Christ the Messiah as in Psalm 2 and in other places this was true of David and of Israel and his day that the Lord saves his anointed and his people but it's even more perfectly true of the ultimate and perfect Anointed One and you know how that is Jesus Christ is the ultimate anointed of the Lord and by the way when it says there in verse 5 it says the Lord saves we will rejoice in your salvation and name our God will set up our banners may the Lord fulfill your petitions now verse 6 now I know that the Lord saves his anointed the verb saves there in verse 6 is the same root as victorious and you could translate that there in verse 6 I know the Lord will give victory to his anointed again it's the same idea and this word in Psalm 20 verse 6 save the Lord saves his anointing and in verse 9 save Lord it comes from the same root word in Hebrew as we get the name of Jesus so there's almost like an echo a reminder a pointing towards the name of Jesus in verse 6 and in verse nine just in the word saves and it's true when we think of how this especially applies to Jesus Christ we say the Lord saves his Messiah the Lord saves his anointed the father saved the son from sin it was as Jesus relied on God the Father that he walked a sinless life the father saved the son from pride the father saved the son from self reliance the father saved the son from doubt the father saved the son from failure the father saved the son from death no I know what you're saying you're saying listen David did not Jesus have the divine power within himself to be saved from sin and pride in self-reliance and doubt in other words yes he did but from what we know and and we don't see these things completely clearly as it's revealed in Scripture but from what we know Jesus said that he did everything in reliance upon his father and so there's some way either mostly or completely we don't really know but there's some way in which Jesus who never stopped being God let's make that very plain if you can stop being God you were never God to begin with Jesus who never stopped being God nevertheless chose to not draw upon his own divine resources and instead relied upon God his father for the resources to walk pure from sin to stay away from pride to not be self-reliant to not give in to doubt again and again Jesus chose to do this either mostly or entirely we don't don't know for sure but Jesus chose to do this in reliance upon God his father again not because Jesus did not have the divine resource or within himself but actually he chose say I'm gonna rely on my father and so the Lord the Father saves his anointed matter of fact that says there in verse 6 he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand you see that confirmed and strengthens the idea that the Lord saves his anointed he's saved by an answer God's not silent to his anointed it was true for King David it's ultimately true of God the Son Jesus Christ the ultimate anointed one he's saved from heaven God hears and sends help from his throne true for David true for Jesus in an even greater sense he's saved with power notice that phrase in verse 6 with saving strength he's saved with the skill in favour with the strength that comes from the right hand and every one of those things is true for King David even more perfectly they are true of the son of David Jesus Christ the ultimate anointed of the Lord Psalm 20 is one of those glorious Psalms that has in view what God was doing through King David right then and there but even more perfectly it has in view what God would and could do through the ultimate son of David Jesus Christ now I'm just gonna mention this because we want to move on to verse 7 but I want you to consider that you have an anointing from the Lord as well you're not anointed as the king of Israel as David was nor are you the ultimate anointed one as Jesus the Christ the Messiah is anointed but the Bible says that's very plainly in first John that you have an anointing from God and I'm speaking to you as if you are a child of God is if you're born again by God's Spirit you put your faith in who Jesus is and what he's done for you on the cross if that's you you are anointed I'm not trying to say you're the same as King David you're not you're certainly not the same as Jesus Christ but if you are in Christ God will save you with his answer God will save you from heaven God will save you with the saving strength God will save you with the strength that comes from his right hand not because you're so wonderful but because you have an anointing because you are in the ultimate anointed one Jesus Christ so this wasn't just for David it was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ but it's not even just ultimately fulfilled in Jesus it's extended out to those who are in Christ and have an anointing as well alright let's continue on verse 7 here David you just love this phrase again it gets into the we so this is like said from the congregation of Israel some trust in chariots and summon horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God you see David knew what Kings and the people usually trust in they trust in human strength and they trust in the way it's often expressed back in David's day military might was expressed in chariots and horses today David might say something like this some trust in nuclear weapons some trust in cruise missiles others trust in tanks it's just part of human nature to put our trust in these sophisticated armaments of our day whatever our day is but listen David said no our trust the people said this our trust is going to be in the Lord our God you know I just think of it Alexander McLaren makes this point how how for the normal Israeli soldier in the ancient world they fought on foot for the most part chariots and horses must have seemed terrifying to the Israeli foot soldier they were mighty but the name of the Lord is mighty or still and for this reason David said no I'm gonna refuse to trust in chariots and in horse as a matter of fact David knew that God had commanded in the law of Moses that the kings of Israel would not multiply horses for themselves either to use in sort of cavalry or to pull war chariots you'll find that in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 16 so he said no we're not gonna trust in chariots and horses but instead verse 7 but we will remember the name of the Lord our God David Hertz drawing a very strong contrast they trust in those things but our trust is in God let me read to you a quote from Bishop Horn a Anglican commentator of more than a hundred years ago he says this in the spiritual war in which we are all engaged the first and necessary step to victory is to renounce all confidence in the wisdom and strength of nature in the world and to remember that we can do nothing but in the name by the merits through the power and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord in our God we've got to begin the same place that the people of Israel David did in Psalm 20 they said no first we're gonna renounce human wisdom fleshly wisdom we're gonna renounce the chariots and the horse is that so many people trust in but instead verse 7 we will remember the name of the Lord our God David put his trust in the person the character of God he didn't carry the name of the Lord is sort of like this magic incantation no rather the name of God speaks of the comprehensive character of God it's an expression of his faithfulness and his covenant with Israel this this the character and the faithfulness God was stronger to David it was stronger to Israel than thousands of chariots or horses therefore I I sense I hope you do to sort of a triumphant defiance in David when he says but we will remember listen he knew we all know how easy it is forget how counterintuitive it is to human nature to trust in God instead of in human strength and resources but David says again almost defiantly but we will remember and now vs. 8 9 conclude with the beautiful note of triumph here we go verses 8 & 9 they have bowed down and fallen but we have risen and stand upright save Lord may the King answer us when we call now I love verse 8 where it says they have bowed down and fallen but we have risen and stand up right David's trust in God could be justified for many reasons but one of those reasons was simply pragmatic reasons trusting in God works and David saw it those who trusted in chariots and horses have bowed down and fallen they were defeated but those who remember the name of the Lord have risen and stood upright that's why David can say with such confidence in verse 9 save Lord may the King answer us when we call in again this is the whole nation notice the we there but the rescue that David and the people of Israel confidently sang of had not completely come he still needed a cry out save Lord but he still had trust in the anticipated answer of the Lord all right so here's our question how does Psalm 20 point to Jesus Christ well I almost feel a little bit silly asking of course because we've gone all through this Psalm looking at how it points to the ultimate Messiah Anointed One Jesus Christ but let me just kind of summarize it with three points again not exhaustive but three ways that Psalm 20 points to Jesus Christ number one Jesus offered the sacrifice that was always remembered and accepted before God you remember that in verse three may he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice Jesus offered the sacrifice that will always be remembered and always accepted before God we don't have to make a sacrifice for our own sins we don't have to we can't it's vain to do Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice always remembered always accepted a beautiful fulfillment of verse three secondly Jesus is the one who's every petition every prayer was answered did you see that in verse five may the Lord fulfill all your petitions I see Jesus agonizing in the Garden of Eden praying that God would strengthen him to pass the test and he did I see Jesus praying for Peter that he would not fall away when he was sifted and he did not fall away yeah the Lord answers every petition made by Jesus now I want to give you a reminder here those prayers are still being prayed for us by Jesus from heaven do you realize that that Jesus Christ is praying for his people even now and so this is a wonderful wonderful promise then finally Jesus is the ultimate anointed one he's the mashiac he's the Messiah rescued by God the Father in his vindication and resurrection so when verse 6 says now I know that the Lord saves is anointed we realize that not only was it speaking of David it was speaking ultimately of Jesus Christ brothers sisters this is an amazing Psalm Psalm 20 not only telling us of the great victory that God worked in King David the ultimate victory that he worked in Jesus Christ but it also speaks of our victory that we can have in Jesus let's pray to that exact end right now father in heaven I pray for everybody who views this or listens to this and I pray Lord God that you would help them to truly put their trust in Jesus Christ in who he is and what Jesus has done for them that they would truly share in the surpassing victory of Jesus our Messiah we proclaim it Lord some trust in chariots some trust in horses but we trust in the name of our God we trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we pray this in Jesus name Amen [Music] you [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 7,954

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, psalm 20, the lord saves his anointed, David, king, jesus christ, christ, prayer, king of israel, triumph

Id: -CRKAOcxYvM

Length: 33min 7sec (1987 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 29 2020