In the sermon 'Yahweh, Save Me' based on Psalm 3, David Green explores the context and message of the Psalm, which David wrote during his flight from his son Absalom. The Psalm is divided into three parts: David's predicament, his peace, and his prayer. Initially, David laments the multitude of adversaries against him, reflecting on the consequences of sin and the challenges of living in a fallen world. Despite these trials, David finds peace through his faith in Yahweh, who serves as his shield and sustainer. The sermon emphasizes the importance of trusting in God for peace and deliverance, even in the midst of overwhelming challenges. David's prayer is a call for God's intervention, affirming that salvation and deliverance belong solely to Yahweh. The message encourages believers to meditate on the truths of Psalm 3, recognizing its timeless relevance and the assurance it provides to those who trust in God.

Alright, so if you have your copy of God's Word, we'll go to Psalms 3. Psalms 3 tonight. And we'll begin reading at verse one. We'll read the entire chapter. Psalms three says a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.

Verse one says, Oh Yahweh, how my adversaries have become many. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for him in God. But you, oh Yahweh, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head. I was calling to Yahweh with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.

I lay down and slept. I awoke, for Yahweh sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who all around have set themselves against me. Arise, oh Yahweh, save me, Oh my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheek. You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to Yahweh. Your blessing be upon your people, Sila. This is a Psalm of David, as I mentioned from the subscript. The Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. If you recall from your Old Testament reading, your Old Testament studies, this occurred back in 2nd Samuel and you can go back there.

We'll not read the entirety of the passage, but you know there was trouble in David's life, and you kind of sense that just from reading the Psalm, but you can go back and read the occasion of 2 Samuel chapter 15 and go with me back There There was a time that occurred in the life of David. The Bible tells us about that. Verses 13 through 17 says, then an informant came to David saying the hearts of the men of Israel have followed Absalom. So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee for otherwise there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go in haste, lest he overtake us hastily.

Drive calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword. Then the king's servant said to the king, behold your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses. So the king went out all his household with him, but the king left ten concubines to keep the house. The king went out and all the people with him and they stopped at the last house. So there was there was this time in the life of David and of David.

And of course this all took place. This all took place after the sin of David, when David had committed adultery and there was problems within his own house. And we see kind of how that all spread out and all of those things. And it was on this occasion that David wrote this psalm. Divide it into three parts as we look at this Psalm tonight.

First part be verses one and two. This will be David's predicament. Notice with me once again as we read it, you can follow along, they're in your copy of God's word. Psalms 3 verses 1 and 2, to Oyawe, how my adversaries have become many. Many are rising up against me.

Many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for him in God. Sila. If you remember when you see that word Seela, it's kind of a pause or a crescendo or musical interlude. Hebrew poetry was written like this and you kind of take pause when you see that written there. The translators of the LSB have divided it up very well here as it's written.

And so when I say we'll divide it up into three parts, you can see it in the three parts in your text if you're following along in the LSB. So the first part will be verses one and two, the second part will be verses three through six, and then the last part will be verses seven and eight. And it is divided that way in in the text which follows along very well with the way that the translation is here. But David begins here with this predicament, verses 1 and 2, on a very low note. We sense his despair.

He writes, crying out to Yahweh, how my adversaries have become many. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. So you catch the repetition there in the English, it's the same way in the Hebrew. Many, many, many.

It would seem as though it was not just Absalom who was against him at this point, but there were others. And indeed, as you read In 2 Samuel, you read of the account that was taking place, there were many who were against him. Sin has consequences. And even in the life of David, we know from scripture that David was a man after God's own heart. And some people say, well how in the world is that possible?

Because he sinned. And yes, that is a fact. He did sin, but he repented of his sin. But understand something. Even though we repent of our sin, there are still long-lasting consequences of our sins in this life.

You can't go in through life and, as they say sometimes, sow your wild oats as a young person and not expect that there be long-term consequences that we have to pay for in life. So to use an example that's been all over the news, whether it's true, whether it's not, but a high profile, very famous rich person that was in the Epstein files supposedly had some sexual relations with a hooker in Russia or wherever it was and got an STD. Well he apparently tried to cover that up and all that sort of thing, but it cost him problems in his family. You see, whether he ever truly repented of that thing or not, just between him and God, But ultimately you understand that those things have far-reaching consequences. There are people who I've known through my life who when they were younger they did drugs and all sorts of things when they were younger and then when they're older they're still paying the consequences of those things.

Well, David feels the weight of these things here in these first couple of verses, and we see that as he finds himself in this predicament. Now, Just living in the fallen world, we all feel the effects of sin, whether it's directly or indirectly a result of our own choices, our own sin or whatever. Own sin or whatever. Maybe it's family issues, financial issues, sicknesses, disease. We all live in a fallen world.

Like I said, it may not be a direct result of our own sin, but the reality is we all live in a fallen world, and all of the bad that happens in this world is because of sin. And so when we read this, our heart aches for David because it's at one point or another we have felt what he feels. The weight of The weight of trouble. Maybe it's not a rebellious son. Maybe it's not a whole army and adversaries that are against us.

But maybe it feels like the world is against us. Maybe it feels like the electric bill, the water bill, the internet bill, and all these bills start piling up and then all of a sudden something breaks on the vehicle and now you've got, where's this money gonna come from? And so it's just wave on wave problems that come. Financial problems. Maybe it's bad news at the doctor's office.

And so you've got this thing going on, you got a pain in your leg, and then all of a sudden you got pain in your stomach and then you got pain in your ear. And just one thing after another. My grandpa used to say, it just hurts all over. And then He just said, I hurt all over me do, me do, me do. And that's just the way it was for many years.

The arthritis and all of those things. Misery's are multiplied. Whether it's situations, sicknesses, finances, family troubles, neighbor problems, whatever it is, we can relate. Some of it may be our fault, other of it might not be our fault, directly or indirectly, but we know, we know how he feels. And so we read of his predicament and we know something of what he feels here, his predicament.

When he cries out in Psalm 3, Oh Yahweh, how my adversaries have become many. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul There is no salvation for him in God, Sila. It seemed like all hope was lost to everyone who saw him. And so, for many who were looking at him, they would have thought at that time, that's the end of his story, that's the end of David, that's the end of his chapter, end of story.

Now it's Absalom's turn, and now with the turning of the page, David is going to go the way of Saul, the way of others before him, and let's see what Absalom does. But that's not the end of the story. That's not the end of the psalm. And you know if you've studied your Old Testament, you know this to be true, but look at what David wrote in this passage. Verses three through six.

So part one was David's predicament, part two is David's peace. He says, but you, oh Yahweh, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head. I was calling to Yahweh with my voice and he answered me from his holy mountain, Sila. I lay down and slept. I awoke for Yahweh sustains me.

I will not be afraid of 10, 000s of people who all around have set themselves against me." I love this portion of Psalm 3 because he's in this terrible predicament David is, this great singer of Israel. This great singer of Israel. While all kinds of people can relate to the first couple of verses, only a true child of God can relate to the second part insofar as that what he found was peace in the midst of the storm. He found a calm not when it was all over, oh he found that too. But he found the calm even in the midst of trouble.

And I submit to you today that you can find protection, you can find rest, you can rest easy even in the most trying of circumstances. When it seems like the weight of the world is about to crush you down, when everybody around you says, like they said of David, many said of him, there's no salvation for him and God. And by the way David wasn't the only one like that. You can go back and you can read, Job lost everything and even his own wife said, why don't you just curse God and die? Despite the bleak circumstances, David expresses confidence, not in himself, not in the things himself, not in the things that he had, not in the people around him, but rather in God's deliverance.

He didn't focus or dwell on his enemies. Yeah, he recognized that he had them. You see, you can't ignore your problems. That's fatalistic. You've got to realize you've got problems.

You've got to realize you've got enemies. You've got to realize you've got problems. You've got to realize you've got enemies. You've got to realize you've got things going on, sicknesses and things like that. Whatever it is in your life, you've got to realize that they're happening.

As it were, get up out of bed and take care of what needs to be taken care of. But you've got to put your confidence in Yahweh. Put your confidence in the Lord. Put your confidence in Jesus Christ. As the song says, all my hope is in Jesus.

Despite many and mighty foes, David had peace because of a trust in God, a peace sourced in Yahweh rather than circumstances. The key here in this section is verse 4. He says, I was calling to Yahweh with my voice. He answered me from his holy mountain, Sila. Someone knew that I was going through some particular troubles recently.

He asked me about it and I said, look, I said, I don't know what to tell you about any of this, but I can tell you one thing, my prayer life is better than what it's ever been. And that's the beauty of troubles. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found themselves in the midst of a burning, Fiery furnace, but you know who else was there? There was that fourth man walking. Your troubles are intended to bring you closer to the Lord.

And that's what we see here in this text. I was calling to Yahweh with my voice. The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Some say it was his eyesight. Others say it was a problematic church member.

I don't know, but all I know is this, he asked the Lord three times for it to be removed and the answer came back that my grace is sufficient for you. David said, I was calling to Yahweh with my voice and he answered me from his holy mountain. And this enabled David, check this out, this enabled David, Verse 5, to lay down and sleep. To lay down and sleep. You see the child of God can rest, again, not only when storm has passed, not only when trouble is gone, not only when all the problems are solved, and by the way if you ever get to the point in your life when all your problems are solved, come tell me about it, because I haven't got there yet.

But the child of God can rest in the midst of the storm peacefully knowing, knowing the sovereign God of the universe has us in His grip. But only if, only if, we're fully trusting in him. You see, If your situation has you only as Psalm 3 verses 1 and 2 and you don't get any further than that, you'll find no rest. You'll find no rest at all. Because all you're doing is dwelling on your problems.

And there's no rest there. That'll keep you up at night. Oh, Yahweh, my adversaries have become many. Oh God, why me? That kind of thing.

We keep going. Keep going. But you Yahweh are a shield about me, my glory and the one who lifts my head. I was calling to Yahweh with my voice and he answered me from his holy mountain, Sila. I laid down and slept.

I awoke for Yahweh sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who all around have set themselves against me." He says, my shield is Yahweh. He's the protector of my life, my soul, and then though there be 10, 000s of people against me, I'm not gonna be afraid. I'm not gonna be afraid. Why should I fear?

There's no one greater than our God. So we see David's predicament, we see his peace. The chapter ends verses 7 and 8 with David's prayer. Look there, verse 7, he says, arise, oh Yahweh, save me, oh my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheek. You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to Yahweh. Your blessing be upon your people, your people, Sila." This prayer is a prayer. David prayed A battle cry, if you will, for God, y'all, way to engage the enemy and to defend his soldiers, including David himself. David himself. David here petitions God to rise up and save him with the understanding that Vengeance belongs to our God.

He will repay. You know, sometimes the question comes up and people say, well, you know, is this all right kind of prayer to pray in our day and in our times and in the lives that we live on this side of the cross. And there are those who say, No, we shouldn't pray like this, but I submit to you this evening that yes, this is an all right prayer to pray, because even the Apostle Paul, When he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy, as he got towards the end of that letter, he told him, He said, Alexander the coppersmith showed me much harm. The Lord will award him according to his deeds. We've got to find rest, yes, not only in the truth that our God will take care of us as his people, but also that he will have victory over those who do His people wrong.

David, as he concludes this Psalm, this third Psalm, he petitions God to rise up and save him, calling on God to override and subjugate his enemies. Those things are his business after all. His prayer is a Godward focus, which is the way our prayers should be too. Because salvation does belong to Yahweh alone. Salvation belongs to our God and Him only.

He's the one who determines the time, the place, the method of deliverance. That's spiritually, yes, but also physically. Our lives both physically and spiritually are in His hands. And what a great joy it is to read and to meditate on this Psalm, to think about the truths of it. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.

Your blessing be upon your people. That was true then and it is true now. The things that David said, his circumstances, it was true for him and it is true for you. If you're a child of God, it is 100% true as well even today and I trust that this has been a blessing to you I would encourage you to Go home and this week just kind of meditate on this Psalm. What a great blessing it is to think about and to consider the blessings that we find contained in Psalm 3 written on the occasion of when David was fleeing from Absalom his son.

Thank you for your attention tonight. Let's dismiss in prayer.