David's Song of Deliverance, Part 1

If you have your Bible, turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 22, David's song of deliverance. 2 Samuel chapter 22. We're not going to finish that song tonight. We're just going to cover the first four verses.

I'm trying to drag out the life of David as long as I possibly can, because I want to make sure we get all that we possibly can from the text. But this great song of deliverance that David writes is a song that helps us understand how God delivers us from all of our enemies. Let me read to you the first four verses, because that will be our topic of discussion this evening.

The Bible says these words in verse number one of chapter 22, and David spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

And he said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, and whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my Savior. Thou dost save me from violence. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The song begins with the word and, simply because it's a connecting word between chapter 21 and chapter 22. After the whole famine incident that took place in the land of Israel that lasted three years, and David called upon the name of the Lord and the Lord revealed to David that because of what Saul had done some 30 years earlier, there was a famine in the land in that day.

And God revealed that there should be the death of Saul's sons, seven of them, so they were hanged in Saul's hometown. And God then would be lent and the famine would be lifted and the rains would come. And David would continue in battle. And we didn't cover that portion of chapter 21 because we covered it earlier. Because when David was just a teenager, he took five smooth stones, one to kill Goliath and four to kill his brothers. We talked to you about that a long time ago. Well, those brothers are listed in 2 Samuel chapter 21.

And we talked about them way back when we covered 1 Samuel chapter 17. But the battle against the Philistines continued, but God gave David the victory. It was at that time that David would write this song, a song of deliverance. And the emphasis was on the fact that God had delivered David from all of his enemies, not just some of his enemies. It's David's grand psalm of thanksgiving for what God has done all throughout his life to free him from the enemies that would pursue him. And you will note that the text says that God did deliver him.

In fact, it says in verse number one and verse number two, God has called my deliverer. In verse number 18, he delivered me from my strong enemy. Verse number 20, he delivered me or rescued me because he delighted in me. Verse number 43 or 44, thou hast also delivered me from the contentions of my people. It truly is a song of deliverance. And what David did was recite for us the names of God, the character of God, the person of God that would help us understand how it is he could sing this great song of deliverance.

As you know, David had been pursued relentlessly by Saul. For over a decade, he would run from King Saul and God would deliver him time and time again. But even when he battled against the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Syrians, the Moabites, the Edomites, God continued to deliver him. Because God is a deliverer. And David wanted to sing the praises of God because of his deliverance. You will note that scripture records many songs of deliverance. Back in Exodus chapter 15, when Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage, and when they had crossed over the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his army were drowned in that sea, there was a great song of deliverance.

In Numbers chapter 21, Israel, once they received water from the Lord, would sing a song about his delivering power. In Deuteronomy 31, Moses would write a song about God's delivering power. In Judges 5 verse number 1, Israel's victory over the Canaanites, they began to sing about the song of deliverance. Job would say in Job 35 verse number 10, that God delivers us through songs in the night. And then the psalmist says in Psalm 119.54, the statutes or thy statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

The psalmist knew that the statutes of God were truly the songs of God. And that as he went through his life, those statutes would remind him of the songs he needed to sing to the glory and honor of his God. Some would look at 2 Samuel chapter 22 and equate it with Psalm chapter 18 because they are almost identical, but they are not.

And so I'll side with Charles Spurgeon who says that they are not the same song. Psalm 18 was given earlier in his life. Psalm, 2 Samuel 22 was given later in his life. But it's a song that speaks of the power of God's deliverance. Notice the text says this.

And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. There's a special emphasis on Saul because of his relentless pursuit. There isn't one on Absalom or one on Abner, but there is one on Saul because of the longevity of that pursuit and all the things that God taught David as he would flee from the hand of Saul. But notice says that God delivered him from all his enemies.

Why is it David had so many enemies? I mean, he's the king of Israel. He's the sweet singer of Israel. He's Israel's great soldier, great warrior. He's the king of Israel. So why does David have so many enemies? Why was Saul his enemy? Why did Absalom become his enemy? Why did Abner become his enemy? Why did his enemy rise up from within his own household? How come David had so many enemies? Simply because David was the man after God's heart and not a man after man's heart. That's why. If you're a man after God's own heart and you want to do what God says, you're going to have a lot of enemies.

If you want to please man, you're not going to have that many enemies because you're too busy trying to please everybody around you and make them all happy. But if you're into pleasing God, honoring God, glorifying God, all those who don't want to do that are going to become your enemy. And that's the way it was with David. David had many faults. David had many sins. The scripture has chronicled those sins pretty much more than we would ever imagine they'd be chronicled. But God has given us a history of this man's life and his sins.

And yet he was a man that pursued his God. He was the man that was after God's heart. He wanted to be like his God. And whenever you are determined to do that, you will have enemies all around you because people don't necessarily want to be like God. Note this. He was a man after God's own heart, but he had enemies because he was a type of Christ. David's life was a type of Christ. And as you examine his life in the Psalms he writes, you begin to understand how it is that there is the picture of Christ in the life of David.

But outside of that, he was a man that God wanted to display his great power in preservation. And to do that, there had to be enemies in his life. On top of that, this is the experience of all those who want to live a godly life. And you need to know of God's delivering power, how it is God rescues us, how God becomes our fortress, our stronghold, our horn of salvation. Psalm says in Psalm 34 verse number 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. That's the way God works.

He delivers his people. Remember way back in first Samuel chapter 27 verse number one, David believed that surely he would perish at the hand of Saul.

Even after he spared Saul's life, and even after he had a conversation with Saul, and it looked like Saul was about to turn around, David would begin in second Samuel 27 verse number one, fearing that somehow Saul would claim his life.

And yet God did not let that happen. God delivered David because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Over in Psalm 46 verse number one, the psalmist said these words, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Why? Because God is our refuge and we trust in him. What I want to talk to you tonight about is David's confidence in the Lord. Because that's how the song begins. It all begins with David's confidence, David's assurance, David's belief in who his God really is. And you will note that nine times the personal pronoun is used in verses two and three, because God is my refuge.

God is my deliverer. God is my stronghold. He is my horn of salvation. He is my savior. He had confidence in the character and nature of his God. It's like when he wrote Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. He's not just a shepherd, although he is, but he was my shepherd, David said. He knew him in a personal way. There was a relationship between David and his God, a relationship that would be accentuated in this song of deliverance. It was a relationship that David held dear. It was a relationship that David wanted to have.

It's a relationship that we need to have. You know, I was talking with somebody today, explaining to them the fact that, you know, so many times as Christians, and I think I mentioned this on Sunday, or maybe it was a Sunday a week ago, or maybe it was Sunday before that. I don't know. I said at some time, you know, we as Christians live as if God doesn't even exist Monday through Saturday. We come to church and we hear a sermon. We think, well, that was a great sermon. Boy, the word of the Lord was so true.

That was great. Praise the Lord. And then we go home and we live as if we never heard a thing. We live as if God doesn't even exist in our lives. We drive our car, we go to work, we get dressed. We do what we do as if there is no God at all a part of my life. And then I go to church the following Sunday. I think, wow, that was great. That was so good. Praise the Lord. And I go home and then live the next week, next six days as if there is no God. I don't pray to him. I don't commune with him. There is this, there's no fire in my bosom that says I want a relationship with God.

I want to know God. I want to be with God. I want to learn God. I want to know everything I can about God. That fire is just not there. It's a dark, damp relationship. And that's not the way it ought to be. And David was a man who knew God. And his relationship with God was important enough to him to write songs about. That's why he's a sweet singer of Israel. And I want you to have a passion for God. I want you to want to be with God. I want you to wake up tomorrow on Thursday morning and say, boy, what I learned about God as my deliverer, God as my fortress and my refuge, I'm going to take that with me throughout the day.

I'm going to live for God. I'm going to serve God. I'm going to honor God. I want to be all that God wants me to be. I'm going to know when I go to work and I have enemies at work that God's going to protect me because he is my deliverer. And to believe in what God's going to do. And if I'm married to an unsaved man, I go home to him, I know that God is my protector. He is my husband. He is my, my, my, my confident that I can trust in him and believe in him no matter what my husband says, no matter what he does or how he lives, because God will protect me because I believe in him as my deliverer.

That's what David writes this song about. It's about God's power to deliver him from all of his enemies, not some of them, but all of them. And so I want to help you understand his confidence in the Lord. This is a confidence that David always had. It wasn't something that just sprung up at the end of his life because he's getting old and he's about to die. And he just decides to trust in the Lord and have confidence in him. Way back in, in first Samuel chapter 17, verse number 45, it says in David's conquest over Goliath, then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

This day, the Lord will deliver you up into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. All Israel needs to know because Israel didn't know.

They didn't know because they were led by Saul. They were led by a man who didn't believe in the delivering power of God. And so all of Israel was afraid of Goliath, but David, a teenage boy, he was not afraid because he believed in the living God. And he says that God would deliver you into my hands and you will die. I'm going to cut off your head. So all Israel will know that God did this. Israel needs to know that God's in charge. Israel needs to know that God's on the throne. Israel needs to know that you can't conquer God, Goliath.

And so I'm going to kill you. That's confidence. The man had confidence. He was just a teenage boy. And so this would go with him throughout his life as he would go to war, as he would go into battle. It was his confidence that he had in the Lord. Folks, we need people like that in our schools. We need people like that in our churches. We need people like that who go to work on Monday. They need to have confidence in what God can do and God's delivering power that God is on the throne, that God rules.

So that when I go to work, I don't fear what man can do to me because I know God's in charge. And that's the way David was. He believed in his God. That's why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel chapter three, O king, our God will deliver us. Like Daniel, Daniel chapter six, he knew the delivering power of God. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, David, they believed in the character and nature of God. They believed in the name of God. They believed in the identity of God. They knew their God.

That's why Daniel says that those people who know their God will display strength and accomplish great things for God. If you don't know God, you can't display strength. If you don't know God, you can't do great things for God. But Daniel made it very clear in Daniel chapter 11, that if you know your God, you will display the strength of God and you will do great exploits for your God. You need to know him. That's life's most important pursuit, knowing God. That's why Paul said, oh, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

It was all about knowing God. It's all about an intimate relationship with the living God. And once you have that, you need nothing else. And that's what David's going to show us in the first four verses of second Samuel chapter 22.

Notice he says that God is my rock. That's not the first time that was said. Jacob said it back in Genesis 49. He said the shepherd of Israel is a stone, a stone. It's a name for the Messiah. He's a rock. First Samuel, I'm sorry, Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Listen to what Moses said. Moses said, chapter 32, verse number one, Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Let my teaching drop as rain, my speech distill as a dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass, as the showers on the herb. For I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are just, a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteousness and upright is he. And three more occasions in Moses' song, he talks about God as that rock. David knows Deuteronomy 32, because David's the king. And David is to write the Pentateuch. He's to write the law of the Lord.

So he knows the song of Moses. He knows what Moses has said about God being that rock. David has fled from Saul in the Judean wilderness. If you've been to Israel and you've been with me, you've been to the Judean wilderness. You know about all the rocks there in that wilderness. And David would flee to those rocks for shelter, for shade, for protection. And now he uses that symbolism to describe his God who protects him. In first Samuel chapter two, Hannah says this, my heart exalts in the Lord.

My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, because I rejoice in my salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides thee, nor is there any rock like our God. Hannah, who prayed for a son and received an answer from the Lord, knew that there was only one God and there was no one like him. And he was her rock. It speaks of stability. It speaks of security. It speaks of strength. David knew God as his rock, so much so that he knew it was God who did things for him and to him.

So he would believe in God as rock. The Bible says in first Corinthians 10, verse number four, these words, beginning with verse number one of chapter 10, for I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they were drinking from a spiritual rock, which followed them. And that rock was Christ. The rock was Christ. They understood that. That's why when Moses would strike the rock and water would come forth in the book of Exodus, and then the book of Numbers, when God said, make sure you speak to the rock. No, he struck the rock. Instead, he disobeyed God. He received glory himself. God did not allow him to go into the promised land because the rock was Christ. And he marred the image of Calvary to the nation of Israel.

But Christ was that rock. And David saw the Lord God that way. So many songs that we sing in church are about Christ as the rock. It was Edward Moat who wrote on Christ the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And that was based on the fact that God not only is a rock, but as the words of Christ in Matthew chapter seven, where he says, as he concludes his sermon, he who hears these words and builds upon them is one who is likened to a man who builds his house upon the rock versus the one who built it upon the sand.

Back in Matthew chapter 16, Christ told Peter upon this rock, upon this Petra, upon this solid bedrock, Peter, what's that? The confession about the identity of the Christ. I will build my church. Christ not only is the rock, but as you confess Christ as Lord, you understand his solid nature. And so here is David referring to Christ, to God as the rock of his life, the stability, the security, the strength he needs from day to day. Christ is that rock. Psalm 71 three says, you are my rock and my fortress.

And that's the next phrase that David uses. Not only is he my rock, he says, but he is my fortress. He's my place of security. He's my place of strength. Proverbs 18 10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. He is my fortress. He gives shelter to my life. David would understand the shelter that God gave him as he would flee from his enemies. God was always in protection mode for David because David had so many enemies. If God didn't protect him, he would die.

And so God was in complete control of all that took place in David's life. He saw him as his rock, his fortress. And he's my deliverer. He is the one who redeems me. He is the one who takes care of me. And so he would refer to God as his deliverer. Back in first Samuel chapter 17, David understood this verse chapter 17 verse number 31.

When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, he sent for him. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. Then Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth.

And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine. David lived in light of the deliverance of God. His whole life was based on the fact that God had constantly delivered him.

And so when he writes this song, he writes about God being my deliverer. He's my personal deliverer. He's my personal rock. He is my personal fortress. Way back in the book of Exodus chapter three, God said to Moses, I'm going to come down and I am going to deliver my people. The Bible says that God is a savior, a deliverer of all men, especially of those who believe.

God's whole life is about delivering people. He is a deliverer of all men in the, in the physical and temporal sense. He's a savior of all men. Why? Because the wages of sin is death. But when you sin, you don't die. You what? You live. Unless sometimes you die, but you live, you're still here. Right? So even though you sin, you're still alive because God is a savior of all men in a physical sense, in a temporal sense, but especially of those who believe he's a deliverer of those in a spiritual sense, in an eternal sense to those who give their life to him and believe in him.

But God is known by the fact that he is a deliverer. That's what he does. He delivers people. He delivers every person who is alive from something. He allows them to breathe. He allows them to live from day to day. And yet he's a special deliverer of those who believe in him. The Bible says in the book of Exodus, that when God redeemed his people, God delivered his people out of Egyptian bondage.

He began that day constantly delivering Israel from their enemies. And Israel is alive today because of the delivering power of God. God has a plan for that nation and God will fulfill that plan in that nation. To do that, he must constantly deliver them from all of their enemies. David was able to accomplish his feats because of his faith in God as a deliverer. He believed that. So he saw God as my deliverer, my fortress, my rock. And he wants to sing praises to God because his confidence was based on the character and nature of the God he served.

And then he says, he is my refuge. He's my shelter. He's my shelter. He's my security. He's my stability. He's my strength. He is my refuge. Now, the Mosaic law said that there had to be cities of refuge in Israel. There were three on either side of the Jordan River. Cities of refuge were designed to protect people who were in danger. And the gates to those cities were always open. And once you entered those cities, you were protected. David saw God as his refuge. The gates to heaven were always open and he could always enter God's presence.

And God would be his refuge. God would be a shelter. God would be a security. God would be that place he would go to hide and receive shade from the onslaught of the enemies that came against him. That's how we saw God, as his refuge. And then he says, not only is he my refuge, my deliverer, my fortress, my rock, he is my shield. He's my shield. And this opens up to a whole bunch about the character and nature of God. Turn back with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15, where this phrase is used the first time.

As you recall, Abraham had rescued Lot from four different kings. He was afraid that those kings would come against him. He was afraid of the repercussions of rescuing his nephew, Lot. And so God would have to assure Abraham he did not need to be afraid. Now all of us at some time or another have been afraid of repercussions from the enemy. And God's counsel to you is the same counsel he gave to Abraham. Don't do that. Don't be afraid. Do not fear. That's God's counsel to anybody who's his child.

Don't be afraid. You don't need to be afraid. That's what he says. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, do not fear Abraham. I am a shield to you. You have to be afraid. I'm your shield. I'm your protector. And then he says, your reward shall be very great. Literal translation, I'm not only your shield, I am your very great reward. Now when David comes back, knowing that he has written the Pentateuch, written the law of God, he knows about Abraham to some degree.

He knows about what God did in the Pentateuch. God says to Abraham, I am your shield. David now says, God is my shield. He is my protector. That's what God does. He shields us. Now listen to what the psalmist says. Psalm three, verse number one.

Oh Lord, how many adversaries, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God, but thou, oh Lord, art a shield about me. My glory in the one who lifts up my head. Chapter five, verse number 11. But let all who take refuge in thee be glad. Let them never sing for joy and mayest thou shelter them that those who love thy name may exult in thee. For it is thou who does bless the righteous man, oh Lord, thou does surround him with favor as with a shield.

Then over in chapter 18, chapter 18, it says this in verse number 35, thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand upholds me and thy gentleness makes me great. Thou dost enlarge my steps unto me and my feet have not slipped. Chapter 28, verse number seven. The psalmist says it this way. Psalm 28, verse number seven. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him and I am helped. Chapter 33, verse number 20, says it this way. Psalm 33, verse number 20. Our soul waits for the Lord.

He is our help and our shield. Then over in Psalm 91, Psalm 91, verse number one. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High would abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the Lord my refuge. Even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. It all speaks of God as our shield. And David would say, God was my shield. Psalm 84 11 says it this way. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in thee. The psalmist knew that God was his shield. He was the sun and his shield. And therefore, no good thing would the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalmist knew that. Now, David says, God is my shield. God said to Abram way back in Genesis 15 verse number one, I am your shield.

And because I am your shield, I also am your very great reward. I am your reward. Now you have to understand this because the reason David had so much confidence in his God during his warfare was because God was enough. God was enough for him. Turn with me to first Peter, if you would, just for a moment.

First Peter chapter two, this is how Peter states it. Verse number four and coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men. He is the rock. He is the stone, the stone of Genesis chapter 49, but choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion, a choice stone, a precious cornerstone. And he who believes in him shall not be disappointed.

Whoever the rock is, whoever the stone is, that's Christ, whoever believes in him shall never be disappointed. Now, if you go to Isaiah 26, where he quotes that, it says, he who believes in him shall never be in a hurry. So why does Peter say, if you believe in him, you'll never be disappointed? Simply because he believes in the rock, the stone, the shield, the deliverer is never in a hurry to leave because they're never disappointed. That's why they never run from him. They always run to him. That's why in the book of Haggai, a name for the Messiah is this.

He is the desire of all nations. You see, for the most part, the reason we don't experience the delivering power of God is because God isn't enough for us. But for David, he was enough. He was all he wanted. He was all he needed. So you take that back to Genesis chapter 15. God says to Abraham, listen, I am your, you don't have to be afraid.

The word of the Lord came. You don't have to be afraid any longer, Abraham. Why? I am your shield because I am your shield. I am your very great reward. I am it. Listen, I know you've, you've received a promise from me. I know you're going to have a promise. You're going to have a son. You're going to have a seed that's going to bless the nations, but there's something greater than that. There's something greater than the seed. That's me. You, your desire has to be in me, Abraham, and I will shield you.

I will protect you. If I am your desire, you will have no fear of your enemy. And that's why we fear others because Jesus isn't our desire. He isn't, he doesn't consume us. That's why Peter says, he who comes to him and believes in him will never be disappointed. We'll never be in a hurry to leave because he is everything to them. And so we've got to come back and ask ourselves, is Christ my rock, my deliver, my fortress, my refuge? Is he my shield? Because if he is, he is my complete satisfaction.

If he is, I'm not going to be disappointed with him. If he is, I'm not going to fear what men can do to me. I'm going to believe in him. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to wrap my arms around him and everything is going to be about the Christ, the rock, my refuge. That's the way David was. That's what gave him the confidence he needed from day to day as he went to battle and why God delivered him from all of his enemies. Let me tell you something.

The Bible will say, look what it says. Back in 2 Samuel chapter 22, this is so rich. It says, verse 17, he sent from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters, he delivered me from my strong enemy. God sent me, God took me, God drew me, God delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me forth into a broad place. He rescued me because he what? He delighted in me.

Now, why did God delight in David? Because David's delight was in the Lord. God delighted in David. God looked with favor upon David. God had put the future of Israel into David. God delighted in him. But for David, his confidence was in the Lord. He trusted him and believed in him. Yes, David had many sins, but this psalm is not about David's sins. We got psalms about that, Psalm 51, Psalm 32, about all the confession. That's all. This is about his delivering, the delivering power of God from all of his enemies.

That's all this is about. And he recognized that it was God who did it all. God did it all. And he believed in this God who was his rock, his fortress, his deliverer, his shield, his refuge. And then he says these words, he is the horn of my salvation. This is so good. This is the same phrase used in Zacharias's song, the speak of the Messiah as the horn of Israel's salvation. Now, it's from the animal kingdom. And so you have to understand that a horn was used in three ways. Okay. First of all, the horns represent strength and power because the horns on the animal would be their weapons.

And so when he talks about the horn of salvation, he talks about the conquering power of God. God is the horn of my salvation. He is my protector. It speaks of the strength of God as the conqueror. But there was also little horns that were used as a drinking vessel. Once removed from the animal, they'd be used as a drinking vessel. And Christ was that living water. And horns also were used, listen, to blow a trumpet. Okay. So that the song of Israel could be heard. It speaks of the symphony of the person's life.

It speaks of the well-roundedness of a person. And what it tells us is that God satisfies David's life. He was the horn of my salvation. He was my conquering warrior. He was my living water. He's my song. He's everything to me. And so David would refer to the rock as the horn of my salvation. And then he says, not only that, he's my stronghold. He's my high tower. Maybe your text says that he's my high tower. He's my stronghold. Over in Psalm 9, verse number 9, these words are used of the Lord God.

Psalm 9, verse number 9, it says, the Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, O Lord, hast not forsaken those who seek thee. And then over in Psalm 59, Psalm 59, these words are recorded. Because of his strength, I will watch for thee, for God is my stronghold. Verse 16, but as for me, I shall sing of thy strength. Yes, I shall joyfully sing of thy lovingkindness in the morning, for thou has been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress.

O my strength, I will sing praises to thee, for God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness. David knew that God was his stronghold, his high tower, that lofty place he would run for safety. You see, all this characterizes everything about what God was to David. This is, this is who God was and is. And he wants us to understand that our confidence in God is based on his character, is based on who he is as a person. That's why you need to come to know God, because as you know him, you trust in his name.

You believe in him as your protector, as your provider, as your shield, as your son, as your satisfaction, as your rock, your stone, your deliverer, your fortress, your place of refuge, your high tower. That's who God is. And the whole song is about David's confidence in his God. And then he says, lastly, he's my savior. He's my savior. Saves me from sin. He saves me from my enemies. He is my savior. Psalm 37, verse number 40, says this, and the Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.

And David says, because God is all this, I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. And I am saved from my enemies. I call upon the Lord. I go to him. No one else can deliver me. Nobody else can protect me. Nobody else can watch over me. Nobody can do for me what, what God does for me. Remember way back in, in second Timothy chapter four, listen to the words of the apostle Paul.

Second Timothy four, verse number 14. He says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our teaching. Had my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me.

May not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me in order that through me, the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. The apostle Paul knew of God's delivering power, God's protection of his life. Listen, there is no need for us to fear what man can do to us because we serve a God who is the master deliverer.

He is the master savior. He is the master rock, our refuge, our fortress, and our belief and understanding of God determines how we live our lives. Listen, you can't leave here tonight and be afraid. You can't go to work tomorrow and be afraid. You can't do what you do and be afraid because God says, don't do that.

Don't be afraid. I'm your shield. I am your very great reward. Trust in me, believe in me. As David says, I will call upon the name of the Lord. Why? Who else am I going to call upon? This is who he is. As you read through the Psalms and you read about God as a stronghold, God as a fortress, God as refuge, God as deliverer, God as rock. We sang the song tonight in Psalm 62 about God being my only rock. He's the one you run to. He's the one you hide under. He's the one that protects you. Our confidence needs to be in the Lord God of Israel.

David's confidence was he believed in God as a deliverer. He believed in God as a conquering warrior. He believed in God as his rock. He believed in God for his stability, his security, his shelter, his sufficiency, his satisfaction. Everything was about God. That allowed him to trust him and to win all over all of his enemies. Not just some of them, all of them. We need to have that kind of confidence in our daily lives, believing in the character and nature of our God. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word and the truth that's there.

Truly, Lord, you are a great God and you alone are worthy to be praised. And Lord, we need to see you as our rock, our refuge, our deliverer, our fortress, our stronghold, our horn of salvation, our savior, our shield. That's how we need to see you, Lord, for that's who you are. And as your children, as you delighted in David, you delight in us because we're yours. We're your very own possession. And our prayer, Father, is that those of us who have listened to your word this evening would leave with a renewed confidence in our God, believing in your conquering power to deliver us from all of our enemies.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen.