David’s God-Entranced Song: Know It, Feel It, Say It, Sing It

0:00 Would you pray with me? Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and labor for that which does not satisfy. Listen diligently to me and eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food. Come and hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant my steadfast, sure love for David.

0:59 God, I pray that the effect of this moment and the closing of this conference would be that these pastors would know and feel afresh that they are stunningly beneficiaries of the covenant made with David. And all the blessings that David reveled in are theirs. and so they may they go out with a sense of my rock will hold and carry on for another 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years. So do that work and more, I pray, in Jesus' name.

1:56 Amen. Amen. I invite you to turn to 2 Samuel chapter 22. there came a point where David's relentless conflict with Saul and his ongoing conflict with the Philistines ceased.

2:25 It stopped. And until that time, it says in 1 Samuel, Saul was David's enemy continually. No let up once he had turned against him. And when Saul died, the Philistines were a continual thorn in David's side here in the paragraph just before the text. So this is 2115. it says there was war again with the Philistines then verse 18 there was war again with the Philistines then verse 19 there was war again with the Philistines my goodness what's with the repetition he was just so relentless Privations, dangers, threats that David lived with during those years.

3:34 and yet he had this word in his mind, his memory from the Lord. You read it in chapter 12. You read it in chapter 7. It goes like this. God says to David, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. So he lived with this continual threat to his life and kingdom,

4:20 his future, and the promise that God had said, you're the head of a dynasty that will never end. and then came the season of the cessation of the hostilities it was so stunning to David that he says it was like it happened in a day so here we are in verse 1 of chapter 22 David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. and the relief that he felt, the memories of all the hundreds and hundreds of deliverances was so great, so strong, that as he begins this song, he just explodes with poetry and song to the Lord, and it goes on and on and on for 51 verses.

5:41 he calls it a song verse 1 David spoke to the Lord the words of this song about a third of the Old Testament is poetry That's striking.

6:07 Because divinely inspired poetry, in other words, this is God's idea. Divinely inspired poetry is the witness of God. Think of it. It's the witness of God to the indispensability and inadequacy of human language.

6:33 To capture the beauties and the horrors of reality and to capture or express feelings that should correspond to those horrors and those beauties. That's why poetry exists, because language is just so inadequate in its ordinary form to capture the feelings of the heart in response to God's realities. God evidently then values human feelings. Strong positive feelings for God glorify God more than true words about God that carry no affections. There's a difference, isn't there, between saying God is awesome and God is full of wonders and very great and singing, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed.

8:08 Then sings my soul. Now at that point. The lyrics and the musical shift is perfect. That's my judgment. You're seeing the wonders. Your heart is full of the amazing realities of God's revelation in this world. Then, and the music goes with you, then sings, my soul. It's just perfect. That's a microcosm of why songs exist. This is a song. that's a microcosm of why songs exist why does poetry and music exist to awaken and carry the heart's affections to God and to each other oh thank you for your singing It's just so absolutely right and beautiful and powerful and moving and helps all the people who think they have no emotions a little bit rise to it.

9:32 It's what it's for. Because God loves to be loved by the human heart. It's the first commandment. you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. There's a reason why all three forms of that commandment in the Bible begin with heart, heart, heart, and then move on to mind.

10:07 Strength, soul. a third of our Old Testament is song or poetry so you might wonder why in verse 1 David spoke these words of this song says he spoke them verse 2 He said, why? why isn't he singing? or is he singing?

10:51 my guess is that these two words spoke and said dabar amar are not being used here to say he spoke instead of singing but rather to say he spoke by singing. There's nothing in those words either in English or in Hebrew that says they exclude singing. All they say is gave expression to with his mouth. Why would I think that he spoke them by singing? Number one, it's a song, but then really the main reason is verse 50. come to the end it says for this I will praise you O Lord among the nations and sing praises to your name David was a singer he could play instruments he sang, he wrote songs he loved to go to God with his heart So he embraces the freedom that he now has as Saul and the Philistines have stopped and he takes a deep breath and he says, and I'll say it because I don't know the tune.

12:29 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge. My shield and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold, my refuge, my savior. You saved me from violence. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. For the waves of death encompassed me. The torrents of destruction assailed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord. To my God, I called. From his temple, he heard my voice. My cry came to his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked. The foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked because he was angry. Spoke, smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth.

13:25 glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed to heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew. He was seen on the wings of the wind. He made darkness around him, his canopy. Thick clouds, a gathering of water. Out of the brightness before him, coals of fire flamed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice. and he sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning, and routed them. And then the channels of the sea were seen. The foundations of the world were laid bare at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me. He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

14:24 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me. The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he rewarded me. For I have kept his ways, the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. for all his rules were before me and from his statutes I did not turn aside. I was blameless before him and I kept myself from guilt and the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. With merciful, with the merciful, you show yourself merciful. With the blameless man, you show yourself blameless.

15:20 With the purified, you deal purely. With the crooked, you make yourself seem torturous. You save a humble people. But your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God but the Lord? Who is a rock except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless. he made me my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights he trains my hands for war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze you have given me the shield of your salvation and your gentleness made me great you gave a wide place for my steps under me and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and destroyed them and did not turn back until they were consumed.

16:45 I consumed them. I thrust them through so that they did not rise. They fell under my feet for you equipped me with strength for battle. You made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me. Those who hated me, and I destroyed them. they looked but there was none to save they cried to the Lord but he did not answer them I beat them fine as the dust of the earth I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire in the streets you delivered me from the strife of my people you kept me as the head of the nations people whom I had not known served me foreigners came cringing to me as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. Foreigners lost their heart and came trembling out of their fortresses. The Lord lives and blessed be my rock and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation.

17:55 The God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, who brought me out from my enemies. You exalted me above those who rose against me. You delivered me from men of violence. For this, I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever. God considered that song important enough beautiful enough God centered enough exuberant enough to record in the Bible twice all 51 verses here and as you know in Psalm 18.

19:02 So, what is the divine intended impact of this song? Because I'm not going to take it verse by verse. my question is, okay, I just got clobbered for six minutes, or caught up, or blessed, or beat down, or lifted up. I just, this was overwhelming, Lord. What's the point? What's the impact of this song supposed to be as God put it in the mouth of David? Thank you. Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg in his commentary said this, David's history could have been narrated as that of a great and powerful king.

20:08 This chapter however is concerned that it should be understood as the action of a great powerful God. I think that's exactly right. The focus in this chapter is not on David, but on David's God. If you take all the nouns which refer to God and all the pronouns that refer to God, David refers to God 93 times in 51 verses. God, God, God, God, God, God, God, 93 times in 51 verses. The beginning is explosive. There's nothing like it in the Psalter or anywhere else.

21:05 Ten names. Rock, fortress, deliverer, God, rock, shield, horn, stronghold, refuge, savior. Just a Vesuvius of, that's my God. I'm going to talk about my God. I can't think of enough words to describe my God. and he says in verse 4, he is worthy to be praised. And then at the end, verse 50, I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. That's what he's doing here. It's a song about God, relentlessly about God. and according to verse 1 to God he's singing to God and we get to listen in if he refers to his own distresses, it's to show that God is the great deliverer from his distresses.

22:13 He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me. He brought me out into a broad place. He rescued me, as verses 17 to 20. If he describes the earth as reeling and the mountains as trembling, it's to show that the Lord was angry. The thundering is his voice, verse 14. The lightnings are his arrows, verse 15. The wind is his breath, verse 16. If he mentions his own righteousness, which he does, He measures it by the Lord's ways, verse 22. His statutes he did not turn away from, verse 23. It's from God that he did not wickedly depart, verse 22.

23:10 This is not David exalting himself because he says in verse 28, You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. Verse 26, you are a merciful God. You don't lift up the self-sufficient or the braggart. You lift up, verse 31, those who take refuge in you.

23:47 God has been my lamp to show the way. God has been my light to dispel the darkness, verse 29. It is you who have made my way blameless, verse 33. Not sinless, good grief, last night's message. I'm sure all thinking. not sinless,

24:12 forgiven, faithful. I did not wickedly depart from my God. I came back. He drew me back. My God made me blameless. He brought me back to his mercy. if he calls attention to his prowess in battle and his military victories, it's God who gets all the credit. He trains my hands for war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze, verse 35. You equipped me with strength for the battle, verse 40. You made my feet like the feet of a deer, verse 34. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, verse 41. If he calls attention to his headship over the nations, it's God who has done it. You kept me as the head of the nations, verse 44. You brought down peoples under me, verse 48.

25:10 You exalted me above those who rose against me, verse 49. Your gentleness has made me great. yes the nations came trembling and obeyed him and what did he do with that headship and power verse 50 for this I will praise you oh Lord among the nations and sing praises to your name Hanksten Berg is right. It's a song not about David. It's a song about David's God. I think the impact of the song is intended to say to us, make the song of your lives that God besotted.

26:15 Make your lives a song and make them that God besotted. When you stand in the pulpit and you sit in your counseling chamber and you meet with your elders and you mingle among your people, your people will sense the aroma of God, won't they? Our pastor is God besotted. He's a God-saturated man. Scratch him, he bleeds God. they don't need you to be funny. They don't.

27:11 They don't need you to be clever. They don't need you to be shrewd. They don't need you to be worldly wise. They don't need you to be culturally savvy. They don't need you to be intellectually brilliant. They need you to be God-besotted. Like this song, that's what they need from you. They don't even know that phrase, God besotted. Who's ever heard of such a thing? Most of them, or many, tragically don't even know the reality. But it's what they need. They don't know what they need. You know what they need. They need God. They need a God-besotted pastor. So that 20 years from now, that's the way they talk. They talk like this song.

28:08 Because you've been around them for 20 years. It's the way they talk about ministry. It's the way they talk about the Bible. It's the way they talk about the church. It's the way they talk about the world. This people is now God besotted because their pastor was God besotted. He was a God-saturated man. Open his mouth, God comes out. God has moved from the margin of their lives to the center of their lives and the bottom and the top and the sides besotted with God because you have been their God besotted minister the song of your life has been like David's song For years, at the beginning of my ministry, I'm 34, and I walk into my study.

29:15 I now have a study at the church. I hung a 8 by 11 framed page that I snipped out of the Christian history magazine. and put it behind the glass and hung it on my wall so that I saw it every day I was in the office for many years. It was a picture of, a little picture of Jonathan Edwards, and under it was a quotation from Mark Knoll, historian Mark Knoll. I graduated with Mark from Wheaton. I like Mark. I think he's a great historian. Thank you. And I saw this, and you'll see why I hung it on my wall. The quote said, Since Edwards, since his time, since Edwards.

30:23 American evangelicals have not thought about life from the ground up as Christians because their entire culture has ceased to do so. Edwards' piety continued on in the revivalist tradition. His theology continued on in academic Calvinism. But there were no successors to his God-entranced worldview or his profoundly theological philosophy. The disappearance of Edward's perspective in American church Christian history is a tragedy. and so it hung on my wall and when I saw it which I attempted to do and think about day after day I said to my soul soul you will never be Jonathan Edwards and you won't either nor will you be Spurgeon nor will you be Calvin nor will you be Augustine These people are in a class by themselves.

31:45 Piper, you will never be Jonathan Edwards. But, oh Lord, please, if I could combine in my life and ministry the joyful, warm, evangelistic piety of my father, the revivalist tradition of fundamentalism in its sweetest form. with the theology of Jonathan Edwards and the majesty of God, I see on almost every page, I would be so thankful. I would be so happy. Brothers, that's not a tribe in evangelicalism. It's not even a denomination. It's a vision of your ministry, of your life.

32:46 It's a biblical ethos. Mark Knoll called it God-entranced worldview. Now, I'm not entirely happy with the phrase worldview because worldview, for me, kind of connotes a philosophical orientation. I'm not thinking philosophically here. Primarily, I'm thinking, I'm pleading for Bible-saturated pastors.

33:18 That the aroma of being God-entranced, God-besotted, arises from the Bible. The Bible is a God-entranced book. It's a God-besotted book. The Bible is about God. It's not about you mainly. It's about God mainly. And your life should be about God mainly. David's song.

33:46 You live in this song, this book. And when you come out to be with your people, you might find yourself giving a six-minute devotion, which is how long it took me to read David's song. You might find yourself giving a six-minute devotion with your elders or your Sunday school teachers. And somebody comes up to you afterwards and says, Did you know that you referred to God 90 times? No, I didn't know that. That's just wonderful. David's song is a God-entranced, God-besotted song about David's God. That is the most prominent impact of the song.

34:51 However, David is not a nobody in the Old Testament, and it's his song. who he is and how you relate to him and his line makes all the difference in the world whether you can claim, that's my song. I can sing this. 21st century Gentile, 3,000 years separated from this Jewish song sung by a Jewish king about a Jewish God. That's my song. How can you do that? That's the big last question.

35:45 His strength, His gentleness, His righteousness, His mercy, His perfection, His truth, His vengeance, His deliverance, His shield, His salvation, His love, these are all yours. Or are they?

36:13 This is my song. Can you sit? I can read it. It's mine. Every word in it is my word. You are my God, 2 Samuel 22. This is who you are to me. this is who I am to you let my praises rise with David among the nations and in my church and my neighborhood yes it is our song now how do we know this right that's the big question about how the Old Testament and New Testament relate how you relate to David, there's a preliminary gateway for you to walk through into this psalm, and then there's an explosively amazing gateway at the end.

37:15 First, verses 28 to 32, preliminary gateway in for you. only in verses 28 31 in all the 51 verses only in these three verses does David describe his blessings as belonging to some others only here verse 28 you save a humble people but your eyes are on the hearty to bring them down not just me a humble people. Verse 31, middle of the verse, he is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. Not just David, all those who take refuge in him. Verse 32, for who is God but the Lord? And who is the rock except our God. Not my God, our God. So a humble people, all those who take refuge, our God. This is an open door, right? This is an open door.

38:31 for you. The God that I'm experiencing, David says, can be experienced by a humble people, a people who take refuge in him, who say, my God, to David's God. Now, how do you walk through that? how do you have the right to walk through that good grief you're a Gentile unclean outside this is Israel's song not yours yet so you come to the end and you read verse 51 and if you've been reading really carefully like you have to when you're preparing a message, you realize there are one, two, three, four, five words here that have not yet occurred at all in this 51-verse psalm.

39:45 King. Steadfast love, chesed. Anointed, Mashiach. offspring forever. And every Jewish ear says, I've heard those. Every Gentile pastor ear who has read the book says, I've heard those. chapter 7 I will raise up your offspring after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom my steadfast love I will not depart from him your house your offspring and your kingdom shall be made sure forever.

40:44 Before me, your throne shall be established forever. So the crescendo of the song is this. The blessings he has been singing are God's covenant promises to King David, the King of Israel. and not just to him, but to a kingship that will last forever.

41:14 That's who this song belongs to. It belongs to David and all of his offspring, his kingdom, his kingship. And we know he knew, Old Testament prophets knew, there's coming a king, an anointed one, who will live, who will die, who will rise, who will never die again. He will be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. crushed for our iniquities. He will prolong his days forever.

41:55 And will the Lord, the will of the Lord, shall prosper in his hand. Behold, Mary, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, and he will bear, he will be great and will be called son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. and he will be God with us, Emmanuel, and the king of Israel will prove to be the God of Israel and all the humble, even Gentile humble, all who take refuge in the king of the kingdom of David that lasts forever,

43:03 all of them will be the beneficiaries of these blessings in David's song. Everybody who bows with Thomas and says, my Lord and my God are welcomed into the blessings of David's song. The kingdom of David's song is the kingdom of Christ. and according to Colossians 1.13 those who've humbled themselves and believed in this Mashiach, Jesus Messiah Jesus have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son it's your song brothers you 2 Corinthians 1.20 All the promises of God are yes in Jesus.

44:11 It's your song. No hesitation. The Lord is your rock and your fortress, your deliverer, your God, your rock, your refuge, your shield, the horn of your salvation, your stronghold, your refuge, your Savior. So, be enthralled.