Very good. Let us pray. Our God and Heavenly Father, help us to have minds which are fixed upon your word and upon your truth. Help us not to sin against you. Let us hide your word in our hearts that we might not sin against you. We pray that our minds would not wander, but that they would be fixed upon your word. May we have our minds fixed upon heaven during this time, for truly we have a Savior who speaks to us from there. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It was about 50 years ago that a very popular song came out and it began like this. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. And it goes on. It goes on to be used in many different ways. Coke commercials, among other things. And it's kind of that 60s and early 70s optimism. about the future, a future of goodness, a future of kindness, and a future in which people of all different types and stripes would come together. Oh, that the world would come together and sing Oh, if we could just teach the world to sing, then everything would be wonderful. Everything could be rainbows and lollipops and all of wonderful things like that. However, what the world puts forth is the idea of unity, but it often doesn't really say anything like a unity about or around anything. It's like a unity around unity. There is one thing that brings disunity to the world, and that is God's truth. When we stand up and we say, there is a righteous God, and there is wrong, and there is right, and there is truth, and there is error, Oftentimes, the world's declarations of unity go out the window, and those who had just said they wanted unity and brotherhood and sisterhood, they begin to speak against the people of God. who talk about Judgment Day and who talk about sin and the consequences of sin. I would put forward to you today, among other things, that there is no one in the world who can teach the world to sing, because really the world has nothing to sing about. But it is David who teaches the world to sing. And he teaches us to sing in this song and others. And it is the people of God who have true unity. And we have something to sing about. We have the gospel to sing about and we have God's goodness and grace to sing about. I'd like to teach the world to sing. Oh, David, would you be taught by David to sing together? And oh, if the world would come together and sing with David and be taught of him and how much more of great David's greater son. True unity, not a facade of unity, but true unity. Is it not interesting the way that as we come to the Psalms, oftentimes there are places in one Psalm where there will be a word or a sentence and that word or that sentence is then unpacked further later on in the Psalms, later on in the Psalter. Let me show you what I mean by this. If you're following along, turn back to Psalm 30. Verse five. It says this. His anger, that is God's anger, endureth for a moment in his favor is life. And here's the key. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Here you have this sentence, weeping may take place in the night, but joy comes in the morning. You turn the page to Psalm 31. Seems to me that's exactly what Psalm 31 is about. 31 is the unpacking or the unfolding of 30 verse 5. And in a sense, that's what the Psalms do all the time. What are the first two Psalms? The first Psalm, it's a law Psalm. Blessed is the man who meditates upon the word day and night. In a sense, many of the rest of the Psalms are law Psalms about meditating upon God. Ultimately, Jesus is the true meditator. But we sang Psalm 119. meditating upon the word. Psalm 119 is a law psalm, a Torah psalm. Psalm chapter two, it's about the kingship of Jesus Christ. In a sense, you could say that the psalms are like that, law psalms and kingship psalms. That's the unpacked, these ideas that are given to you in a sense in seed form, In Psalm 1 and 2, they bud and they sprout and throughout the rest of the Psalter, they continue to grow and to grow. And so you see these ideas unpacked throughout the rest of the Psalter. Psalm 31, this is a Psalm about weeping for a time, but a joy that comes at the rising of the sun, in a sense. So I would put this to you, this doctrine or this thesis, that mourning and tears and sighing are temporary for the people of God. The Lord delivers his people from the tongues of the wicked, and God hides his people in himself. That's what this psalm is about. I know that was kind of quick, so let me just say it again. Mourning, sighing, and tears are temporary for the people of God. The Lord delivers his people from the lying tongues of the wicked, and God hides his people in himself. First, I would look to verses 1 through 5. Trust declared. Trust declared. Psalm 31, 1 through 5. This is the lead. David says, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Now, we do not know exactly which situation it is in the life of David. But it is one of the situations, at least, in which David is surrounded by enemies and they speak all kinds of wicked things against him. And he is sad about this and he sighs in himself because the wicked do so many things which are hurtful, including their words. Oftentimes their words do him harm, but he trusts in the Lord and he reaffirms his faith in the Lord. And why is that? Because the Lord is righteous. Verse one, because the Lord is righteous. He says, deliver me in thy righteousness. Trust is declared or David declares his trust because the Lord is righteous. Oh, why does that matter? Or why should you care? The Lord is filled with unrighteousness. The world is filled with it. The streets are filled with unrighteousness. But there is a righteous God and a day is coming in which he will set things right. Why? Because that is his nature. It is who he is. And so unrighteousness and wickedness will not go on forever. David declares his trust, verse two, because God is strong, because God is strong. David does not trust in a weak, pathetic God. He does not trust in a God that is created or made out of wood or stone or any other substance. He trusts in a God who is strong. And look what he says. He talks, he goes on to talk about God being a rock. That is something that is solid, that is not going anywhere. God is a rock of defense. He is a thing. God is someone or something in which you can go to find safety. God is a fortress. Notice the strong language that David uses, bow down thine ear to me, that is, listen to my prayer. And he names these strong entities, these strong things. But also, verse five, he trusts in the Lord because the Lord is a redeemer, because the Lord is a redeemer or a purchaser. He says, Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. We don't know exactly how much was clear to David and how much is clearer to us, but we should see this. There's a sense in which David understands that God is a purchasing God. For he was to go to the temple. He was to see sacrifice. What do we see? These are these are pictures of the gospel. David was to go, he was to go to the temple, oh well, to the tabernacle. He was to make sacrifice and the priest was to participate in this. Pictures of blood atonement and redemption. The gospel was clear to him. that God is redeeming God, that God is a purchasing God. So that is why he goes to the Lord. That is why he goes to God. The Bible is all about Christ crucified, though. Remember what the Apostle Paul says, First Corinthians two to he says, I made up my mind to know nothing among you, but Christ and him crucified, Christ and him crucified. Jesus came to fulfill the law, to fulfill the law. Listen to what Matthew chapter 17 says. I trust words that may be known to you. This is Jesus's mission. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. The mission of Jesus is to fulfill the prophets and to fulfill the law. Now, that is Jesus before he goes to the cross. That is Jesus before the resurrection. Now, listen to what Jesus says about the Old Testament. What did he say? Nothing is going to be lost till all is fulfilled. Now he talks about fulfillment again in Luke 24, 44 and 46. He is talking to two on the way to Emmaus. Verse forty four. And Jesus said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. So Jesus, before his ministry, I'm coming to fulfill these things, not one jot or one tittle. Not one comma, not one dot of one eye is going to be lost. And I'm going to fulfill these things. Now, he says, these are the things I told you. When I was with you, that everything must be fulfilled, what was in Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms, and that's the key. What's in the Psalms, what's in the prophets? Verse 46. Thus it is written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among the nations. So while we come to this psalm and we see David all over, And we see ourselves. We see ourselves calling upon God. And we see ourselves declaring that God is righteous. Therefore, wickedness will not always prosper. We ourselves lean into and trust in God because He is a strong fortress and a rock. And we see Him as a Redeemer. We also see that this psalm, like many of the others, is a psalm about the suffering and the glory of David. But more than David, it's about the suffering and glory of Jesus and about our union with him. For you see, David thought he was cut off. Look at what 22 says. He said, in my haste, I said, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Christ did nothing hastily. But he was cut off. He was cut off and and and that is very important language, you see, being cut off. This is covenantal language. What do I mean by that? You might read through your Bible and you'll come across words like. God made a covenant or it will say so and so made a covenant and the literal rendering there when it says in your English Bible, God made a covenant, it will be to cut a covenant. Because oftentimes, when it comes to making a covenant, there is something that is cut, or there is a promise of something being cut. That is, if a covenant is made between two parties, sometimes there's a cutting ceremony, Sometimes if one or the other parties does not keep his or her part of the covenant of the bargain, then that person is cut off. And throughout the Old Testament, oftentimes it will say that those who break the covenant are cut off. And that is a way of saying they're put to death, they're killed. And David is saying, in my haste, I said, I am cut off. But ultimately, David is not cut off. And you and I in union with Christ, we are not cut off. But Jesus Christ is cut off. He is the only one who has kept the covenant. You and I and even David himself, we are covenant breakers. But Christ is the covenant keeper. But how is he treated? He is treated as if he was the covenant breaker. That is to say, all of the curses of the covenant fall upon Jesus Christ. How will you have eternal life? How do we obtain eternal life? It's not by what I can do, not what I what you can do. It is because of Christ who has taken the curses of the covenant upon Himself. Christ is a broken vessel. This is what it tells us here in the psalm. Look at verse 12. In his sighing and in his sadness, David says this, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. That is the way that David felt. He felt as though he was broken. Unable to contain what was inside of him and what was inside of him just comes out. Maybe you have sensed that as well. You feel as though the harsh words, sometimes even of the wicked, they get to our soul, and we feel broken, and it's as if things are coming out of us. a leaky, cracked vessel, a piece of pottery that has no use anymore because it cannot contain what it was intended to contain. But ultimately, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ, though. For you see, Jesus is that broken vessel. Is it not ironic? Look what look at what John 7 37 says. John 7.37, the idea of water is used there. Jesus making use of such an idea. John 7.37, Jesus is at one of the feasts. And this is what Jesus says. Oh, here it says, the narrator, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. Jesus gets up. And he talks about living water. Jesus is the one who is able to dispense this, and he talks ultimately not of water, but of the spirit. Those who will believe on him, he will fill, fill with water, the water of the spirit. But Jesus himself, the dispenser of such things, he would come and be a broken vessel. The one who has the spirit without measure presents his broken body to the Father to be a sacrifice for us when Jesus was suffering. And right before He dies, He says, verse 5, into thine hand I commit my spirit. The words that Jesus speaks to the Father Into thine hand I commit my spirit. This is a quotation. As much as Psalm 22, 1, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Words upon the cross, Jesus pinned to the cross. So he says, into thy hand I commit my spirit. That is to say, he was near to the completion of his atonement for your sin and for mine. These things are about the Lord Jesus Christ. What does he do, though, his people? He hides them. He hides them. As you just stand back from this psalm and look at it, I want you to see something. What do you see? Psalm 31, 1 through 5, you see the declaration of his faith. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. David saying this. It is because there are wicked people and they are saying awful things about him. things against God, things against God's promises. This is this is not David being petty here. This is the glory of God. And this is the word of God and the trustworthiness of God that is up for grabs in people's minds. And he complains against the Lord and he talks about his adversaries. But in verse 19 and 20, he is finished talking about himself briefly, and he talks about you. He talks about the people of God, but he speaks in the third person. He speaks of them. Look what he says. Oh, how great, verse 19, is thy goodness speaking to God, which thou has laid up for them that fear thee. Now we begin to see the purpose of what David has been doing. He's saying, I trust in God. I know that God is going to do good things for me, but it's not for him alone. It's for the people of God who will come after him. It is for faithful people throughout the ages. Notice what he says, he goes on, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. David's struggles. These are made to be pictures for all of us. that when we struggle with faith and when we are beat down and trashed before this world, we see that David has spoken about us before the Father, and ultimately Jesus has gone to the Father on our part, on their part, And of course, in 21 and 22, he speaks directly to God again. But you must not miss the profound thing he says in 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion or a booth or a tabernacle from the strife of tongues. And now we begin to see what David is doing in this psalm. He's using himself as an example, and then he speaks to God about the faithful people, and I trust that you are numbered among them. And then he says that God hides these people in a safe place from the wicked words of the unrighteous. God delights to hide his people in safe places. Ever notice that? God delights to hide his people in safe places. In Noah's time, wickedness all around Noah, and what happens? God hides Noah and his family in the ark. The baptismal floodwaters are poured out from the sky and from the ground. But God locked the door, God closed the door and his people were safe inside. And think of Moses, Moses and Exodus 33, he has a conversation with the Lord. He says, I want to see your glory. God says, you can't see my glory. Maybe you can see the hinder parts, but how? If Moses were to be in the presence of the full glory of God, then guess what? He would be undone. The holiness and the righteousness of God would cause Moses to come apart the seams. So what does the Lord do? He hides Moses. Our version here says the cleft of the rock, we'd say the cleft of the rock. That is, a rock has a part that's cut out of it. And Moses is to enter in and the glory of the Lord is to pass over. God is keeping Moses safe. God delights. To keep his people in safe places, and in this case, his secret presence and a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Where do you go? When the wickedness of the tongues of the unrighteous come against you, you must go to the secret place. You must hide yourself in God. You must bathe yourself in prayer. You must look to God as if he is your ark, as if he is your place of refuge. Because he is. And that is what he delights to be for you. That is why it is no accident that Jesus refers to his cross as a baptism. Two arrogant disciples come to Jesus. Oh, we want to be on your right and left. We'll leave it to you. We'll humbly say, you choose who's on the right and who's on the left. False humility. He says, these are not for me to decide. Can you undergo the baptism that I will undergo? No. Of course we can. Oh, yeah. Piece of cake. No problem. The casualness of such serious things that sinners have. But indeed, if we're in Christ, we do undergo that baptism. We look to Jesus. We see him. being pierced for our transgressions. We see Him suffering, the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God for sinners wounded that will cancel our guilt. On Him is laid our transgressions. These things will bring us peace, but only if we get inside of Christ. That is why, is it not ironic how often the Apostle Paul speaks of being in Christ, in Christ. Christ is your refuge, your strong tower, your rock. And so, get in to Christ. Fathers, get into the ark. Mothers, Go to the strong tower. Children, go to the cleft of the rock and find yourself in there. While not only the wicked tongues of the unrighteous pass over, but the glory of God passes over and the wrath of God consumes the wicked. See what He has done for you. Hide yourselves in Christ by faith. Especially, especially when Satan comes. Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Satan, the accuser whose words are far worse than any man could speak. For Satan has seen what you have seen. Satan knows what you have done. And that is why he is called the accuser of the brethren. The accuser of the brethren. We may look into this portion of the Word of God, Psalm 31, and we might think, well, what we see there is the accusers of David. But those accusers of David have their ultimate fulfillment in Satan himself. What does Paul say in Romans 8, 33? He says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That is to say, accusations come, accusations will fly at you. In a sense, on judgment day, accusations will be made. But Paul asks rhetorically, who shall lay any charge to God's elect? It is God that justifieth, that is, declares righteous. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, or more so, that is risen again, for it is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession." Where will you go when the accusations come against you? You go to Jesus, the only one who can lay a charge against you that would that would stick. But even he will not charge you. Why? Because he died for you, because he was raised for you. And because he is at the right hand of the Father interceding for you, therefore, who can accuse you? No one can. All of your accusers are silenced, including Satan. And Christ is not your accuser. He is your justifier. Therefore, find yourselves hidden in the secret place, which is Christ himself. And notice what he encourages you to do, because it's the last part. And we see we come to a close here momentarily. But I want you to see David speaks to God. He talks about his problems. Then he talks about you. And then at the very end, David speaks to you. He says, Oh, love the Lord, all his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful. Be of good courage, this is what David is saying, because of what God has done for me, because of what God will do for you, therefore hide yourself in him. Love him, serve him, trust him. But of course, sometimes we we don't want to give God all of our trust. But notice that David is speaking to the people of God. He's not calling the wicked. Hey, you people who don't know him, trust in him. He's saying that the people of God need reminders to trust him, trust him for salvation. Some believers, that's enough though. I trust him for salvation, but I don't trust him with my finances. You need to trust him with your finances. I trust him, but I don't trust him fully for the future. So I'm holding on to that. Now you must trust him for the future. Love the Lord, all ye his saints, all ye that hope in him. Where will you find strength? Find your strength in loving the all-powerful God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I'd like to teach the world to sing. Unfortunately, the wicked will only teach the world to hate the righteous, But the work of David continues, teaching the world to sing because they have something to sing about. You have something to sing about. Redemption in Christ and the one who hides you in himself. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father. We thank you that David has told us, even the covenant people of God, that we must love you. We need to be reminded to love you and to serve you and to put our trust in you. And so we ask that we would sing of our trust in you and of our delight in you. And we ask that we would be able to cast all of our cares for salvation and for all other things, upon the one who is truly strong. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.