I invite you to take your copy of Scripture this morning and turn to Psalm 108. Psalm 108. And if you're using one of the Bibles that we provide for you, you'll find our passage on 507 and 508. 507 and 508. We are currently in a series in the Psalms, and several weeks ago I did a sermon on the book of Psalms as a whole, and then last week we looked at Psalm 107, and this week we come to Psalm 108. Psalm 108. I will read the Psalm in its entirety, and then we'll pray and consider God's Word together. A song, a Psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God. I will sing and make melody with all my being. Awake, O harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth, that Your beloved ones may be delivered. Give salvation by Your right hand and answer me. God has promised in His holiness, with exaltation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I cast my shoe, over Philistia I shout in triumph. Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies. O grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man. With God we shall do valiantly. It is He who will tread down our foes. Amen. Let's go through the Lord in prayer. Father, we are so grateful for the gift that You have given us in the Psalms. And we are just reminded again this morning of how many Christians throughout the ages have found strength and hope and comfort in the Psalms. Lord, we thank You for this psalm, for Psalm 108. And Lord, as we look at it this morning, as we consider it, Father, we pray that You would strengthen us and encourage us in You and in Your Word. Lord, we pray that You would be glorified. Lead us now as we look to Your Word by Your Spirit. Lead us into all truth. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask it. Amen. Well, the title of our message this morning is, With God, We Shall Do Valiantly. With God, we shall do valiantly. And much like last week, I actually derived my title from the last verse that we find here in the psalm. You see there in verse 13, I just read it for us a moment ago. With God, we shall do valiantly. It is He who will tread down our foes. Now that word valiantly is actually a word in the Old Testament that is often times used in military context. So it can be used to refer to an army, or to a host of an army. It can be translated as valor, referring to men of valor. It can also be used to speak of the strength and the courage that is necessary for a battle. That's how this word valiantly is used in the Old Testament. And in life, we face so many challenges and so many battles that require courage. This morning you may not feel like you possess the courage of a lion. Maybe you feel more like you are characterized by the fear and timidity of a mouse. But the Lord has a word for us in Psalm 108. With God we shall do valiantly. Now, with this in mind, what is the context, what is the set of circumstances in which the psalmist needs courage? And how does the psalmist find courage and strength for the day of battle? Well, you'll notice if you look at Psalm 108, and you look at the very top there, you'll see that the title, or some people refer to it as the superscription, indicates that this is a psalm of David. And one of the interesting things that you learn when you study the Psalms is that there are times where previous Psalms will reemerge in the book of Psalms and content from previous Psalms will be used again in another Psalm. And that's what we have taking place here in Psalm 108. In the case of Psalm 108, this psalm has been composed by taking portions of two previous psalms and putting them together. Okay? So, what we have here is in the first five verses of Psalm 108, the first five verses of Psalm 108 are almost an exact duplicate of Psalm 57, verses 7 through 11. And Psalm 108 verses 6-13, so the second part of Psalm 108, is almost an exact duplicate of Psalm 60 verses 5-12. So, in both of these Psalms, Psalm 57 and Psalm 60, they were both written by David. And so, whether it was David or whether it was another composer, they took portions of both of these Psalms, put them together, and that's how we have Psalm 108. Now, what were these previous Psalms about? Well, in the title of Psalm 57, we read these words. to the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy, a mictum of David, and here it is, when he fled from Saul in the cave. So Psalm 57 was about a time when David was fleeing from Saul His life was being threatened, and he was hiding in a cave. And what we see in Psalm 57 is that it is in those circumstances that David cries out to the Lord. He describes the plight of his life at that time, the danger that he was facing, and he cries out to the Lord. And then there's a turning point in the Psalm. And in the latter part of Psalm 57, David then expresses faith and confidence in the Lord. And it is that second part of the Psalm, Psalm 57, verses 7-11, that are now recorded here in Psalm 108, verses 1-5. Now the second psalm is Psalm 60, and Psalm 60 also comes with a title. So not all the psalms have titles, but both Psalm 57 and Psalm 60 have titles, and the title for Psalm 60 must be one of the longest titles in the Psalter. So, Psalm 60, the title reads this way. To the choir master, according to Shushan Edith, a mictum of David for instruction, when he strove with Aram Naharim and with Aram Zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down 12,000 of Edom in the Valley of Salt. Okay, now that's a lot of information and we're not going to look at all of what that means, but basically the idea in Psalm 60 is that David is facing the Edomites in a battle. And Psalm 60 comes to us with even a greater sense of despair because the Israelites have experienced a setback in this battle with the Edomites. They've been defeated. And David is fearful that the Lord has forsaken his people. In fact, he laments in verse 3 of Psalm 60, you have made your people see hard things. You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger. But again in Psalm 60, there's a turning point. And so as David is crying out to the Lord, as he's facing this battle with the Edomites, there's a turning point, and then David begins to express his faith and his confidence in the Lord. This is found in Psalm 60 verses 5 through 12. And it is this note of faith and confidence in the Lord that is then taken and transposed to Psalm 108, and it's the second part of Psalm 108. 108 verses 6 through 13. So here's what we see happening in Psalm 108. Whether it was David or it was another composer who came after David, the people of God now are facing a new enemy. A fresh challenge. And so the psalmist takes these two notes of faith and confidence in the Lord that David had expressed. One, when he was hiding in the cave from Saul. The other, when he was facing battle against the Edomites. And the psalmist puts those two expressions of faith and confidence together to communicate that whatever fresh challenge we're experiencing, whatever new enemy we are facing, the Lord will be with us as He was with David and He will save us and He will deliver us. Just as He delivered David from Saul in the cave. Just as He delivered David from the Edomites. And so, as we face this new enemy, this fresh challenge, we also must have the faith of David and be confident that with God we shall do valiantly. Now with this context in mind, I want us to look at Psalm 108 this morning. And I pray that as we look at Psalm 108, we ourselves will find renewed strength and courage in the Lord. In fact, what we see here in this psalm is that David outlines for us, and this will be our outline this morning, he outlines for us four actions that we must take to face the challenges of life with strength and courage in the Lord. And here's the four actions. We must commit to worship. We must pray for God's glory. We must remember God's promise, and we must pray for God's help. So commit to worship, pray for God's glory, remember God's promise, and pray for God's help. Now let's look at each of these. First of all, if we are to face the challenges of life with strength and courage in the Lord, we must commit to worship. You see this in verses 1-4. And right away in verse 1, we see that the life of faith is a life of resolve. You see it there in verse 1. My heart is steadfast, O God. And that word steadfast there can be translated fixed, established, set, So what David declares here in the very first verse is that I'm in danger. I'm in peril. All around me seems to be swirling. But I am settled, Lord. I am fixed upon You. And as we will see, it is out of this heart of resolve, it is out of this heart of determination that then praise and song comes forth. Charles Spurgeon captures the sentiment of David's words. by writing this, quote, though I have many wars to disturb me and many cares to toss me to and fro, yet I am settled in one mind and cannot be driven from it. My heart has taken hold and abides in one resolve, end of quote. Right away we see that a life of joyful confidence in the Lord is not a passive life. In other words, it will not just happen to us magically. Rather, it is a fight to be happy in God. It is a fight to trust in God's promises and to rest in His presence. And notice that the psalmist's resolve then expresses itself in song and worship. You see it there in verse 1. My heart is steadfast, O God. I will sing and make melody with all my being." So he commits, he's resolved, I will sing, I will make melody. And then that word there, translated in the ESV, with all my being, actually in the original language it's with all my glory. And glory here seems to refer to his whole person, and particularly the better parts of his person. So we could say it this way, with all his mental faculties, with all his poetic skill, with all his musical talent, with all the dignity and majesty that he has as the king of Israel, he will sing to the Lord and make melody. And then you see that David's determination in verse 2 breaks forth into action. He says, Awake, O harp and lyre, I will awake the dawn. So David will not allow, he will not permit his soul to remain drowsy or indifferent to the Lord. He won't allow his musical instruments to sit in silence. They must give forth praise to the Lord and He must sing to God. In fact, He will not wait until the morning to do so. He will awaken the dawn. He will drag the sleepy sun out of its rest so that He can sing to the Lord in the light of day. Notice as well, what is the scope of His praise? Before whom will He praise the Lord? You see it there in verse 3. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praise to You among the nations. And why will He do so? Verse 4, For Your steadfast love is great above the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Which is probably a way of saying that Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness is infinite. It's eternal. It's limitless. It's beyond our comprehension. It's above the heavens. It's all the way to the clouds. And therefore, the efforts of my praise with all my being, with all my glory, and the audience of my praise among the peoples and the nations must know no bounds and no limitations. What we see here in these opening verses, in the first four verses of our psalm, is that the psalmist faces a new challenge, a new obstacle, with a commitment to worship the Lord. And in particular, to worship Him with song and with praise. For some of you this morning, I imagine the alarm went off, and you might not have felt like jumping out of the bed. Perhaps you were disturbed or distraught or disillusioned. And yet, whether you use these exact words or not, the attitude of your heart was, Oh God, my heart is steadfast. I am determined, I am resolved to worship You this day. And you drug yourself out of bed, and you got yourself ready, and you came here this morning, and you determined to sing. Now maybe it wasn't all that glorious. Your singing may not have secured you a spot on American Idol, but with all the glory you could muster, you sang of the Lord and of His faithfulness and of His steadfast love. And what we see here in this psalm is that that is the way. That is the way for the Christian, just like the psalmist here, to walk the path of courage and faith in the Lord when facing a new challenge and a new obstacle. It's as we worship that we are reminded of the Lord's faithfulness, of His promises, of His goodness, of His power, and of His love. And we find courage and strength for what lies ahead. Notice the second action that we must take if we are to face the challenges of life with strength and courage in the Lord. The first is to commit to worship. The second is to pray for God's glory. You see it there in verses 5 and 6. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth, that Your beloved ones may be delivered. Give salvation by Your right hand and answer me. Here we see that David is praying for the name of God to be glorified. And you know, it's so easy for us to be consumed with our own preferred, desired outcome of circumstances. That we forget or we lose sight of God's desired outcome and God's glory. But here we see that David facing a challenge above all things desires that God's name would be exalted. That he would be glorified. It's interesting because this in and of itself is a source for courage. When our desires are properly aligned with God's glory, it will result in greater strength and courage. When we can hold our preferred outcome loosely, and when our chief ambition is that whatever happens, God will be glorified, that is a great boost to our own strength and courage facing whatever adversary, whatever difficulty might be before us. Because it is then that we can say with the Apostle Paul, it is my eager expectation and hope that now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. You see, when our joy, when our contentment, when our peace is not finally dependent upon how this thing works out exactly the way I want it to, but when our joy and peace and contentment finally rest in God's name being glorified, then we're given new and fresh courage and strength. Notice also though, and this is important to see, that David understands that our desire for God's name to be glorified and the desire that we have for our own salvation and deliverance are not at odds with one another. Now it doesn't mean that that deliverance and salvation will always look exactly the way we want it to. But the two are not at odds with one another. In fact, God has so ordered the universe that His glory and our salvation are intertwined. So that our salvation and deliverance results in the glorification of His name. Notice how David prays in verse 5. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth, that Your beloved ones may be delivered. Give salvation by Your right hand and answer me. Be exalted. Glorify Yourself. That Your people might be delivered. If You glorify Yourself, Lord, it will result in our salvation. If You make Your name great, we will be delivered. And this is exactly how the Lord Jesus taught us to pray. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, pray like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your name be glorified. Your name be respected. Your name be honored. Your name be exalted. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, that's praying for God's glory. And Jesus teaches us to pray that first. Right? That should be our highest ambition. That His name would be glorified. But that doesn't mean that we don't care about our own salvation and deliverance. Because then Jesus goes on to teach us in the very next statement to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And see, the first part of the prayer, hallowed be Your name, and the second part of the prayer, give us our daily bread. Forgive us of our sins. Deliver us from evil. Those two things are not at odds with one another. In fact, it's as the Lord acts to provide us with daily bread that He is glorified and is exalted as our provider. And it's as He acts to forgive us of our sins that He's glorified and exalted as our Savior and our Redeemer. And it's as He acts to deliver us from evil that He is exalted and glorified as our great Deliverer. God has designed life in this world in such a way that our salvation and deliverance is intimately intertwined with and connected with His glory and the exaltation of His name. And it's as we face the challenges of life that we should pray with boldness that God's name would be glorified and that He would glorify His name in our lives as He reveals Himself to be our provider, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Deliverer. The third action that we must take to face the challenges of life with strength and courage in the Lord is found in verses 7-9, and it is to remember God's promise. To remember God's promise. So commit to worship, pray for God's glory, and remember God's promise. So notice in verse 6, we just looked at it, that David prays for deliverance and salvation. He prays that your beloved ones may be delivered. Give salvation by your right hand and answer me. Now as we come to verses 7-9, we find the confidence, the source of the confidence that David has that his prayer will be answered. So why is David confident that the Lord will answer his prayer? Well, it's here in verses 7-9. And these verses initially, I'm sure, seem strange and foreign to us. This is the section in the psalm here where you see all these weird names. But once we understand, What these references are, we come to realize that basically what David is doing here in verses 7-9 is he's simply making an appeal to the promise that God had made to His people that they would inherit the land of Canaan. That's what David's doing in verses 7-9. God had made His people a promise. That He would grant them the land of Canaan. And David is appealing to that promise and it's by appealing to the promise of God's Word that he has confidence that the Lord will answer his prayer. So notice there in verse 7. God has promised in His holiness. And what is it that God's promised? What is God promised by His Word? Look at verse 7. With exaltation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Now Shechem and Succoth were portions of land that were just west and east of the Jordan River, and they were two of the first places that the people of God occupied when they came into the land of Canaan. Then verse 8, Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. So Gilead and Manasseh and Ephraim were three large portions of land in northern Israel. And then Judah was in the south. And Ephraim and Judah in particular were significant to Israel's defense and governance. And you see that here in the text. So he says, Ephraim is my helmet. A helmet is an instrument of defense, right? So Ephraim was in the northern part of Israel, and it would have been the first line of defense against northern invaders. And then Judah is my scepter. The idea here is that Judah is the place from which I will reign. And we know that Judah possessed the city of Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. And it was there that the Lord's anointed king would rule and reign. And what do all these locations have in common? Well, yes, they were places, locations that the Lord had promised to His people in the land of Canaan. But notice also, the Lord declares ownership over them all. You see there, He says, I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet. Judah is my scepter. It all belongs to the Lord. He says it's mine. And because it all belongs to the Lord, all the more it belongs to His people. Because they are His beloved. And He has promised it to them. Notice he goes on in verse 9 to say, Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I cast my shoe, over Philistia I shout in triumph. Now Moab and Edom and Philistia were all surrounding enemies to the nation of Israel. And the Lord declares here that Moab and Edom are His servants. Moab He says is my washbasin, Edom I cast my shoe. In other words, they exist to serve me. to wash my feet. Of course, Edom in Psalm 60 was the particular enemy that David was facing. And then he says over Philistia, which was Israel's greatest threat, he shouts in triumph. Derek Kidner, an Old Testament scholar, writes, quote, like a colossus, God dominates the scene. It is no longer a matter of rivals fighting for possession, but of the Lord of the manor, parceling out His lands and employments exactly as it suits Him. And you see here, it is based upon the promise of God's Word. that he would grant Israel the land, and that their enemies would not be able to stand against them, that David cries out for salvation, and then with confidence, he decisively acts to subdue the Edomites. And my friends, David is providing us here with an example that when we face the challenges of life, the two things we need to turn to over and over and over again, and it's so basic, it's so easy for us to forget, is God's Word and prayer. We rely on His promises and what He has told us in His Word, and those promises are then turned into prayer as we seek God by faith, And it is in His Word, and it is as we come to Him in prayer, that we are strengthened and encouraged for the day of battle. So, if we are to face the challenges of life with strength and courage in the Lord, we must commit to worship. We must pray for God's glory. We must remember God's promises. And then fourth and finally, we must pray for God's help. We see this in the last section of the Psalm in verses 10 through 13. And it's particularly in these verses that we are reminded of the great challenge that David originally faced as he sought to drive back and defeat the Edomites. So look there in verse 10. David writes, who will bring me to the fortified city? And the fortified city here, most commentators believe is a city called Petra, which means rock. Who will lead me to Edom?" Petra was a city in Edom. One author has described Edom as wild, rugged, and almost inaccessible. In fact, the book of Obadiah is written about Edom and Obadiah speaks of how the Edomites were so prideful because they hid themselves in high rocks and they believed that no one could defeat them. No one could bring them down from their advantageous position. After 9-11, of course, the United States was engaged in a long war with Afghanistan. Some of you here this morning have served in Afghanistan. And Edom was like a modern day Afghanistan. A mountainous region that was extremely difficult to navigate and provided for the Edomites almost impenetrable natural defenses. And we know that Edom was a source of trouble for David in his own day. But then we also know, as I mentioned earlier from Obadiah, that long after David had died, that Edom continued to be a source of concern and trouble for the people of Israel. In fact, Edom becomes a place in the Bible, much like Babylon, That becomes kind of a general reference to worldly powers as a whole that set themselves in opposition against God and against His people. And so this is what David is facing. And David says, who will bring me to the fortified city? Who is going to lead me into Petra to defeat this almost impenetrable defense? Who will lead me to Edom? And you see, he expresses doubt in verse 11. Have you rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies. And in Psalm 60, we know that as Israel was battling against Israel, there was this moment where they experienced a setback. And David is fearing that the Lord has departed from His people, that He will no longer go with them in battle. We can imagine that as this is taken forward now into Psalm 108, that this would have been especially applicable as well to the exiles who had just experienced the devastation and disappointment of exile. Lord, are you with us anymore? Will you go out with us in battle? But then in verses 12 and 13, the psalmist faith is quickly renewed. O grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man. With God we shall do valiantly. It is He who will tread down our foes. Now there's a number of things that we can see here and learn about the psalmist faith. Notice that the psalmist faith is not presumptuous. David's position is not, oh, well, there's nothing to worry about. Victory is inevitable. That's not David's disposition. No, he says, oh, grant us help against our foe. Victory is not inevitable. Without the Lord, we are in trouble. And therefore, David prays for help. Notice also the faith of the psalmist is not prideful. So his faith His confidence is not in himself or in others. He doesn't say, I got this. We're good. Nobody wants to come against us. No, he goes on to say, vain is the salvation of man. Empty is the salvation of man. In other words, Lord, I can't do this. We can't do this without you. We need you. The psalmist faith, rather than being prideful or presumptuous, is a faith in God. In fact, the key to the psalmist faith is found in the very next phrase there in the text. It's just two words. With God. With God we shall do valiantly. That's the key for you and for me and for our church. It is similar to what the Lord Jesus says, right? What He teaches us. With God, all things are possible. And here the psalmist declares, with God we shall do valiantly. And notice as well that the psalmist's faith is not timid. David was not a man of pride, right? He wasn't just confident and boastful in himself. But neither was he timid. David was a man of action. David was bold. And you see here in the text, he says, he goes on to say, with God we shall do all things valiantly, and here it is, it is He who will tread down our foes. And then David with humble confidence, and with God honoring boldness and courage, set out to defeat the Edomites. And by the grace of God, he did so. My friends, when our faith is in God, ordinary people, weak people, folks who are weighed down with heavy burdens and facing what seems to be almost insurmountable odds will act with courage and strength, will become men and women of valor, and will accomplish great victories for Christ and for His kingdom. James Boyce, in his reflections on this psalm, he points out that you and I are not kings like King David. We don't have military battles to fight. Some of you may. I know we live in an army town. Most of us don't. None of us have ever seen an Edomite, at least that I'm aware of. I've never seen an Edomite. However, as Christians, we do have spiritual battles. We are members of Christ's kingdom, and we have been given a task to advance His kingdom in a spiritually hostile world. And my friends, as we have seen so many times before, this psalm here, Psalm 108, like all the other psalms we've seen before, find their ultimate fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus. You'll remember that in the early part of this psalm, David was captured in a cave and threatened with death. And he cries out to the Lord for salvation. And it is David's greater son, the Lord Jesus, who not only faced death, but died. A death on a cross for our sins, taking the punishment for our sins. And then he was laid in a cave, in a tomb. A cave of death. But the Lord heard his cry. The Lord delivered him and saved him and raised him from that cave of death. And when he came forth, he came forth with a promise. And not just a promise that the people of God would inherit the land of Israel, but a promise that the whole earth would be filled with the glory of the Lord as men and women and children repent of their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave us orders. He gave us a call. He said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And how will we do this? How will we accomplish it? What's the key to getting this almost insurmountable task done? And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The key to accomplishing this almost insurmountable task is the promise of His presence. It sounds a lot like Psalm 108. With God and His presence, we shall do valiantly. My friends, with the promise of God and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, ordinary people, weak people, burdened people, broken people, will live out a strength that is not their own and will accomplish feats of courage and valor for the advancement of Christ and His kingdom that otherwise they could never do. And this is a promise for each of us. Whatever challenge, whatever difficulty you are facing this morning, and a challenge it is a promise for us as a church as we seek to fulfill this task that we have been given to make disciples of all nations. with God, with His promise and with His presence, by His mercy, we shall do valiantly. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we are so thankful for Your Word. And Lord, we're thankful for how we see examples over and over again in the Scriptures of how Your people face the challenges of life with faith and courage and strength. We're especially thankful for how we see this, Lord, play out in the life of David in Psalm 108. And Lord, we pray that as we commit ourselves to worship, we pray, Lord, that as we seek your glory in our lives, in our church, we pray that as we remember your promises and call out to you for help, that we would be a people of strength and courage for the glory of your name. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray.