Amen. All right, we're there in Psalm 30. And we, of course, have been making our way through the book of Psalms on Wednesday night. And we find ourselves here in Psalm 30 tonight. It's not a long Psalm, only 12 verses. But I'd like you to notice and begin with the superscription. If you remember when we started studying the book of Psalms, we began to notice these superscriptions that are written at the top of the Psalms. And your Bible may have like a heading And those headings are not scripture, those are just added by the people that print the Bibles. But these superscriptions and these psalms are actually part of the original language, meaning that they're found in the Hebrew and they're translated. And if you notice Psalm 30 in verse 1, it begins with the superscription, a psalm and at the dedication of the house of David. And sometimes these superscriptions, they give us some insight into the psalm. Most of the time, if you notice, if you go back and look at the psalms, it will just say something simple like, a psalm of David just identifies the writer. But this psalm and other psalms actually give us a context to the occasion of the psalm. And here we're told that this is a psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David. Now, I'd like you to keep your place there in Psalm 30, that's going to be our text for tonight, but go with me just real quickly to the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 5, if you would, 2 Samuel, chapter 5. If you find the 1 and 2 books, they're all clustered together, 1 Samuel, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles. If you can find 2 Samuel, chapter 5, And of course, when you read the superscription, a psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David, then it seems that this was a psalm written by David at the dedication of his personal house. The Bible does talk about the fact that David had a house built. In fact, I'd like to just show you the verse real quickly. 2 Samuel 5, verse 11. The Bible says, And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons. Notice the last part of verse 11. It says, And they built David a house. David, of course, had his house, had a palace built for himself, that's what's being referred to here. And this psalm, the superscription, seems to indicate that it was written at the dedication of the house of David. If that's true, and I'm not saying it is or it isn't true, but if that's true, then praise the Lord for that. The problem with that is that the language of the psalm, if you read the psalm, and we just read it together, 12 verses, it's a very beautiful psalm, it's an impactful psalm. The language of the psalm does not seem to acknowledge David's house or the building of the house in any way. Nothing in this psalm seems to go with something you would write with the dedication of the house of David. Now, I'm not saying that it wasn't written for the dedication of the House of David. However, what I want you to notice, and you're there in 2 Samuel, if you would go to 1 Chronicles real quickly, 1 Chronicles 28, you've got 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 1 Chronicles 28. And then do me a favor, when you get to 1 Chronicles, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there, because we're going to leave it, and we're going to come back to it, and we're going to be going back and forth between Psalms and 1 Chronicles for the sermon. What I want to show you is that some people believe that the reference here to the house of David is not a reference to David's personal house, although the Bible does mention that they built David a house, but it's actually a prophetic reference to the house that David wanted to build, which was the house of God, or the temple. Now, we know that David did not build the temple. In 1 Chronicles 28, if you're there, If you look at verse 3, the Bible says, But God said unto me, this is David speaking, Thou shalt not build a house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. If you remember, David had a desire to build a house for God. In fact, David asked Nathan the prophet if he could build a house for God, and he was told yes. to go ahead and build it, and then the prophet had to come back the next day and say, actually, God said no. And this is what David is referring to. God said unto me, thou shalt not build a house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war and hast shed blood. So David was not allowed to build the house of God. And so then you have a problem, because if this psalm is a dedication to the personal house of David, that's fine, except for the fact that there's nothing in the context that seems to point to that or make a reference to that in any way, shape, or form. If you take the position that this is referring prophetically to the house that David would build or attempt to build or set up to build, for the house of God. And then, of course, the problem you have is that David didn't build the house of God. He wanted to, but he was not allowed to. What David did do is that he prepared for the house of God. And we've talked about that over the years, how he took up special offerings. But one of the biggest things that David did to prepare for the house of God is that he actually bought the mountain that the temple would be built on. In fact, if you don't mind, go to chapter 3 of 2 Chronicles. And let me show you something real quickly. 2 Chronicles chapter 3. And when David bought this mountain, and this mountain is an important mount, it's the same mountain that Abraham took Isaac up to sacrifice, if you remember that story in the book of Genesis. This mountain that was purchased by David is connected to a pretty interesting and epic story. Are you there in 2 Chronicles chapter 3? Look down at verse number 1. 2 Chronicles 3 and verse 1, the Bible says this, to build the house of the Lord. So this is the house that David wanted to build, that he wasn't allowed to, at Jerusalem. Notice the words here, in Mount Moriah. And of course that's where, that's of significance. Mount Moriah, notice what the Bible says here, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So there's a story about the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite and David and how David came about purchasing this Mount Moriah that ended up being where the temple would be built. There's a story that's associated with that purchase and if you look at that story and then you look at Psalm 30, the story in Psalm 30 actually line up pretty nicely. So for that reason, many people believe that the superscription, when it says a dedication to the house of David, that it's actually not referring to his personal house, but it's a prophetic thing to the house that David wanted to build that he was not allowed to, and specifically to the purchasing of the mount where the temple would be built. Now that story is found in 1 Chronicles 21 and 2 Samuel 24. I'd like you to go back to 1 Chronicles 21 and just put your finger there or keep a place there and then go back to Psalm 30. And let me just say this, we do not know for sure and I don't know for sure that the story of the threshing floor of Ornan is what is being referenced here in Psalm 30. Many people believe that it does. And what I can tell you this is that I do see how it aligns itself nicely with Psalm 30. And for that reason, what I'd like to do this evening is to walk you through Psalm 30 and then use the story as an example of the application as a parallel to the psalm, because whether or not it was actually written in reference to this specific story, it does line up as an example of how of what it is that David is talking about. So hopefully that makes sense to you. Keep your place there, like I said, in 1 Chronicles 21. Make your way back to Psalm 30. And let me just tell you this. What David does in this psalm is that he begins by giving us statements. Verses 1 through 5 are statements. And then in verses 6 through 9, he gives us the story. And the story is the story that he learned the statements from. The statements are statements of truth, and the story is what brought him there. We'll look at the story here in a second, but let's just begin by looking at these statements. And if you're taking notes, and I always encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week, there's a place to write down some things. Maybe you'd like to jot this down. The first thing we see in verses 1 through 4 is the exaltation of David. The exaltation of David. If you notice there in verse 1, he says, Psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David. And then he says these words, he says, I will extol thee, O Lord. And the word extol means to praise highly. It means to glorify. It means to exalt someone or something with great enthusiasm. And here, David is saying, I will extol thee, O Lord. He says, for thou has lifted me up. He says, and has not made my foes to rejoice over me. I want you to make a note of that. He's specifically extolling the Lord, praising the Lord, giving thanks to the Lord, glorifying the Lord, because he says, you lifted me up, and specifically, he says, you've not made my foes to rejoice over me. He said, you haven't allowed my enemies to mock me, to rejoice over my defeat. He says, O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave, thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. And we're gonna come back to verses two and three, but notice verse four. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. So I want you to notice that David begins by saying, I want to extol the Lord. I want to praise the Lord. I want to glorify the Lord. I want to exalt His name. And he says specifically because He has not made my enemies, not made my foes to rejoice over me. He says He's healed me. He brought me up from the grave. He kept me alive. He said that I should not go down to the pit. Then He says sing unto the Lord. He says give thanks unto the Lord. So we see the exaltation of David. But then I want you to notice verse number 5, and verse number 5 is actually the pinnacle of this psalm. In verse 6, we're going to begin the story that gives us these statements, but I would say that verse number 5 is the key to this psalm, and you'll recognize it. It's a famous verse, Psalm 30, verse 5. David says, So in verses 1 through 4, we see the exaltation of David. And in verse 5, we see the expectation of David. And he has this expectation of the Lord. He knows the Lord well enough to know some things about God. And here's what he knows about God. He says, So there's this expectation that David has. And the expectation is that though God's anger sometimes is against us, though his punishment or his correction is on us, he says, it endureth but for a moment. He says, weeping and difficulty will endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And there's both a practical and a spiritual application here. There's a very practical application to what David is actually dealing with in his life if you except that this psalm is written in regards to the story of the threshing floor of Ornan. But there's also a spiritual application. The spiritual application is this, that if you're saved, the anger of the Lord endureth but a moment. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The thing about the morning is the fact that the sun rises. And the S-U-N sun in the sky is a representation of the S-O-N sun of God who rose from the dead. And what the Bible teaches us is this, that no matter how hard your life gets here on this earth, it endureth but a moment. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The thing about the unsaved is that when their night comes, morning never comes. When they go to sleep, when they go to death, there is no resurrection. There is no joy that cometh in the morning. You can apply this to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember when he came to get arrested and they began to take him to put him to death. He said, this is your hour and the power of darkness. But the idea was this, that joy was coming in the morning. There was coming a resurrection. The S-O-N sun would rise like the S-U-N sun rises every morning. So we see the expectation of David. In fact, I want you to notice this is a theme in the Bible. If you go real quickly to Psalm 103 and look down at verse number eight, just real quickly, Psalm 103 in verse eight, There's this theme in scripture that sometimes God is mad at us, but His anger endureth but a moment. In His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 103 and verse 8, the Bible says this, the Lord is merciful and gracious. Aren't you thankful for that? slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Notice verse 9. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. And this is, again, this is not talking to an unsaved person because to unsaved people, God will keep his anger forever. But to those of us that are saved, the promise, the expectation that David has is this, that he will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. Now you might just think that David is giving spiritual talk here, you know, he's being like a preacher and just giving these spiritual words to try to help people feel better for his anger and dearth, but in a moment, in his favor, his life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. But when you look at the story that is probably associated to this psalm, what you find is that David had found himself in a time when the Lord was angry with him, and the Lord was upset with him. And I believe that in verse 6, we get the explanation. In verses 1 through 4, we get the exaltation. And in verse 5, we get the expectation. But in verses 6 through 9, we get the explanation. And we're going to spend most of our time here because I want you to see how this parallels to the story in First Chronicles 21. I want you to notice several things about the story. First, we see David's pride. Notice verse 6, he says, Now notice there's a shift here in the way that David is speaking. In verses 1 through 5, he's talking about extolling God, lifting up his name, giving thanks, singing to the Lord, he's delivered him, his anger endureth but for a moment, weeping may endure for a night. But then in verse 6 he says, let me tell you what taught me this. He says, in my prosperity I said I shall never be moved. What is that? That's pride. The fact that he was doing well, he was succeeding, things were going well in his life and he thought I shall never be moved. Nothing's going to hurt me. Nothing's going to cause me to fall. And I want you to notice how this coincides to 1 Chronicles 21. If you can make your way back to 1 Chronicles 21. And again, let me just give the disclaimer. We don't know, someone will email me saying, you know, whatever, that I'm wrong. I'm wrong a lot. I don't know if you know that. We don't know for sure that this story is what's being referenced in Psalm 30, but I think that it does align itself nicely with Psalm 30, and based off the superscription, then it's probably in reference to this story. So where does the story begin? It begins with David's pride. Notice 1 Chronicles 21. Here's where the story begins. The Bible says, and provoked David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me. And I want you to notice this statement here. He says, that I may know it. that I may know it." Now this might not seem like a big deal to you, like what's the big deal that David asked to number the people, because notice the response from Joab, verse 3. So notice that Joab is pushing back and saying, look David, the Lord make the people, whatever that number is you're asking for, we don't know what it is, you're asking us to go number Israel. He says, whatever that number is, I pray the Lord makes it many more as they be. And he says, no matter what that number is, he says, are they not all my Lord's servants? Aren't they all your Citizens, aren't they all under your kingdom? He says, why then doth my Lord require this thing that, he says, why will he be, notice the words here, a cause of trespass to Israel? Now again, when you're reading this, you might think to yourself, what's the big deal about this census? I mean, this is what governments do. Every 10 years or so, they number the people. The problem is that the children of Israel had specifically been told that they were not to number the people. And that they were only to number the people when God directed them to do so, as we see in the book of Numbers, of course. And here we get some clues as to where David's heart is. Notice again the last part of verse 2. He says that I may know it. It's not God asking for this. It's just David wants to know, how many servants do I have? How many soldiers do I have? It's a pride thing. And if you compare it to Psalm 30 and verse 6, when David says, and in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. And then of course we see Joab have a little insight here where he says, are they not all my Lord's servants? And again, when it comes to 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles, usually we accept the fact that this is given in chronological order, although there are some stories that are probably not in chronological order. And we don't know for sure the chronology of the story. It seems to indicate that it's towards the end of David's life. And if you consider that it's towards the end of David's life, then you realize that David has already fought some battles. I mean, he's had Absalom. He's had issues with people being disloyal to him, and there's probably some insecurities here. And this is why Joab is saying, you don't need to count the people. You don't need to number the people. They're with you. Are they not all my Lord's servants? Why then doth my Lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? But why does David do it? Because David just wants to know. And it's a pride thing. And notice what the Bible says in verse 4. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousands, and an hundred thousand men." That's 1,100,000. That drew sword. And Judah was 403 score and 10,000. That's 470,000 men that drew sword. And so he gets this number. And again, to you and I, it might just seem like, what's the big deal? Well, we're about to see in a minute what the big deal is as we continue in 1 Chronicles 21. But the problem is that it was something that David was asking for, for his own pride. In my prosperity, I shall never be moved. Go back to Psalm 30 real quickly. Look at verse 7. So in verse 6, we see David's pride. And in verse 7, we see David's punishment. The Bible says in Psalm 30 verse 7, Lord, by thy favor thou has made my mountain to stand strong. We'll come back to that. But notice the last part of verse 7. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. And again, you and I might not think a lot about that, about the tide of my face and I was troubled, but this has to do with the favor of God. This has to do with the blessing of God. He says, you are not looking towards me. You are not helping me. In fact, if you remember, you don't have to turn here, I'll just read this for you, but if you remember the famous, ironic blessing in Numbers 6. Remember when the priest gave a blessing to the children of Israel? The blessing goes like this, Numbers 6, 24-26, So those statements, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, the Lord looking on you with pleasantness, is connected to his favor, his blessing. And here we see in verse seven that David says, thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. He said, when God began to look away, he said, things did not go well. Now let me show you a verse that kind of connects this. If you go to Isaiah 54, just real quickly, you're there in Psalms, you have Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, then Isaiah, Isaiah 54. Do me a favor, I know you got your place in First Chronicles, 1 Chronicles 21, but also keep your place in Isaiah, because we're going to come back to it. If you don't mind, keep your place there in Isaiah. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah. Isaiah 54 and verse 7, the Bible says this, and notice how this connects with what we read earlier in Psalm 30. For a small moment, this is God speaking, for a small moment have I forsaken thee. but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath, notice the words, I hid my face from thee for a moment. But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." Again, I want you to notice the emphasis in Scripture, and the emphasis in Scripture is this, that for those of us that are saved, the endurance of God's wrath on us, he says it's a moment. He says, for a small moment have I forsaken thee. He says, I may forsake, and of course we're not talking about losing your eternal salvation here, we're talking about God's help and blessing upon our lives. He says, for a small moment have I forsaken thee. He says, but with great mercies I will gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness. That's not a moment, that's forever will I have mercy on thee. And you'll notice that that's similar to what David said there in Psalm 30 when he said, In verse number five, his anger endureth, but a moment in his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. So we see David's punishment. And then we see David's prophet. I want you to notice that there, and if you go back to, if you're there in Psalm 30, or go back to Psalm 30, keep your place in Isaiah, go back to Psalm 30. Look at verse eight. He said, I cried to thee, O Lord. And unto the Lord I made supplication. We'll come back to that, look at verse nine. What prophet is there? I want you to notice this because we've actually seen David do this already in other Psalms. And I just think it's interesting because maybe it's not, you know, I think you and I might think if you and I did this, we might think we're being carnal and David maybe was being carnal, I don't know. But we've seen him do it in more than one Psalm. And he says this, what prophet is there in my blood? when I go down to the pit. And what he's saying to God is this, Lord, if you kill me, what are you going to get out of that? What prophet is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? He says, shall the dust praise thee? So we see not only the prophet of David, but the praise of David. Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? And here what David is saying, he's saying, if you kill me, if you let me go down to the grave, if you let me go down and become dust, he said, am I going to praise you from the grave? Will I declare thy truth? He says, I've only written up to Psalm 30. There's 150 of these that we have to get through God. He says, if you kill me now, that's what he's saying. And we've seen him do that already in other Psalms. But what I want you to notice is this, that David has a belief that he was going to die. Now maybe he's speaking metaphorically. I don't know, I don't think so. In fact, if you look back at verse number two, notice what he says. Psalm 30 in verse two, he says, O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou has, notice the words, healed me. O Lord, thou has brought up my soul from the grave. Thou has, notice these words, kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. So the wording that David is using here, it sounds like he thought I am as good as dead. Now, if you go back to 1 Chronicles 21, we've been looking at David's punishment from Psalm 30. And what is the punishment? Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. What is his punishment? He says, he says, thou has, afterwards, he says, you healed me. Afterwards, he says, you brought my soul up from the grave. Afterwards, he says, you kept me alive. Afterwards, he says, you did not let me go down to the pit. While he's going through it, he says, What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? What are you going to get out of killing me? So it sounds like David thought, I'm going to die. Now compare that to 1 Chronicles 21, look at verse 11. Remember the story? David says to Joab, go count the people. Joab says, why? Why are you going to do this? It doesn't matter. They're all your servants. Whatever that number is, let the Lord make it a hundred times that. But don't do this, David. And David, the Bible says this word prevailed. Look at verse 11 in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 11. The Bible says, so God came to David. and said unto him, thus saith the Lord, choose thee either. It's interesting because God sends this prophet to David and he says, all right, David, you counted the people and you weren't supposed to. Now you're gonna have to take your punishment. And God actually, in this story, what's interesting about the story is that God actually gives David three options. Have you ever done that with your kids? Where you're like, okay, you can get this or this can happen or this can, you choose. Well, this is what God does with David. He says, and he gives him three options and they're, Three options of three. Notice verse 12. He says, either three years famine. So verse 11, thus saith the Lord, choose thee. So you can choose. It's a choose your own punishment adventure here for David. Either three years of famine. So he said you can have three years of the land going through famine. So it's longer, but it's a little more bearable. Or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtake thee. And again, David kind of focuses in on that one because if this is towards the end of David's life, David's already done this. You know, David's already ran from Saul and was hiding from Saul while Saul was hunting him down. David was already running from Absalom and hiding from Absalom while Absalom was hunting him down. So when David hears, you know, three days the sword, or excuse me, three months to be destroyed before thy foes, you know, he's got some PTSD there. He's like, I don't want that. I've already done enough of that. Saul already did that to me. Absalom already did that to me. So then, here's the third option, or else three days. So this is the shortest of the options, but it's the most severe of the options. Three days, the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence. So you can get three years of famine, or you can get three months of persecution, or you can get three days of pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coast of Israel. Now therefore, advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. Notice the response, verse 13. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strain. And I think that's what we probably all would say in this situation. He says, this is a difficult decision to make. This is a hard decision to make. And what David does is he says, let me fall now into the hand of the Lord. And what he chooses is that third response. And some people argue whether he's choosing any response or just letting God decide. But the third option was the option of the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence. And David says, fall now into the hand of the Lord. And then he says, he says, here's why I chose that one. Even though it's more severe and it's a shorter time, but he says, this is what I'm counting on. This is what I'm betting on. Look at the last part of verse 13. He says, for very great are his mercies, but let me not fall into the hand of man. And again, David, he's already ran from Saul. He's already ran from Absalom. He knows how people are just disloyal and how they are without mercy. He says, I don't want to have to deal with that. He said, let me fall into the hands of the Lord. He said, because if there's one thing I know about the Lord, it's this, that He is very great are His mercies. He says, let me not fall into the hands of man. Notice verse 14. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel, notice it, 70,000 men. 70,000 people died as a result of this. And of course the lesson for us is this, that our sin is always going to affect others. It's going to hurt others. And what's interesting too is that what is it that David was doing? He was counting the people. And what is it that he gets? He gets a count of the dead bodies. And oftentimes the thing that we pride ourselves in is the one thing that God's going to destroy in our lives and get rid of. So the Lord sent the pestilence and there fell of Israel 70,000 men, verse 15. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. So the pestilence is coming through and now we get to the city of Jerusalem. This is where David lives. And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough. Stay now thine hand. Stay now means don't go further. Stay right there. Stop. Stay now in thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood, notice the words here, by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Now I want you to get the picture here, because the angel Lord is coming through. And I mean, the Bible says, with the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence. When I, you know, you might as well make a movie out of this thing. When I envision this, I envision some bad looking angel, you know, some mean looking angel. with a sword that's pestilence, and he's just bringing destruction. He comes to Jerusalem, he's destroying, but then God has a change of mind. He repented him of the evil and said unto the angel that destroyed, it is enough, stay now thy hand. And the angel of the Lord stood. So he's just there, you know, God says stop, and he just stops. And he stood and where he stopped happened to be the threshing floor of Ordan the Jebusite. Notice verse 16. So not only was it that the Lord, why did the Lord say stop? Because God could have said stop anywhere. Why was it that the Lord said, stop here? Two reasons. Number one, because where this threshing floor of water in the Jebusite is, is where God wants the temple to be built. So he's emphasizing that. But not only that, verse 16 tells us that David happens to be there. I mean, it's like the angel of the Lord is coming with the sword of his pestilence and David is looking up and he's thinking to himself, I'm as good as dead. I'm done. God's gonna kill me. I mean, this is the end. Which resonates with what he says in Psalm 30. When he says that God healed me. When he says, looking for the verses, I don't have them in front of me right now. Good night, I don't know why I can't find that. Let me look at it, Psalm 30. Look at verse eight. I cried unto the Lord, and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Look up at verse 1 when he says, I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. The verse seems to indicate that maybe David was being affected by the pestilence that killed these 70,000 people, but he says, God healed me. Look at verse 3. He said, I was as good as dead. And again, maybe David is just saying that at the dedication of his house that he lives in, but it kind of makes sense that he's writing that in the dedication of the house of the Lord, because this is what brought him here, where the Bible says in this very dramatic fashion, that the angel of the Lord, with the sword of the Lord, is coming to destroy Jerusalem, where David lives, where David is. And God says, And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor, born in the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Can you see why David might say, You kept me alive. You preserved me. Then David and the elders of Israel who were clothed in sackcloth, make a note of that, they were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. What do we see next in our psalm? Go back to Psalm 30. What did we just see in the story? When the angel ends, the Bible says that David and the elders of Israel, last part of verse 16, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. Where does our psalm continue? Look at verse 8, we see David's plea. I cried to thee, O Lord, and unto thee, Lord, I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper. Now compare that to David's plea. If you go back to 1 Chronicles 21, if you look at verse 16, the way that verse 16 ends, it says, Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, look at verse 17, is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I? that have sinned and done evil indeed? But as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on thy people, that they should be plagued." So I want you to notice that David here, of course, has a plea to God. He's confessing to God, and he's saying, Lord, I'm the one that commanded. He says, is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? He's saying, is it not I that have sinned and done evil? He questions, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. And what David is asking here is when he's asking God for mercy. We saw that in Psalm 30. I cried unto thee, I made supplication. He said, have mercy, be thou my helper. But he's asking for mercy for the people. And he's saying, Lord, I'm the one that did wrong. I'm the one that sinned. Take it out on me, and don't hurt these people. And when we find ourselves in times in our lives when God is angry with us, then this is the way that we should pray, is, Lord, I've sinned. Don't hurt these sheep. But as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord, my God, be on me. What's interesting to me about David is that we find, I think, we don't find anybody else in the Bible getting right with God as many times as we see David getting right with God. I mean, he's just constantly, and this is what differentiates him from Saul and other individuals, is that he cries out to the Lord. for mercy and be that my helper. And it doesn't mean that there weren't consequences. Of course, there were consequences. He got right in Psalm 50 after adultery with Bathsheba, but he still had to deal with Absalom and all that mess. And here he's lost the opportunity to build the temple. He's not going to build a temple, but he can at least begin to help and prepare the next generation to do what he was unable to do. Go back to Psalm 30, look at verse 9. And then we see his praise. First we saw the prophet, what prophet is there in my blood? Then we saw the pit, when I go down to the pit. Then we see the praise, shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? So that's the explanation. Remember, I told you we'd spend most of our time there. In verses one through four, we saw the exaltation. In verse five, we saw the expectation. In verses six through nine, we saw the explanation. But then quickly tonight, notice in verses 10 through 11, we see the exchange. Notice what happens here. Look at verse 10 just for context. Here, O Lord, and have mercy upon me, Lord, be Thou my helper. Verse 11, he says, Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing. Thou has put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. If you remember in 1 Chronicles 21-16, we saw that David and the elders of Israel were clothed in sackcloth. They fell upon their faces. Here, he's saying, you turned the mourning into dancing. You took my sackcloth. What's sackcloth? Sackcloth is a coarse, rough fabric made from goat's hair or other rough materials similar to burlap. And it was worn in the Bible. You'll see this throughout the Bible as a symbol of mourning, as a symbol of repentance, as a symbol of deep humility, of getting right with God. And here David says, you have turned my mourning into dancing. He says, you put off the sackcloth and girded me with gladness. So what we see is this exchange where God changes the mourning into dancing, the sackcloth into gladness. And again, we see this in the Bible. Let me just give you some examples real quickly. If you can go back to Isaiah, I'm not sure if you kept your place there. I think I asked you to keep your place there. If you look at Isaiah chapter 61 and verse 3, Isaiah 61 and verse 3. And while you turn there, let me just read to you from Esther. Remember the story of Esther? Esther and Mordecai. And remember Haman and how he was going to persecute the Jews and he set up this day to kill all the Jews. And of course, you know the story. God turned that whole thing around. In Esther chapter 9 and verse 22, the Bible says this, And I'm not going to sit here and preach the whole book of Esther, but if you remember the story, There were supposed to be these days that were supposed to be bad days, where they were going to be persecuted, where they were going to be killed. They basically made it legal to kill all the Jews. And because Esther, and because she went to the king, and because of Mordecai, God turned that around, and He turned the days from a day of sorrow to a day of joy, from a day of mourning to a good day. Notice Isaiah 61 and verse 3. Isaiah 61 and verse 3, the Bible says this, to a point unto them. that mourn in Zion. Notice the words here. He says to give unto them beauty. Notice how beautiful the Bible is. Beauty for ashes. Ashes aren't beautiful. In fact, ashes are just the evidence of destruction. If you've got a pile of ashes, it's because something burnt down. Because something was destroyed. But God says that he can give them beauty for ashes. He can give the oil of joy for mourning. He can give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness and the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Do you believe that God can turn mourning into dancing? And he can turn sackcloth into gladness. Do you believe that God can bring something beautiful out of ashes? Because this is what the Bible says about God. The Bible says that all things work together for good. And look, you and I, we mess things up, and David messed things up. But God can turn mourning into dancing. Sackcloth into gladness. He can take the joy, the ashes, and turn them into beauty. And he can take off the spirit of heaviness and give you a garment of praise. So we see the exchange of David. And I want you to notice lastly, if you can make your way back to Psalm 30, we see the end of David. In verse 12 the Bible says, to the end. And the idea is this, that this is, he's saying this is the whole point, this was the whole end game of this story that I'm telling you. He says, to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee. And if you remember how he started the story, because remember the story begins in verse 6, verses 1 through 5 are statements leading us to the story. In verse 6, the story begins this way, So the story begins with my pride and bringing glory to myself. The story ends with, to the end, that my glory, whatever glory that I happen to have, that it would sing praise to Thee. that it would glorify you and not be silent, O Lord my God. He says, I will give thanks unto thee forever. So I hope you can see, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this Psalm 30 is about the story found in First Chronicles 21, but it seems to line up. It seems to go together, and it seems that this was why David would write this as a dedication. And the big takeaway, the key, portion of the psalm I'd like to just remind you is there in verse 5. He says, for his anger endureth but for a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. And we thank you for these psalms and the truths they teach us. And Lord, we pray you'd help us. And sometimes we find ourselves in these situations, but help us to remember that your anger endureth for a moment. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to realize that sometimes we burn things down, but you can bring beauty out of ashes, and you can turn weeping into gladness. And Lord, we pray that you'd help us to remember these things and be comforted by it. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. All right, well, we have a baptism tonight, so we're going to go ahead and prepare for baptism as we sing the