This evening we go to Psalm 27, which we just sang a versification of. Psalm 27 is Psalm of David. Fairly familiar to most of us, I would think. This evening we'll read the entire Psalm, verses 1-14, but we will have a special focus on verses 1-6. Psalm 27, we will begin at verse 1. Congregation, this is the Word of the Lord. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When you said, Seek my face, my heart said to you, Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Thus far the reading of God's holy word. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the allegory Pilgrim's Progress. It was written by John Bunyan several centuries ago. And it was meant to show Christians what their walk of faith looked like, what kind of things may happen, what kind of trials may come their way, what good things the Lord would do along the walk of the Christian life. And so one of the characters that is in this book, as a man named Little Faith. Little Faith. Little Faith was on the same journey as the main character in the book, and his name was Christian. Well, Christian was walking along the way to the Celestial City, which was meant to be a symbol of heaven, a symbol of getting to where we're headed in this Christian life, to be there with the Lord. And so as Little Faith walked on his way, He had with him a pouch that had a special jewel in it, and it was his birthright. This special jewel was meant to be a sign that he could enter into the celestial city. And yet as he walked down the road, he was mugged, he was robbed, he was beaten to the ground. And the robbers took all of his cash, and yet they left his special jewel, his birthright as he called it. So that would, this promise that he could indeed enter the celestial city. But as time went on, little Faith had less and less faith. He forgot that he had this precious jewel and he focused on the fact that he had lost some of his cash, some of his money. He was upset, he was hopeless, he had little faith. He had lost his pennies. but he had forgotten the priceless treasure that he carried with him. Indeed, the Lord had protected him. The Lord had shielded the most important thing in his life, his faith. And yet he seems to despair. But by God's grace, David is here able to offer us a better picture of what Christian confidence looks like in Psalm 27. He begins by making the case for Christian confidence in God our Savior, and then he shows what this confidence looks like in action. And so we first see the case for confidence, and then we will see this confidence in action. And so first, the case. If we look again at Psalm 27 verse 1, We see this, that the Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And so the Lord is David's light. But what does it mean that the Lord is David's light? What is he trying to get across to us by using the word light? Well, in the Old Testament and the Bible throughout, light is a source of joy and happiness. The Lord is close to those he loves. And there's a relationship with those whom he sheds his light upon. We could think about it this way, just as a husband may say to his friend, ah, my wife, she's the light of my life. His eyes twinkle and he tells how much he loves his wife, how precious to him she really is. His relationship with his wife brings him joy, happiness, and excitement. And so it is with the Lord on a far larger and more real way. The Lord is our only source of happiness. Trusting in Him is the only way that we can find any type of joy in this life. Trusting in the Lord is the only way that we could ever find happiness. To seek it elsewhere, we will be in darkness forever and ever. but the light of the Lord also brightens the path of the believer. It sheds light on his way. It shows him what the Lord's will is, how he is to act, how he is to worship the Lord. And so in Psalm 119 verse 105, David says, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. The Lord's word is our joy and the Lord's word is a guide for us. It's a rule of faith in life. And so as David describes the Lord as his light, as his salvation and strength, he's unfolding for us who God actually is. We get a little window in these words into the attributes of God. Again, the light, God is our source of hope and joy and therefore our only object of worship. David says that the Lord is his and our salvation and so he is our savior. Some of the commentators discussing this passage said that perhaps David wrote this psalm when he was being pursued by Saul, or perhaps when he was old, looking back upon his life, seeing all the wonderful things the Lord had done to redeem him. And so we also see that David says in Psalm 51 that, against you only, to the Lord he says this, against you only have I sinned. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And so the Lord sheds light upon his way, and the Lord is his Savior, giving him a new heart, knowing that he's a sinner and that he needs a Savior. So the Lord is, he's light, he's salvation, and also the Lord is a source of strength. Perhaps a better way to translate that word, strength, that we read in verse 1 could be that the Lord is a protector. It could be that He is a fortress. He's a place of harbor from the storm, a place of protection from enemies. And so the Lord, not only does He shed light upon our path, not only does He provide us salvation, He is our source of strength. He is the one in whom we have hope, the one who protects us from our enemies, the one who gives us safety from all of our enemies. The Lord is a fortress. And so John Calvin looks at light, salvation, and strength. He said this is a three-fold shield. You could think of it as it's got three strong layers that are impenetrable by the arrows of the evil one and by the attacks of the world. And so, knowing that we have this great shield of trusting God who provides these beautiful things for us, we can say with David, whom shall I fear? Of whom shall my heart be afraid? Paul puts it like this in Romans 8 verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for us, who can be against us? There is no one greater. There is no one stronger than God. There is no one who is able to breach God's fortress. If he is for us, who could possibly be against us? And so as David looked at his life, should he fear a Goliath? Should David be afraid of Saul who wanted to kill him? Should David be afraid of Absalom, who was chasing after him and trying to steal his father's throne? Should he fear these things? So David speaks as one who had endured much oppression. He was the object of so many attacks in his life from enemies. So he can speak of this faith, he can speak of this three-fold shield from his own personal experience. He was very well acquainted with what oppression looked like, with what it was like to have enemies at his gate all day long. And we can see this in verses 2 and 3. Look there with me. Verses 2 and 3 of Psalm 27. When the wicked came up against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. In this I will be confident. He can say I'm confident in some pretty dire circumstances. A man who is surrounded by his enemies. And so we see here that our enemies in life are truly brutal. Did you catch how it said the wicked are coming up to eat my flesh? The wicked are coming to eat my flesh. It's a pretty gruesome and disgusting image if you think about it. But the enemies of God are never benign. The enemies of God are never neutral. They're never a gray area. No, the enemies of God seek to destroy God, and they seek to destroy His people. They're not to be trifled with. They are bloodthirsty. Sin, death, and the devil are relentless in their pursuit of God's people. But the Bible, God's Word, does not shy away from this reality. It doesn't pretend that it's not real. It doesn't pretend that the struggles we have in this life, the enemies that we share, the Bible doesn't pretend that it's not a big deal or that it's something to be looked over. In fact, upon our Lord's disciples' profession of faith in Him, when we read in John 16, Jesus tells His disciples that they will betray Him and that they are certain to experience trials in the very near future. If you look with me at John chapter 16, beginning at verse 31. Here Jesus says to his disciples, Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Jesus knows what is coming, and yet he says, be of good cheer, I have overcome these things. So David's greater son, Jesus, the Son of God, is reminding his followers that in spite of his tribulation, he has overcome these things. That yes, there will be trial, yes, there will be tribulation, but they don't have the last word. He does. In his death, it appears that the world has had the victory, and yet atonement has been made. And in his glorious resurrection, death has been undone, not just spiritually, but physically. We have a spiritual and physical resurrection because of this Christ, this glorious Savior. And so upon hearing this promise, Jesus' disciples could only trust. But again, David knew the struggle. David knew the struggle was real. Saul was coming for his head. Sin marred his own reign, as we said. And as king, his own son staged a coup in hopes of taking the throne. And so God's Word does not minimize the damage our foes are capable of. In fact, it recognizes that there is real and true evil in this world, and that our enemies are not imaginary. They are not figments of our imagination. They're not overstated, no. They are capable of creating havoc in our lives. But David can finish in verse 3, the last line by saying, in this I will be confident. David knows that yes, these enemies are real, but they will stumble and they will fall. Their defeat is certain. There's no question that the defeat will come. There's no question that defeat has come for David's enemies. The enemies of David, our enemies of sin and death and the devil, they're no match for God. David's shield, his deliverer, his saving God, and his strength is the same God that we worship, that we serve. The same God who is our light, our life, our strength, and our Savior. The Lord had established his everlasting covenant with David, and his son, greater son Jesus Christ, reigns on the throne, on his throne forever. So how did David respond to oppression? We know that he says, I will be confident that my enemies will come. I'm confident that they will be destroyed, that they will be put down. Well, how did this work out in his life? If we were to look at 1 Samuel 17 verse 37, we see how he responded to Goliath. Moreover David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine who is Goliath. So David knew that the same Lord who could deliver him from an animal could deliver him from a giant, a giant who the entire army of Israel was afraid. So it's not as if David has something special within himself, it's not that David was all-powerful No, David's strength lied in the fact that it was the Lord who would deliver him victory over the Philistine. He could recall the Lord's acts of mercy in his life. Well, how did David respond? To Saul chasing after him and trying to kill him. Again, if you were to turn in 1 Samuel, we could go to chapter 24, verse 15, where David has an opportunity to finally kill Saul and to end his reign of terror over David. You know, what does David say to Saul in that time? He says, And so was it going to be David who could deliver himself from Saul? Would it be David who would put Saul's wicked reign to rest? No, it was the Lord. David said, I let the Lord plead my case. He will deliver me. I will not deliver myself. The Lord will deliver me. Again, he rests in this. In this he is confident that the Lord would put to rest his enemies, that his foes would be put down. And so David could again recall the Lord's glorious works of redemption in his life. And in doing so, even amongst great struggle, he could put his faith and trust in the God who saved him, in the God who was his only source of strength. He could do so not because he was David the great warrior, or that he had power in himself, but because God was his salvation and his strength. And so the Lord does the same for us. He gives us a confidence. The Holy Spirit feeds and nurtures our faith by bringing to mind the Lord's great works of redemption and applying those great works of redemption to us. So just as David remembers the many times the Lord had delivered him from the hands of wicked men, he recalls that he has redeemed his life from the pit. And so do we. With David, we recall what the Lord has done for us against our enemies. In Romans 5, verse 8, Paul tells us this. But God demonstrates his own love for us toward us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us who were enemies, and yet he treated us like brothers. And so Jesus places him in the hands of God. If you would, look at me at Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, we'll start reading at verse 39, when our Lord is in the garden of Gethsemane. Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives, as he was accustomed. And his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them and about to a stone's throw. And he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven and strengthened him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer, and having come to the disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow." Jesus placed himself into his father's hands. He knew what his father's plan was for him. That he was to lay down his life for his sheep. That he was to win the most decisive battle of all time. He knew that he faced what he was facing, and he willingly accepted his role in the God's plan of redemption, in redeeming his people by defeating death and Satan, and by atoning for their sins, and doing what they could not do, follow the law of God perfectly. You see, this was the reason that David could rejoice in his salvation. Even though he only knew it, that Christ would come by types and shadows, he couldn't put a name to it. And yet the law and the sacrificial system pointed to what would happen. And so we see this, brothers and sisters, in the means of grace, in the preaching of the Word and in the sacraments. In the preaching of the word we hear our dire need proclaimed. We hear that we're sinners. The law accuses us. We know that we're lost in sin and we know that we're helpless on our own, unable to defeat our enemies. Unable to make ourselves right before God, to provide our own salvation. And yet in preaching we hear the great and good news of the gospel, that Jesus Christ came for us, that he died for us, that he was raised for our justification, that he did this for poor and needy sinners who were his enemies. And just last Sunday we celebrated the Lord's Supper. We heard the words, take, eat, remember, and believe. We tasted with our mouths what our ears could hear. We know that the Lord is good, and we know that He is our Savior. Just as surely as we taste that bread and drink that cup, we know that the Lord has saved us. We know that our enemies, that sin, death, and the devil have stumbled, that they have fallen. And congregation, in this we can take great confidence. Whom shall we fear? If we think back to our friend Little Faith, Little Faith had forgotten what David remembered. Even as Little Faith was surrounded by his enemies, the Lord and giver of his birthright had handily defeated his enemies, and yet he denied it. The Lord is our light and our salvation. Whom shall we fear? Yes, our enemies strike, but they cannot deliver the death blow. So David isn't saying that Faith removes us from the battle, though the battle does rage on every day. But what David is saying is that our faith provides us with the only proper defense in battle. The only shield which can stand up in the heat of the battle. You see, shields and fortresses are not peacetime instruments. Shields and fortresses are wartime instruments. And so trusting in ourselves or anything else is like going up against a tank with a shield made out of popsicle sticks and tissue paper. Trust in the Lord, however, shows us that we are surrounded by a great fortress which is more impenetrable than even Fort Knox. It's not that we have no fear whatsoever indeed. We still mourn. We mourn loss. We suffer tragedy. We get sick with disease. We struggle with our own sin. We experience pain. But we don't surrender to these fears because we know that the shield of faith is in our hands and it cannot and it will never fail us. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 of the armor of faith. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with the prayer and supplication of the Spirit, being watchful to the sin, and with all perseverance and supplication for the saints. And so, in God's great story of redemption, the plot has not changed from the old covenant to the new. The only path to victory is to trust the One who is our light, our strength, and our salvation. The Lord is not unsympathetic to our struggles. He has reached down and been so gracious to us. He knows our frailty and our weakness, and yet He provides so bountifully for us. And so we have before us a wonderful case for confidence in the Lord who is our shield. But what does having this confidence do for us? What does it do in us? What actions does it bring forth from us? What does it lead to? Where did it lead David? Being convinced of such great confidence must lead to some type of action, and indeed it does. Look with me at Psalm 27, verses 4 and 5. One thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. David says he desires one thing. After all this he says, one thing I desire. And that is worship. He desires to worship this great God, this saving God. But he says there are two purposes to his worship. One purpose is to behold the beauty of the Lord. And two, to inquire of the Lord in his temple. It's why David can say in Psalm 122 verse 1, I was glad when they sent unto me. Let us go unto the house of the Lord. And so as we worship the Lord and as we behold His beauty, what does that mean? Well, beholding the beauty of the Lord means that we are drawn to Him for who He is. He is a just and loving God. He is merciful. He is powerful. He is taking care of His sheep. And so, as this richness sinks in of who God is and what God has done for us, we can't help ourselves but worship Him. It was in the temple of the Lord where the God's people gathered to celebrate His mighty acts, where His mighty acts and saving acts were proclaimed. It's where the sacrifices were made. And so beholding God's beauty means that we marvel at His greatness and that we bend the knee of our heart and worship and praise for all He is and all He does. We are gathered here today to do just that. Here this evening we are gathered to behold the beauty of God. We are encouraged by His Word to see Him for who He is. He is our light. He is our salvation. He is our strength. He is our only hope. This almighty Redeemer who has provided such a beautiful and glorious salvation. A loving Father who protects His children, whose trials and tribulations never go unnoticed. It's a beautiful God who we are drawn to worship. He is glorious indeed. And so we gather today to hear His will, to seek Him in prayer, and to make our requests known to Him as well. That's what it means to inquire of the Lord. We want to know what His will is for our lives. We want to know what it means to be saved. We want to know what it means to respond to that salvation. We also want to inquire of Him, to bring our request to Him, to make them known to Him, that He may answer us. And so as we act in confidence and in faith and in worship, our confidence is once again reinforced. We are encouraged more and more. So it goes from realizing that we're so, realize the glorious gospel, we respond in praise, and even in doing so, our faith is nourished. So again, if we will look at verse five and six, we see how this is. Psalm 27, verses five and six. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. Therefore, I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. The Lord's provision is certain. David has seen it. David has worshipped because of it. And David is once again saying, I know in the future the Lord will do this, and I know I will praise the Lord for this. And so the Christian life consists of trusting that God has saved us, that he will provide for all our needs. It moves us to praise. And our faith grows as we nurture, as we are nurtured by the word, as we are nurtured by the means of grace. And so as we live our lives of praise, we worship God with our mouths and with our lives. Congregation, let us sing. Yes, let us sing praises to the Lord as we behold His beauty and as we inquire of Him this day. Yes, our Lord is good and merciful to us. He is our light, He is our salvation, and He is our only fortress. Praise be to God. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we praise You that indeed You are our only rock in salvation, that You are our strength and shield. May this faith be nurtured in our hearts by Your Spirit. And may it move us to praise You. May it move us to trust You more and more. And Father, we thank You for this great and glorious news. We ask this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, alone. Amen.