Clean Transcript

Do You Want To Be Saved?

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• Bibles today to Psalm 3, Psalm 3. And since it's a very short Psalm, we will read all eight verses. So I would also ask that you find in your Bibles, 2 Samuel and mark it because we'll be looking at several passages there later. But look in Psalm 3, the title of the message is, "Do You Want to Be Saved?" Notice verse 1 of Psalm 3, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?"

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• "Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. Selah." Now, every time you see the little word Selah, it's just a Hebrew word that literally means pause. Stop, think about what has just been written. So he says, "Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." So here's my question.

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• Do you want to be saved? I want you to think about that question. I'm going to ask it again. Do you want to be saved? And your response would be, "Well, Pastor, I'm already a Christian." So I'll ask it again another way. Do you want to be saved? And you're going to respond and say, "Well, I've already told you I have been regenerated and converted." So I'm going to ask you one more time. Do you want to be saved? By now, you're probably confused and wondering why I keep repeating this question over and over.

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• And there's a real reason for that. And that is because when the average Christian hears the word salvation or saved, he immediately thinks of what you and I would call soul salvation or spiritual salvation. So let me point out the fact that salvation does not necessarily need to be spiritual or soul salvation in order to be salvation. Neither does the word saved, as it's frequently used in the Bible, refer to what you and I would call spiritual or soul salvation. What we've done in our day and time is we have reversed the thinking of the first century Judahites. For instance, if you happen to be in Judea around Jerusalem, say around 50 or 60 A.D., and you ask one, "Do you want to be saved?" the response would be, "Well, yes, of course." But when you ask them, do they want to be saved? And they responded, yes, they were referring to a military salvation because they did not want to be under the control of the Roman empire. And so if you were to ask them, "Well, do you want to trust the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved?"

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• "Have your sins forgiven?" "Well, of course not. We don't recognize Jesus Christ as Lord." So what we've done today is this, we've reversed the thinking of those Judahites, and we now tend to think that every time we hear the word salvation or saved, it has to refer then to a spiritual salvation or a soul salvation, which is not true because the word salvation and the word saved

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• are used in many different ways in the Bible. I want you to hold Psalm 3, but I want you to go ahead and turn to the book of Philippians chapter 1, and I want you to listen to a verse that I'm going to quote, and then I'm going to ask you a question or two. In Philippians 1 and verse 19, the apostle Paul said this, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ." Now, Paul said, "I know that this shall turn to my salvation." So here's a question. Was the apostle Paul unsaved? Was the apostle Paul a lost man? Was he unconverted?

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• And the answer is, of course not. He was saved. He was converted. Well, how in the world could he say in verse 19, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer"? Well, the answer is you have to understand the context. In the context, the apostle Paul was in prison. Look in verse 12, he says, "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds," that is he's in chains, "so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

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• "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." So the salvation that the apostle Paul was talking about in Philippians 1 and verse 19 was deliverance from prison. He said, "I know this will get me out of prison." So salvation in this context is just simply a deliverance from prison.

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• You remember in Exodus chapter 14, when Moses had led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they were hemmed in, the Red Sea was in front of them, the wilderness was on either side of them, and Pharaoh and his army was coming up behind them. And in verse 13 of Exodus 14, Moses said this unto the people. He said, "Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom you've seen today, you shall see no more forever." So when he said, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord," he was talking about a military salvation because God was going to destroy Pharaoh and his armies.

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• So very clearly then the word salvation had nothing to do with what you and I would simply refer to as a spiritual or soul salvation. The same thing is found in 1 Samuel chapter 11 in verse 13, where the Ammonites had been defeated by the Judahites. And it was King Saul, he said, "There shall not be a man put to death this day. For today, the Lord has brought salvation in Israel." What salvation? A military salvation. The Ammonites had been defeated. So the statement then refers to a military salvation. The same thing is true in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20 and verse 17, because the Ammonites and the Moabites and some others had attacked the people of God. And God said this, listen carefully. He said to Jehoshaphat the king, "You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand you still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you."

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• "O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them for the Lord will be with you." And so when they went out the next day, what did they find? The Ammonites and the Moabites and the others had turned upon each other and killed themselves and killed each other. And the next thing you know, they were there for about seven days, just stripping the slain.

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• But what did God say? "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord," which was in that instance, a military salvation.

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• Now, if you look in Psalm 14 and verse 7, you'll find this passage also in Psalm 137. Here you actually read about a political salvation. Psalm 14 verse 7, "Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion. When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad." So when he says, "Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion," he's talking about a political salvation.

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• That is, they're being delivered from the wicked and from the enemies that are ruling over them. Now, I want you to go ahead and turn to Psalm 91, because in this passage, you can also see that salvation refers not just to a political or a military salvation, but in this instance, it can also refer to a prosperous, profitable, and healthy salvation, which refers to a long life and good things with the blessings of God. So in verse 16 of Psalm 91, "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

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• What is he talking about? Well, he's going to live a long time. He's going to be blessed. He's going to have a good life. He's going to be prosperous. His life will be profitable. And so salvation here is just simply referred to that. Now look, if you would, back to Psalm 74, Psalm 74 and verse 12, just to show you how broad the term salvation is. Psalm 74 verse 12. The Bible says, "For God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." So when the Bible says that God is king and he's working salvation in the midst of the earth, it does not necessarily refer just to a spiritual or soul salvation, but all different kinds of salvation. So you have to understand there is a political salvation. There's a military salvation. There would be an economic salvation. There'd be all kinds of salvation.

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• We can be saved from our enemies. We can be saved from anything and everything that oppresses us. So I can ask my question again. Now, do you want to be saved? And when you stop and think about that, the question is very appropriate for today. Because once again, there's that personal, political, military, economic, and spiritual salvation, as well as what you and I would call salvation from ill health and a number of other evils as well.

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• Now, I want you to understand Psalm 3, and I want you to look back at Psalm 3, and you must understand the context. And once you begin to see the context, you're going to see how applicable this Psalm is for today. So if you want to know why David wrote this Psalm, you need to look at the heading. Most of you will have headings. So right under Psalm 3, it says this, "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son." So this Psalm then was written when David was fleeing from Absalom. So clearly the salvation that is spoken of in this psalm would refer to a political salvation and also for a military salvation as well. So again when you read the word salvation in this psalm it is not going to refer to what you and I would normally think as a spiritual soul salvation. Now I want you to look at verse 1 but go ahead and find in your Bibles, 2 Samuel chapter 15, 2 Samuel chapter 15 and hold 2 Samuel because we will be back there several times in order that we might understand this psalm.

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• So if you look in Psalm 3 and verse 1, David begins this psalm and he says, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me." So that verse is explained back in 2 Samuel 15 verses 12 and 13. So look at it. 2 Samuel 15 verse 12, "And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices." Now look, "And the conspiracy was strong and the people increased continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom." So when you look at verse 1, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me?" Yes, of course, obviously, because here was a conspiracy now to overthrow David. Now, many were indeed rising up against him, and this caused many people to castigate David. Look in verse 2. "Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God." In other words, people were saying it's over for David.

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• He's done for. He's out of the kingdom. He's going to be killed. He's going to be overrun.

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• Now, you have to remember the animosity, the sarcasm, and the downright vulgarity and hatred that was hurled at David and his family, I might add, as he fled Jerusalem. So if you look back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 16, beginning there with verse 5, you'll just see one illustration of it. 2 Samuel 16 verse 5. "And when the king, when King David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David and at all the servants of the King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, 'Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial.'" Now a man of Belial is a man of the devil. He says in verse 8, "The Lord has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned."

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• "And the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son, and behold, thou art taken in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man." So here is Shimei just cursing David, and I might add, lying through his teeth. You remember how it was David who spared King Saul. It was David who spared Jonathan, Mephibosheth, and he did not even slay Ishbosheth who took the throne. No. And so Shimei is cursing him and calling him a bloody man.

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• And I think wrongly so, but that's how much hatred and vulgarity was being cursed upon him and placed upon his head. Now there are other passages in scripture that also demonstrate this fact. For instance, Psalm 42 in verse 3, David said, "My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me, 'Where is thy God?'" In other words, if you're God's man, why are you running?

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• Why is he not helping you? Why are you not in the palace? And he said it again in Psalm 42 and verse 10, "As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me saying unto me daily, 'Where is thy God?'" In other words, if you're right with God and God is right, hey, he ought to be doing something to deliver you. So when you look at the first two verses, you understand that the nation basically is rising up against him and they're cursing him.

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• Now, I want you to pay close attention to verses 3 through 5. David says, "But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked for the Lord sustained me." You know, it is absolutely astounding and amazing to me that in spite of the vast conspiracy and in spite of the fact that David's own counselor, Ahithophel, had now joined in the rebellion with Absalom. Moreover, Absalom, David's own son, has now run him off the throne, endeavoring to steal the kingdom and murder his father and undoubtedly the rest of the family as well. It's amazing and astounding to me that David could sleep at all.

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• But notice what he said. "I laid me down and slept. I awaked for the Lord sustained me." Wow. Can you imagine? David sleeping well with such turmoil going on?

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• Now, I think the reason for his beneficial sleep was first and foremost based upon the mercy and the goodness and the grace of God. Secondly, undoubtedly, David had asked for such rest because he was under intense pressure. Thirdly, I think also involved in this rest was his acquiescence to the will of God. In other words, his submission was this, "Lord, if you want me off the throne and out of Jerusalem, wonderful. If you want me in the wilderness, wonderful. Lord, I'm willing to be wherever you want me to be." And I think also that David sensed and understood in one sense of the word that this was part and parcel of the consequences of his sin. Because you remember where God told him in 2 Samuel 12, "You did this thing secretly, but I'm gonna do this before all Israel under the sun. Everybody's gonna see, everybody's gonna know." And so David then understood, I believe in some sense of the word, that this was part of his reaping what he had sown.

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• Now, so evidently he had a good night's sleep and he said, "I laid me down and slept and I awaked for the Lord sustained me." Now I want you to look at verse 6. He said, "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about." I will not be afraid of ten thousands. Now, I want you to go back to 2 Samuel. Look in chapter 17. Look, if you would please, at the counsel that Hushai gave to Absalom. Look at it. 2 Samuel chapter 17 and begin there with verse 11. Hushai says, "Therefore, I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee from Dan even to Beersheba." Now, wait a minute. Dan was the northernmost tribe and Beersheba was the southernmost city. So he says, "I counsel thee that all Israel be gathered unto thee from Dan even to Beersheba as the sand that is by the sea for multitude and that thou go to the battle in thine own persons." And then he says, "We'll come upon him as the dew will destroy him and everybody there."

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• "If he's got into a city, we'll pull it down." But note, if you would, the entirety of the nation from Dan even to Beersheba. No wonder David said, "I'm not going to be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about." Now Absalom and most of the nation, therefore, was gathered together against David. Yet he was not cast down.

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• Now, I want you to think about this. When you understand the context of Psalm 3, just the very thought, just the very thought that you had a child who was seeking to murder you and destroy everything that you ever raised would cause you the greatest uneasiness and the greatest distress. David had that and a whole lot more power on top of him. Years ago, I was talking to a man who with tears in his eyes, and I knew the man, I knew his family.

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• He had a son that had gotten into drugs and was actually a dopehead, and a drunkard to boot. And the daddy told me, he said, "My wife and I, his mother, have to sleep with a loaded pistol by our beds to protect ourselves from our own son, who has threatened to murder us not once, but on numerous occasions." He'd been arrested, thrown in jail innumerable times. And the daddy said, "If something doesn't happen," he said, "I'll probably end up having to kill my own son."

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• Well, think about this because this is what David is facing. It's not only just his own son, but now the nation has turned against him as well. Now, clearly then David is in a great deal of difficulty. And so look what he praises in verses 7 and 8. He says, "Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord."

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• "Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah."

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• Now, I think it's important to note and emphasize again that in the context of Psalm 3, the salvation that is referred to is a political and a military defeat of the enemies of David. And I must point out that Absalom and all of his cohorts were not only the enemies of David at this point, they were also the enemies of God. They were seeking to overthrow the man that God had ordained, that God himself had picked and placed upon the throne to lead Israel at that particular time. Now, everything explained from Psalm 3, I think it's almost impossible for you to miss the application of this Psalm to our present day in time. In this country, we are in a state of turmoil, upheaval, chaos, and violence, not only in our nations, in our states, but in our communities as well.

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• The enemies of life, liberty, and freedom, and economic stability abound on every hand. It seems as if ten thousands have gathered themselves together against the people of God. And it's not just a multitude that have gathered themselves together. It is men of great wealth and men of great power in positions of authority who are seeking to overthrow and overturn everything that this country was ever built upon.

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• So we're living in a time much like the time that David was going through at this particular point. Now, let me emphasize this. Psalm 3 reveals a very important truth. And here it is. The war between Absalom and David was a war over the kingdom. It was a war over the kingdom. It was a fight to determine who would control the kingdom. It was a fight for dominion.

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• And the issue is exactly the same today. It is a war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil. It is a fight between that which is good and that which is evil. It is a battle between God and the enemy. So let me ask this question again. Do you want to be saved? Hmm.

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• Now that we understand that salvation can be far more than soul and spiritual salvation. So I could ask you another way. Do you want to be delivered from under the heel of the wicked? Do you want to be delivered from under the control and dominion of the wicked? Do you want to be delivered or saved from the persecution, prosecution and oppression of the wicked? And if you answer yes, then we need to look a little more closely at Psalm 3, because David is rejoicing in God's salvation. So I want to show you two things.

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• And then I'm going to make some applications. First of all, if we really and truly understand the battle and the fight, we need to learn to do two things. Number one, we need to learn to pray. Look at verse 1. David makes a declaration. He says, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?" So he's already praying. He's already talking to the Lord. "Many are they that rise up against me?" Skip down to verse 4. Look what he said. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice."

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• "And he heard me out of his holy hill." So David is praying.

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• Now, when I say we must learn to pray, I don't mean that we pray something like this: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." There's certainly nothing wrong with that little prayer. I mean, I was taught it as a boy. Most children were taught it as little kids, but that's not the kind of praying that we need to be praying. And neither am I talking about just praying some type of small, insincere, insignificant mumbo-jumbo and call it praying. No, no. Because desperate times and dangerous situations call for desperate praying. You get desperate and you begin to do like David. David said in verse 4, "I cried unto the Lord." I screamed unto the Lord. I let my voice be loud unto the Lord.

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• When you stop and think about desperate people, how they prayed, think about Peter sinking beneath the waves. He didn't say, "Now, Lord, in this situation, I would like to ask you," you know, no, no, he didn't do any of that. But you know what he did? "Lord, save me." He cried, "Lord, save me," because he realized that if the Lord didn't help him, he was a goner. How about the Philippian jailer?

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• He was about to fall on his own sword. He supposed those prisoners had fled. And he ran in crying, "What must I do to be saved?" How about the man with the demon possessed boy? And when he cried, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." How about the Syro-Phoenician woman? "Lord, help me." And our Lord turns around and said, "It's not fit to cast the children's bread to dogs." And she said, "But Lord, the little dogs eat of the scraps from under the table." And our Lord said, "O woman, great is thy faith." What about the lepers? They cried to the Lord. I like blind Bartimaeus. When our Lord was passing by and he heard all the noise, he asked what it was. And they said, "Well, Jesus is passing by." And he began to cry, "Lord, thou son of David, have mercy upon me." And they turned around and said, "Be quiet, be quiet." And the Bible said that he cried even louder. So why were these people crying?

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• Why were they shouting out? Because they were desperate. They realized if the Lord Jesus Christ did not help them, they were goners. It was over. That is what I'm talking about. I'm talking about desperate praying. Now, in desperate praying, we have to learn to pray the imprecatory prayers that are listed in the Bible. Now, I have four messages on imprecatory praying. I'm not going to preach those messages to you today, but I will tell you what an imprecation is. An imprecation is a curse.

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• Let me go a little bit further. An imprecation is an invocation. That is, it is a prayer of judgment, calamity, or curse upon one's enemies or the enemies of God. I want you to look what he said in verse 7. He prays, "Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." To break the teeth is to destroy. To break the jaw is to destroy. You can't eat if you have a broken jaw. You can't talk if you have a broken jaw.

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• You usually cannot even fight. You can't do anything if your teeth are knocked down in your throat and your jaw is broken. And so this is what David is asking him to do. I'll get to Psalm 58, not this Sunday, but in the future Sunday. But Psalm 58, the entirety of that Psalm is an imprecatory prayer. And when you get to verse 11, the very last verse in that Psalm, it says this, "So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous: verily, there is a God that judges in the earth." Truly, there is a reward for the righteous and truly there is a God who judges in the earth.

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• In other words, he said, "I want everybody to see that it does pay to live a godly life. And God does judge the wicked. And he does so in time and history as well." Let me show you another principle. Look in Psalm 9 and verse 16, Psalm 9 and verse 16. Here's an interesting truth. Psalm 9, verse 16. The Bible says, "The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands." The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. In other words, men are going to know God either in salvation or in condemnation. They will either know him in grace and in mercy and goodness and kindness, or they will know him in wrath and anger and justice. God is known by the judgment which he executeth.

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• And I love this last part. "The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands." In other words, he thinks he's laying the snare for the righteous. He thinks he's laying the snare to catch God. And he falls into his own snare. God says he shall bring his plans down upon his own pate. That is the top of his head. So obviously, God is a judge in the earth.

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• And so when we're talking about praying these imprecatory prayers, we're talking about praying out of desperation, realizing that if we don't have deliverance, if we don't have salvation, we're the ones that are going to be suffering. And we're the one that's going to be condemned and oppressed and persecuted. So look in Psalm 69, Psalm 69. Here's a good illustration of imprecatory praying. Psalm 69. And let's begin reading there with verse 22. Psalm 69 verse 22.

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• In fact, this passage is actually applied to our Lord and to Judas in the New Testament. But of course, David was praying this here as well. In verse 21, you can see how it was applied to our Lord. "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," which they did on the cross. So what's this prayer? "Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap." Lord, so whatever's good for them, let it entrap them. "Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not."

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• That is, they'll fall into every pit and stumble over everything in the way, "and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold on them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents," that is, take their lives. "For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness." Wow. Don't save them.

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• "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living." Take their lives now "and not be written with the righteous." Now that's a prayer. Wow. Let me show you another one. I don't think you'll find this one prayed in too many churches today, but turn to Psalm 104 if you would, Psalm 104, and look at verse 35. Psalm 104, verse 35. Watch this. "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more."

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• "Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord." When's the last time you heard a preacher pray, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more"? What is he praying? He's praying for their destruction. That's exactly what he's praying for.

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• Now, so many people will try to say, "Well, all that's Old Testament." And you've heard me say this before. We have one Bible, not two Bibles. The Old Testament is just as much the word of God as the New Testament, but I will show you in the New Testament, imprecatory praying as well. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, 1 Corinthians 16 and look, if you would please at verse 22, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22. Watch this. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22.

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• The apostle Paul writes, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." What in the world does that mean? "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." Well, most of us have heard the word Maranatha. It refers to the coming of Christ. Christ is returning. Christ is coming. But what about the word Anathema? It's a Greek word that means to be set apart for certain and sure destruction. It means to be doomed. It means to be damned.

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• So here's what he actually prays in verse 22. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be doomed and damned and marked and set aside for certain destruction at the coming of Christ." That's what he said. I'll show it to you again. Look in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 1, Galatians chapter 1, and you'll see how Anathema is translated. Galatians chapter 1, note, if you would please with verse 8. Galatians 1 verse 8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

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• Let him be Anathema. So he says, "If anybody preaches anything other than what you've already received, let him be cursed of God. Let him be set aside for certain destruction. Let him be doomed. Let him be damned." And he repeats it in verse 9. "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Let him be doomed, damned, set aside, marked for certain destruction. Wow. That's imprecatory praying. And the apostle Paul is praying that. So when I say based upon Psalm 3, we need to learn to pray. I mean, we need to get serious with God. We need to get down to business and we need to start asking God to do what needs to be done because God can take care of the situation. So the very first thing we need is we must learn to pray. We must learn to pray the imprecatory prayers. Now I want you to go back to Psalm 3 because here's the second thing and I'm going to tie these together and Lord willing, Lord willing, make some applications.

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• Now watch already in verse 1, he's praying. Verse 4, he's praying. So we must learn to pray. Now watch verse 7. The second thing is we must learn to plead. What am I talking about? Well, here it is. He says, "Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." So now David pleads, "Arise, O Lord." Now, what is David asking God to do when he asked him to arise?

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• I want to give you a quote by J. A. Alexander. I will explain the quote with scriptures momentarily, but I want you to listen to what he says. He's talking about "Arise, O Lord." "This is a common scriptural mode of calling upon God to manifest his presence and his power, either in wrath or in favor by natural anthropomorphism." I'll stop there and explain it. Anthropos is the Greek word for man. Morphe is the Greek word for form. So anthropomorphic just simply means man-form speaking. That's all it means. So all he's saying is this is a form of speech that's placed in our way of thinking so that we can understand it. "Arise, O Lord," let me go on. He says, "by a natural anthropomorphism that is asking God to arise, He describes the intervals of such manifestations as periods of inaction or slumber out of which he is besought to arouse himself. Save me, even me, of whom they say there is no help for him in God. Save me, O my God, mine by covenant and mutual engagement to whom I therefore have a right to look for deliverance and protection."

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• "This confidence is warranted, moreover, by experience. For thou hast in former times smitten all mine enemies, without exception, on the cheek or jaw, an act at once violent and insulting." So he's saying it is asking God to manifest himself either in favor or in wrath, and it is an anthropomorphic expression when there has been a period or time of inaction, such as when you go to sleep.

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• You're not doing anything but sleeping. It's a period of inaction. It's a period of time when you're just lying there. Well, I'm going to show you that. I think there's more to this phrase and we'll look at it in the scripture. There's more to this phrase to asking God arise than just simply thinking of a time of inaction. For instance, we know that God is the judge of all the earth. In fact, Abraham asked that question, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do that which is right?" Everybody understands that when a judge comes into the courtroom, he walks in. Usually most people stand. By the way, you know why most people stand when the judge walks in?

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• He used to, the judge walked in carrying the Bible and they stood out of reverence for the Bible. And then of course the Bible was kicked out and now they want people to stand in reverence to them is what it amounts to. But anyhow, when the judge comes in, he sits down, he listens to the case. He doesn't arise until he issues the verdict. It's over. So when you consider that God is the judge and you're saying "Arise, O Lord," you're saying issue the verdict. And Lord, execute the verdict. Let's get it on.

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• Now, let me show you. When God arises, he comes to our aid by defeating our enemies. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 10, and we're going to go through several verses very quickly and show you the implication of asking God to arise. Here's what we're pleading. "Arise, O Lord." So notice, if you would, Numbers chapter 10 and verse 35. Watch carefully. "And it came to pass when the ark set forward that Moses said, 'Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee.'"

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• Now, when the ark was settled in the tabernacle, there was inaction, so to speak, because God was there just simply protecting and looking over the people. But now they're starting to march through the wilderness. And as they march, they pick up the ark and Moses says, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee."

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• Now look in your Bibles to Psalm 7 and verse 6, Psalm 7 and verse 6. Watch Psalm 7, verse 6. Again, David prays, "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies, and awake for me," there's inaction, "awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded." Now watch, "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies."

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• You know, I just thought of this. I've told people that I'm not going to go over all of it, but I only saw my father ready to fight two times in his life. And one time, and I was a kid, I couldn't have been any more than eight or nine years of age, but we were in the courtroom and the courtroom was packed because there was something going on that had all the farmers upset. And my father and I were sitting toward the back of the courtroom, and the county agent was speaking, and by name, he called my father a liar. My father stood up, stepped by me, and started walking straight to the county agent. Never said a word, just started walking straight to the county agent. And just as he got within about six feet, the county agent backed up, started apologizing, and said, "No, Mr. Weaver didn't lie. I'm the liar. I'm lying." And then when he admitted that he was the liar, dad just turned around and came back and sat down.

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• Now, what I'm trying to say is this, what he is saying here in Psalm 7 and verse 6, "Arise, O Lord," watch, "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger." I'm sure my dad was kind of upset. And you mess with a man's wife or you mess with a man's child. If he's sitting, when he gets up, you better be ready to fight or flee, because that's exactly what David is praying right now. He's saying, "Arise, O Lord."

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• And by the way, I want you to look at this again. Look at Psalm 7, verse 6. "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger. Lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies. Awake for me. Watch to the judgment that thou hast commanded." In other words, we're asking God to do that which he's already determined to do. OK, look in your Bible to Psalm 44, Psalm 44 and verse 23. And this is one of the passages where Mr. Alexander would get his definition of asking God to arise. Psalm 44 verse 23, where David says, "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off forever." In other words, he's asking God to do something after a period of inactivity. So turn right on over to Psalm 68.

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• This is a wonderful passage. Psalm 68, beginning there with verse 1. And all it says here is "Let God arise" or "Arise, O God," it's one and the same. "Let God arise." What is going to happen when God arises? "Let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away." It's easy to drive smoke away with a fan or with any air movement.

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• "As wax melted before the fire." If you don't think wax will melt, put it in front of the fire. "So that the wicked perish at the presence of God, but let the righteous be glad and let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." So he says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." What is going to happen when God rises up, when God issues that verdict, when God arises in anger to execute that verdict, well, his enemies are going to be scattered.

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• Now turn right on over to Psalm 94, Psalm 94, beginning there in verse 1. Watch carefully. Psalm 94 verse 1. "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth." Here it is. "Lift up thyself." That is, arise. "Thou judge of the earth." What is God going to do when he arises? "Render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked? How long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things?"

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• "And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves. They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless. Yet they say the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." What is he asking God to do? "Lift up yourself, rise up, O God. Execute your wrath upon the ungodly." In 1 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 35, the Bible says this, just listen. 1 Chronicles 16 verse 35, "And say, 'Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks unto thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.'" What did he say? "Say, 'Save us, O God of our salvation, gather us together and do what? Deliver us from the heathen.'" That's what he said.

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• Now go back in your Bibles to Psalm 17. Just a couple more. Look in Psalm 17 and begin there with verse 6, Psalm 17 verse 6. Watch carefully. Psalm 17 verse 6. "I've called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of thine eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings." Watch. "From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about." Now note verse 7, "Show thy marvelous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand." Salvation in this context is being delivered from the oppression of the enemies and from the wicked who are trying to destroy us. Look in Psalm 18 verses 1 through 3. David says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation in my high tower."

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• "I will call upon the Lord who's worthy to be praised." Are you looking? "So shall I be saved from mine enemies." Hmm. Salvation can be a military salvation, a political salvation, a physical salvation. It can be any type of salvation.

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• Now I want you to turn to one last passage. Well, there may be another one, but one last passage before I get to the applications and that's Joel chapter 2, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. So I want you to go to Joel chapter 2, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Look in Joel 2 and verse 17. This is a tremendous prayer. It's a prayer that we need to really be praying. Joel 2 verse 17. Look at it if you would.

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• The Bible says, "Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep before the porch and the altar that is in the temple and let them say," here's what they're to be saying. Here's what they're to be praying as they're weeping. "Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over us. Wherefore should they say among the people, 'Where is their God?'" So they're saying, "Lord, don't give your heritage to the heathen. Don't let the wicked rule over us. Don't let them reproach us by saying, 'Where is thy God?' Show them where our God is by overthrowing them and defeating them."

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• Now, I want you to look back to Psalm 3. I want to start making some applications very quickly, but look in Psalm 3. I want you to notice in this Psalm, the difference between the beginning and the ending of the song. The song begins with complaints of the strength and malice of his enemies, but concludes with the exaltation in the power and grace of God. Verse 1, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?"

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• "Many are they that rise against me." Then the conclusion is "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people." So here's the principle. If we want to be discouraged, if we want to be downhearted, if we want to be depressed, if we want to be defeated, all we have to do is look at our enemies. They're multitudinous, they're mighty. They have the money, they have the power. So we want to be depressed and discouraged. Just look at our enemies. But if we want to be encouraged and if we want to be able to be strengthened for the battle, we need to look at our God because he is omnipotent. He's all powerful. He's omniscient. He's all knowing. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere at once in the totality of his being.

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• And there's absolutely none that can defeat him or overthrow him or stop him. He cannot fail. So David began in this Psalm by complaining about all the wicked men that were gathered against him. And then he ended by saying, "Lord, salvation is in your hand." There's no reason to be disheartened when we look at the Lord and his grace and his mercy, because we always triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the greatest truths I think we should learn from Psalm 3 is very simple, and that is salvation belongeth unto the Lord. And I don't care if you're talking about spiritual salvation, economic salvation, familial salvation, that is salvation of the family. I don't care if you're talking about ill health. Salvation in any shape, form or fashion belongs to the Lord.

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• It is in His hands. Here's the second application. If we truly desire to be saved, to be delivered from our enemies, we must not only learn to pray and to plead, we must learn to be obedient and faithful to him. God is not going to bless a disobedient people. He's not going to bless a disobedient child. Neither would you. And so we have to learn to be obedient. Now here's the third one.

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• I want you to listen carefully. I believe that one of our problems in this country is that we have not been oppressed sufficiently. We have not been persecuted enough. What do I mean by that? The Christians in this country do not yet have their backs up against the wall. They still have just a tiny little bit of freedom, just a tiny little bit of fortitude, not much, but we haven't learned that God hears his people when they pray and when they plead. Let me show you. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 18 and then we're going to turn back to Psalm one last time. But look in Luke chapter 18 and begin with verse 1. Luke 18 verse 1. Watch this.

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• "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Why should we always pray and not faint? Well, here's why. "Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man." So, you look at the ruling in the Supreme Court this past week. Evidently they don't regard God, therefore they don't fear man, except maybe the riots. You know, they have no regard for God. And if you have no regard for God, you'll have no regard for that which is right or holy. This judge didn't. Watch verse 3. "And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, 'Avenge me of mine adversary.'"

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• That is, give me justice. Do what is right. "But he would not for a while. But afterward, he said within himself, 'Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" In other words, I'm going to give her what she wants. I'm going to give her justice just to get her off my back. Now, our Lord makes this application himself. "Now, the Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge said. Do you think God is like that unjust judge?'" Of course not. "'And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.'" What? "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him?"

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• The problem is we're not crying, we're not praying, we're not pleading. God is more than willing to deliver us. But we don't have our backs up against the wall. We're not desperate enough yet. Some may be. But the average Christian is still just floating along. One last passage, I want you to go to Psalm 35. I want to show you where David isn't only pleading, but he's asking God to plead. Psalm 35. Look, if you would please, at verse 1. Psalm 35, verse 1. Look what David asks God. "Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive against me." Lord, you take it up for me. I've been pleading with you now, Lord, you plead my cause with them that strive against me.

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• Watch. "Fight against them that fight against me." Look what he asked him to do. "Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, 'I am thy salvation.'" Again, it is a personal and military salvation. Look in verse 4, "Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as the chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. Why? For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation."

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• Salvation can be political. It can be military. It can be economic. It can be personal. It can be spiritual. But in this passage and a multitude of others, salvation is deliverance from the enemies of Christ. "Plead my cause." We need to learn to pray. We need to learn to plead. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. Help us, Lord, to love thee, to live for thee. Teach us to pray. Teach us to plead. And plead our cause, we pray, O Lord, through the mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

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• so so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:13:12Z