Dwight Dunn: 0:04

This morning at Westtown Church, entitled The Songs of Summer, and what this series is seeking to do is enable us to live in tune with God's wisdom found in the book of Psalms. Now, if you were ever part of an orchestra, or maybe a chorus or a band, oftentimes before you started somebody would strike a note and all the instruments would get in tune or they would hear voices. I understand that today people use apps to do that sort of thing, but back in the day people would use the pitch pipe and somebody would have blown on the pitch pipe and everybody would have tuned their instruments so that they would all be together and united and offering whatever kind of music they were going to offer in a beautiful way, and it enabled people to add parts and so that there would be harmony and fullness and it would be absolutely beautiful. So that's what we seek to do in this new sermon series entitled The Songs of Summer, where we seek to look at God's Word in the book of Psalms to learn of His wisdom. That would apply to everyday situations of life.

Dwight Dunn: 1:14

And you might be asking well, why a series in the Psalms? Well, there are lots of reasons and we'll look at some of those in the weeks ahead. But perhaps you might be familiar with the fact that, out of all of the books of the Old Testament, jesus quoted from the book of Psalms more than any other Old Testament book, so evidently it was very important to Jesus and it should be important to us. In fact, the book of Psalms is the most quoted book in all of the New Testament quoting Old Testament books, and so the Psalms are important. In fact, the book of Psalms would have been Jesus' hymn book. It would have been also His prayer book, and so as we get to learn these Psalms, we're really learning Jesus' playlist that He listened to and that He sung. But probably the best reason why to study the Psalms is what Jesus said in Luke, chapter 24, when He was conversing with two men on the road to Emmaus after He rose from the dead and before He ascended into heaven. They were bummed out. They didn't understand the events that just happened in Jerusalem with the crucifixion of Jesus. They didn't understand, even though they heard about the resurrection. And Jesus comes upon them and He begins speaking to them, and in verse 44 of Luke 24, we read These are my words, that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. So in the Psalms we learn much about Jesus.

Dwight Dunn: 2:53

The seminary that I attended in preparation to be a pastor was part of a very small Presbyterian denomination that I think they have maybe 4,000 members nationwide. But they only, in corporate worship, only sing the Psalms and they use no musical accompaniment, and that was new to me. I came from a tradition where we sang hymns. I'd never sung a song before that I'm aware of, but in worship with a room full of men singing acapella in harmony. The Psalms of Scripture was such an enriching part of worship for me And I learned so much about Jesus Christ through the Psalms. In fact, in its history this seminary would require anybody that was graduating from the seminary to stand for an oral exam where they had to defend any doctrine of the Christian faith from the book of Psalms alone. So the Psalms provide for us rich descriptions of who God is and who Jesus Christ is, and as we learn that wisdom, the Lord will equip us for life.

Dwight Dunn: 4:03

Now there are many different types or categories of Psalms. There are actually seven of them. I'm just going to list them here for you very quickly. We'll define them in the weeks ahead. There are Psalms that are hymns of praise And then, on the very opposite end of the spectrum, there are Psalms that are lament. There are Psalms of Thanksgiving, psalms of remembrance, psalms of wisdom, there are kingship or royal Psalms, and today we're going to be taking a look at a Psalm of confidence. It is a song that asserts trust in God's goodness and power. Even though we may face great foes or opposition in life, there's some kind of threat present, but nonetheless we are able to live confidently. The Psalms show us how to apply God's law to everyday life, and today we're going to seek to answer the question How can we face trouble and distress when it arises in our lives? And that's what Psalm 20 helps us to answer.

Dwight Dunn: 5:15

Hear now the word of the Lord. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. May he remember all your offerings in regard with favor, your burnt sacrifices. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. May we shout for joy over your salvation and in the name of our God, set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. Oh Lord, save the king. May he answer us.

Dwight Dunn: 6:10

When we call Now this Psalm, we're not given a specific declaration of what its context is. But in looking at it, particularly in verse six when it's talking about horses and chariots, people indicate that this Psalm would have been a prayer that would have been offered for the king prior to the nation entering into battle with a foreign enemy, and Psalm 21 is actually the song of victory after they win that battle. The first five verses of this Psalm is the congregation praying its blessing upon the king and that the kingdom might be extended. Verse six is the response of either the king or a priest and the rest of the Psalm concludes again with the congregation praying for the prosperity of God's kingdom. But in these verses we see how God's wisdom enables us to handle life's difficulties with great confidence in the Lord. And we can face troubles confidently, first of all because God answers prayer. In fact, in scripture, god is described as the God who hears and answers prayer, and four times within this Psalm we have reference to God answering prayer. Part of verse one may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. Part of verse five may the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Verse six he will answer his anointed from his holy heaven. Verse nine may he answer us when we call. And so one of the things that bullies us and encourages us when we're facing times of difficulty and distress is the assurance that God hears and answers prayer.

Dwight Dunn: 8:02

But I think most of us have probably been in situations or circumstances where we've been in trouble. We've called out to the Lord and it seems like God is taking his good old time answering us in the difficulty that we face, or that God is answering it in some way that we don't particularly care for And in fact, from our perspective, it may even make the answer. The answer may even make the situation worse. So what happens when God's answers don't match our timetable or our desired outcomes? How do we remain confident in those type of situations? Well, it's important for us to remind ourselves during those seasons that we are finite people, that we don't know everything, that we are only given a portion of the picture, but God knows the whole broad picture from beginning to end. And our time is not God's time, nor is our wisdom God's wisdom. I mean think about how bound we are by time. Our perspective of time varies greatly dependent upon our circumstances. For instance, how long you think two minutes is varies greatly dependent upon what side of the bathroom door you're standing Right.

Dwight Dunn: 9:28

So and God's timetable of things? scripture says a thousand years is like a day, an hour to the Lord. And I understand that when we're in the midst of struggle and difficulty, every minute can seem like an eternity. But we have to remember that God answers according to his timetable. And what about the way in which God answers us us when it doesn't match up with what we want? What do we do in those situations?

Dwight Dunn: 10:01

There have been many times, as a pastor, i've been called upon to visit people in the hospital or in some other place where there's some kind of great difficulty and they are really in the throes of some kind of calamity And I don't know what to say to them in those kind of situations. I don't know why God is allowing that particular circumstances to so dominate their life. But what I can tell them are two undisputed truths from scripture that God is too good to do anything bad and God is too wise to do anything wrong. And I confess I don't know how people's circumstances sometimes fit in with those two truths. But those are the truths that we can bank upon and we can confidently face our difficulties and our distress, knowing that our Lord answers prayer and his way and his time. Now you might think, well, that's great, but how does that really help?

Dwight Dunn: 11:09

Think of the example of Jesus in the garden When his hour had finally come and he fell down on the ground before his father and he pled with him that, if it would be possible, the cup of God's wrath upon the cross would be removed from him. He expressed his desire, but then he confidently submitted himself to God's time and God's wisdom and he said not my will but yours be done. And our Lord Jesus is able to sympathize with us in all of our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, like we are yet without sin. And this is the God to whom we pray and understands the struggles we might have with the time and the way in which God may answer prayer. But the fact that we know our God is good, the fact that we know our God is wise, sustains us in times of distress when we pray to him. Also, we can face troubles confidently because God is always present with us.

Dwight Dunn: 12:14

This was highlighted in the first two verses. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. In this passage it's referring to Zion, which oftentimes in the scriptures refers to God's presence among his people, either now in the earthly sanctuary or in that great and final day when we gather God's presence. But the emphasis on the sanctuary, the emphasis on Zion, is a picture of God being present with his people And, in fact, the reference to the God of Jacob protecting you. What scripture often equates with God's presence among us is both his protection and his provision, and this is a reference to Jacob when God is confirming his covenant with Jacob in Genesis, chapter 35. You remember Jacob was a bit of a scoundrel. He tried to deceive and manipulate, to try to get his way and to protect himself, and he got to the point in life where he learned that that didn't work. And so what he ultimately confesses in Genesis, chapter 35, verse three, is let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress, and he has been with me wherever I have gone.

Dwight Dunn: 13:47

We had the privilege our family had the privilege of knowing a woman by the name of Catherine. She was one of the most godly people we ever had the privilege of knowing. She was a delightful, glad woman who just oozed the love of Jesus and any interactions that she had. She enjoyed reading, especially reading the Bible. She had a flower garden that she loved to tinker around in. She enjoyed playing games with her grandkids and had different days of the week that different grandkids would come and play their favorite games, and she was a widow.

Dwight Dunn: 14:24

She had lost her husband a number of years before we met her, and then she was stricken with blindness. She lost her vision, but she did not lose her joy, and when you would talk to her and you were to ask her if she was disappointed in the Lord or she had become bitter or she was missing the things that she was no longer able to do, she would reply with I have no reason to complain, the Lord is always with me. And she lived years by herself until one of her grandchildren moved in, full of the confidence that God was with her even in the midst of her affliction. She was a great example of the promise of Psalm 139. It says if I ascend to the highest heaven, you are there. If I descend into the lowest depths, you are there. Behold, if I go to the far side of the sea, even there you are with me. And we can face distress and trouble with the certainty that we are always in the presence of Almighty God. But the Psalm also tells us that we can face troubles confidently because God gives us peace.

Dwight Dunn: 15:36

In verses four through nine we find repeated references to the Lord delivering or bringing about salvation. Verse five, for instance shout for joy over your salvation And in the name of our God, set up our banners. Verse six with the saving might of his right hand. Verse seven we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. And verse nine save the king.

Dwight Dunn: 16:03

In the Old Testament, oftentimes victory in battle or deliverance from an enemy is described as salvation in a very broad sense because it is referencing deliverance and rescue from the hand of an enemy that somebody could not deliver themselves from in their own strength. And those deliverances in the Old Testament foreshadow for us Jesus Christ delivering us and rescuing us from sin and Satan, that we may have peace with God. We are enslaved to an enemy far greater, far powerful than we are in terms of sin and its consequences upon us. We cannot deliver ourselves or pay the debt that our sin has brought, but the Lord, in His mercy, has sent Christ, who threw His death on the cross, paid the penalty for our sin, to release us from our debt before God and enable us by His righteousness to no longer be enslaved by it. He has rescued us from sin and death and the grave, and if that is what Scripture describes as our greatest need, then we have an argument from the greater to the lesser, that if God is taking care of the greatest need that we have ever faced, then surely His mercy and His love will sustain us in whatever other trials that we face. Paul says it like this in the book of Romans that he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all thanks? If God gave his son to redeem you from his sins, surely the Lord will redeem you and rescue you from the lesser enemies that you face? The Psalm also shows us that we can face troubles confidently because God gives us His people, he gives us the church, he gives us the body of Christ to sustain us.

Dwight Dunn: 18:12

Mentioned how verses one through five and then verses seven through nine of the Psalm are an expression of the corporate people of God. It's using the first person plural, we, we. Time and again. Verse six is either a response of the king or perhaps a priest. Many of the Psalms that are written emphasize our personal relationship with God. For instance, the previous Psalm ends with the words may the meditation of my lips and the word may the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. That many of those Psalms reflect our personal relationship with the Lord. That many of the Psalms also express the corporate nature of the family of God and how God brings us together so that we might support and love and encourage one another in times of difficulty. And verse five we read how may we shout for joy over your salvation and, in the name of our God, set up your banners. And what are those banners referring to? Well, banners were used by the Israelites and others like the Assyrians as standards of warfare. It was the standard or the sign underneath which people would enter into battle, and that's certainly part of what's being referred to here. But also, if you go back to the book of Numbers, in chapter two, you will see how the tribes of Israel raised up banners to identify themselves as a community of people. It was a reference to the family of God and our people.

Dwight Dunn: 19:53

And I know that we live in a time and we live in a culture where we don't want others to know our struggles or our difficulties. We think that we can do it ourselves, or at least we don't want to let others know that we're struggling. But that's just an argument of the enemy to keep us from one of the very means that the Lord uses to strengthen us in times of difficulty. Think of those one another passages in the New Testament that talk about how we're supposed to love and encourage and pray for and stimulate one another to love and good works, and when we are a part of a community of faith. Where that is happening, it greatly increases our confidence in God's work and our lives. And we also see from the Psalm that we can face troubles confidently because God enables us to prevail. In other words, god gives us victory.

Dwight Dunn: 20:49

As I mentioned before, many think that Psalm 21 is the other side of the battle. This is the prayer going into battle. Psalm 21 is the celebration of victory. The people of God won the battle that they faced. But we see in verses six through nine in this passage many references to trusting in the Lord, who will deliver us. Probably verse seven is the most widely known. That says some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

Dwight Dunn: 21:30

There are many different places in the Psalms that talk about people who are enduring hardship or difficulty and be crying out to God in the midst of that distress and how God meets them so that people do not have to fear their enemy because God is with them. Psalm 118 says it like this, in verses five through seven Out of my distress I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look and triumph on those who hate me.

Dwight Dunn: 22:10

Many years ago I had the privilege to hear Pastor Joseph Tsong speak to my seminary class. He at the time was probably one of the most well-known pastors in Communist Romania And he came to speak to us as pastors in training about how we are going to face opposition and persecution and how we should handle that, and he used many of the life examples that he had of being beaten and imprisoned and ultimately exiled by the Romanian government. By the fact that he was standing up for his faith in Christ, taun recalended how many years prior, during the summer, that Romania was under communist rule and the Baptist preacher was preparing to die. He was getting all of his affairs in order and through the encouragement of his wife Elizabeth, he was able to stand up against the authorities who were seeking to silence him And he was called to a nondescript restaurant in a hotel where he was supposed to meet with an official from the Communist Party, one of the secret service type police, and this man was convinced that he was going to do what all of his predecessors were unable to do, and that was to silence Joseph Song by offering him a job, secular employment, that if he took the job and then he agreed no longer to preach, that they would not imprison him, exile him or kill him. And so he went to meet this officer and the officer sold him his pitch and tried to get Song to agree to stop preaching the gospel. And he knew that turning down the job at least held out hard labor for him in a prison camp, if not exile or execution. And he met the man and unflinchingly Song turned down the job offer once again.

Dwight Dunn: 24:22

And Song said to the man I am determined to die. I have set my affairs in order. You said that you came here to finish me as a preacher, but I prayed to God and I asked him if I should be finished as a preacher And he told me that I should continue to preach. He said so I am in a position of making either you angry or God angry, and I think it's better to make you angry than to make God angry. And I will continue to preach the gospel. But he went on to say. The officer then said to Song that he threatened to kill him, he was gonna shoot him. And Song replied by smiling and saying to the officer he said if you kill me, you send me to glory. Do you think you can threaten me with glory? He said I am not afraid of your bullets. So the officer looked at him and said when I threatened to shoot you or kill you, you should be afraid. You're not normal. And Song replied you're right, i'm not normal, i am supernatural. I have not been made for this world. I have a place in glory waiting for me And I am ready to go when it is my time. The officer saw how determined Song was and he released him And he went on to preach the gospel for four years unhindered in Romania, until the time the Romanian government exiled him, and so that's when I got to meet him in Pittsburgh many years later. But a couple of years after that, communism fell in Eastern Europe and Song returned to his homeland and carried on a fruitful ministry for many, many years.

Dwight Dunn: 26:22

You see, we prevail.

Dwight Dunn: 26:26

We are on the winning side.

Dwight Dunn: 26:29

There is nothing that is ever going to separate us from the love of God. In Christ Jesus, our Lord, we are more than conquerors. Through him, scripture tells us And we can face trouble, we can face hardship, we can face distress confidently because God answers prayer. And Jesus said ask anything in my name and it will be given to you. We can face trouble with confidence because we know that the Lord is present with us. And Jesus said to us lo, i am with you always, even to the very ends of the age.

Dwight Dunn: 27:08

We can face trouble with confidence knowing that God gives us his peace.

Dwight Dunn: 27:13

And Jesus said my peace, i leave you, my peace I give to you.

Dwight Dunn: 27:17

I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. We can face troubles with great confidence, knowing that the Lord has given us a people and Jesus gave us a new commandment that we would love one another and thereby the world would know that we are as disciples. By our love for each other, we're able to face trouble confidently because of the Lord enables us to prevail. Jesus told us that in this world you will have much trouble, but take heart, i have overcome the world. You see, we are delivered from trouble. We are delivered from distress because Jesus entered our trouble for us And he has reconciled us to the Father and he has enabled us, by his grace, to experience the forgiving love of the Father, that we might live by the power of the Spirit each day. May you be encouraged to look to Christ and whatever your trouble or your distress is knowing that he will meet you if you cry out to him and call upon him. Let us pray.