This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look at Psalm 18. This is week four, day three
of our look through the book of Psalms. And this Psalm, Psalm 18 is one of those
Psalms where it's worth looking at the introduction.

The introduction to Psalm 18 says, "For the director of music, "of David the
servant of the Lord, "he sang to the Lord the words of this song "when the Lord
delivered him "from the hand of all his enemies "and from the hand of Saul. " So
this Psalm, this is when David had one of his greatest victories. The victory
that he'd been waiting for for years upon years, for many years, he was running
from Saul, running from his enemies.

And on the day that he's delivered from all of them, this is the Psalm that he
sang. There's a version of this Psalm in 2 Samuel 22. And this Psalm is quoted
in Psalm 116.

It's obviously a very important Psalm and a very important point in David's
life. It's history in David's life is that God gave him this wonderful victory.
But I want to ask you, how about the history of your life?

Because this was written down for you and I. I want to let this Psalm speak to you
today. And I want to let it speak for itself as much as possible.

So what I want to do is give you eight things that this Psalm tells us to do when
God gives us a great victory. And then I just want to read the verses that express
each of these truths. It's a long Psalm with a lot of verses, so there's a lot
to be said in the verses.

What do you do? I know we've talked often about how to pray when God's taking us
through times of difficulty through the book of Psalms, but what do you do? How
do you pray when God gives a great victory?

Well, number one of the eight things, first thing you do is you tell the Lord
that you love him. Verse one talks about that. He starts by just saying, I love
you, oh Lord, my strength.

So you start there, you just express your love to God. And then number two, you
tell the Lord that he is the strength that you stand on. In verses two and
three, the Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

My God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise, and I am
saved from my enemies.

That's what you do. You tell God he's the one who's your strength. And then
number three, you remind yourself of all that the Lord saved you from.

You just think back of where you were and how God has brought you to a different
place. Verses four to six, David prays this. The cords of death entangled me.

The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around
me. The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress, I called to the Lord. I cried to my God for help. From his
temple, he heard my voice.

My cry came before him into his ears. So you remind yourself of all that God
saved you from that he heard. Number four, this is very important.

Number four, you picture God's mighty power. Verses seven to 15, David prays.
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook.

They trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils. Consuming fire
came from his mouth.

Burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down. Dark clouds
were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew. He soared on the wings of the wind. He made
darkness his covering, his canopy around him, the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Out of the brightness of his presence, clouds advanced with hailstones and bolts
of lightning. The Lord thundered from heaven. The voice of the Most High
resounded.

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning, and
routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed, and the foundations of the
earth left bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of breath from your
nostrils. Those are strong pictures.

David is strongly picturing God's power that had made a difference. We don't do
enough of that. Number five, what do you do?

You recognize that God's victory is an expression of his love for you. Verses 16
to 19. He reached down from on high and he took hold of me.

He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my
foes who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because he delighted in
me. What do you do on the day of your greatest victory?

The sixth thing you do is you remind yourself to stay humble. Verses 25 to 27.
To the faithful, you show yourself faithful.

To the blameless, you show yourself blameless. To the pure, you show yourself
pure. But to the crooked, you show yourself shrewd.

You save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. Remind yourself
to stay humble. Don't make it about you, make it about the Lord.

Number seven, you refresh your commitment to serve him out of what he's done for
you. Verses 28 and 29. You, oh Lord, keep my lamp burning.

My God turns my darkness into light. With your help, I can advance against a
troop. With my God, I can scale a wall.

And then number eight, the final thing, verses 30 to 36. You give God the credit
for the rescue. He is the one who rescued, so you give him all the credit.

Those verses say, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is
flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the rock except our God? It is God
who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle.

My arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory and your
right hand sustains me. You stoop down to make me great.

You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn. And then verse
49. Therefore, I will praise you among the nations, oh Lord.

I will sing praises to your name. Verse 35 rings in our hearts. David, as he
prays, says to God, "You stoop down to make me great.

" God stooped down to make us great in coming to this earth to be born as a baby
in Bethlehem. He stooped down to make us great in being willing to go to a cross
and give his life for us in his resurrection. He humbled himself so that he
could give us eternal victory.

You may feel like I haven't had many victories in my life lately, and that may
very well be true. But the truth of the matter is about your life, about my
life, we are looking forward to eternal victory. We all have a victory that we
can praise God for today.

So what I want to do as we end, whether it's a practical victory that you've
just seen or the eternal victory that we're looking forward to in Jesus Christ,
I want to end by just using this guide that David has given us, and I want to
end by just using this guide that David has given us as a prayer guide to tell
God how grateful we are. Would you pray with me? And let's just do as David did.

Just say, "Lord, I want to tell you how much I love you. "And I want to express
to you, God, that you, you alone, "you're the strength that I stand on. "And in
my mind right now, I'm reminding myself "of all that you've saved me from, "what
could have happened, what did happen in my sin "that you rescued me out of.

"And I'm picturing your mighty power, "how powerful you are, how great you are
"in the heavens, in eternity. "I see you for your greatness. "I try to picture
that which is beyond my mind.

"Thank you for your mighty power. " And I recognize that the victory in eternity
and any victories in my life today, they're an expression of your love for me.
They're not just a coincidence or a happenstance.

You don't give them just out of simple planning. You give them out of deep love
for me. And I remind myself in that to stay humble.

God, when victories come, sometimes I can make it about me and become prideful.
I don't want that. I want to stay humble before you.

And so I refresh my commitment to serve you out of what you've given. And God, I
give you the credit. I give you all the credit.

It's you and you alone, your power, your grace. I give you the credit for the
rescue. In Jesus' name, I pray this.

Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at Psalm 19, one of the most familiar
and beautiful of all the Psalms.