Danny Vander Dussen – 10.20.19
This sermon explores the biblical concept of confidence as presented in Psalm 27, contrasting it with the cultural emphasis on self-reliance. The text argues that true confidence is not derived from the self but is found exclusively in Christ and God, who serve as light, salvation, and defense. By examining David’s psalm as a song with multiple stanzas, the message highlights how believers can maintain steadfastness in the face of enemies and trouble. The central theme emphasizes that dwelling in the house of the Lord and beholding His beauty provides the security and peace that the world’s brash self-confidence cannot offer.
Transcript
Beloved, if you would open your
Bibles to Psalm 27. Like your hymns, there’s a title
at the top, and perhaps your Bible has a title offered by
the interpreters. At its core, Psalm 27 is a psalm
of confidence. It’s all about confidence, where
it comes from, how you get it, how you keep it, and what you
do with it. And as I pondered this psalm and prayed through
it and thought about it, I just sort of thought about what we
are bombarded with constantly everywhere in this culture. We
are told to be self-confident people, to live brashly and brazenly
and do what you want. Don’t let anybody judge you,
right? That’s what we hear from the culture. I just went on Amazon
last night just out of curiosity and I typed self-confidence looking
for books. And it tried to help me tighten
up my search. I had a drop-down menu with about
12 different options, self-confidence for men, for women, for kids,
teens, even babies, teen girls, teen boys, seminars, programs. And I just hit Enter with just
self-confidence, and there was over 20,000 search results. The
world tells us to be self-confident, and the very definition of the
word betrays it, self. Our confidence, biblical confidence,
there is no self. We empty ourselves of our self. We look for our confidence in
Christ and in God. And that’s what David’s going
to do in this psalm. He’s gonna show us where his
confidence comes from. He’s gonna point us to that and
he’s gonna give instruction about that. And I think just because
of the world we live in, it’s very appropriate for us to consider.
I did think if David was going to write a book on self-confidence,
He could write a pretty good one. He’d sell a lot of books.
He was a good-looking guy, tough, grabbed lions and bears by the
beards and slew them, killed 200 Philistines and brought their
foreskins to marry the king’s daughter. He was a renegade from
Saul, couldn’t get caught. He was guerrilla warfare, killing
Philistines under their nose, and they thought he was their
ally. brought the civil war between the two kingdoms together with
shrewd politics, killed Goliath. I mean, that guy could write
books. But he gives us a psalm, a song that the Israelites would
have sung. And he says exactly where his
confidence comes from. I’m going to read this psalm
through. And it is a song. It was intended
to be put to instruments and sung by the Israelites, much
like the hymns we sang this morning. And our hymns had a title, this
one, Confidence. And each one of our hymns had
different verses. And each verse communicated confidence
from a different angle, from a different viewpoint, but still
communicating confidence. This is a song with four stanzas.
Each stanza communicates confidence from a different viewpoint, a
different angle. So I’m gonna read the whole song
through. Consider Confidence. And then we’re gonna stop and
look at each stanza and try to unpack what David is doing. Let’s
read Psalm 27 of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? When evildoers
came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies,
they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against
me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me,
in spite of this, I shall be confident. One thing I have asked
from the Lord that I shall 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 meditate in his temple. For in the day of trouble,
he will conceal me in his tabernacle. In the secret place of his tent,
he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
And now.