Mistaken Identity?

You’ve probably heard of cases of mistaken identity. Sometimes the consequences are relatively minor. You’ve probably heard a story of a guy or girl who marries an identical twin, and they show a public sign of affection to the wrong twin at a family gathering. Embarrassing but minor consequence.

Sometimes the consequences are greater. Once on the set of a film, one of the studio execs confused Peter Sellers, at the time a well known actor, with his co-star who was something of a look-alike. Sellers was a pretty good impressionist so he decided to go along with it and pretend to be the other actor.

Unfortunately, the exec came to complain about how hard Peter Sellers was to work with and said he wished they hadn’t casted him in his role. This upset Sellers so much that he not only left the set, but he left the country and flew to his home in Switzerland. And it ruined the film.

Somewhat of a humorous story, but pretty bad consequences. Now in Psalm 28, David worries about his identity being mistaken by God. And the consequences for David, and for everyone, of this mistaken identity, would be dire.

Which is why this Psalm starts out sounding really desperate. Because David is worried that God will forget that David is one of his children and treat him like the wicked. And we all have times when we feel that way. That God seems to have mistaken our identity, forgotten who we are, and gone silent. And we may worry that God doesn’t love us, and won’t save us.

But we learn in Psalm 28 that God brings us from worry to worship by teaching us to trust in his work and not our own. God brings us from worry to worship by teaching us to trust in his work.

For our first two points, I want us to look at the two petitions that David makes in verses 1-5.

1. The Reason for David’s Worry

I want us to look at David’s first petition, which shows us the source of David’s worry. David’s in a desperate place at the beginning of this Psalm. It clearly involves some level of problem from enemies, given that he spends 3 verses (3-5) talking about the wicked and praying that God would carry out justice upon them and give them what their awful actions deserve.

But really the presenting problem for David, as I mentioned already, is that he is concerned not about the wicked triumphing over him, but about him being treated ultimately like one of the wicked. David as the king of God’s people is concerned that God will not only fail to protect David’s own life, but that he also won’t take care of all his people, if God fails to distinguish between how he treats his people and how he treats the wicked.

He’s worried that God will not hold onto him. That God won’t save him. He’s worried for his very life: v1 if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. He’s not just talking about death, but hopeless death. I become just like those who die without hope. Again, the concern is that God will ultimately treat him (a man after God’s own heart, as the Bible says about David) no different from those who don’t follow him. He expresses the same idea in v3 – “Do not drag me off with the wicked.” 

You can see how desperate he feels. He’s calling; he’s crying to God for help. v2 He’s pleading for mercy. His whole body is involved in his prayers. These aren’t quiet neat seated, with hands folded prayer. He’s lifting up his hands to God’s most holy sanctuary, to the place where God has said he uniquely manifested himself on earth. The holy of holies. Of all places on the entire earth, this is where you would hope to hear from God.

Silence

But there’s silence. Have you ever experienced this in a relationship that has disintegrated, that more than an argument or friction, what really hurts is stony, cold silence. Someone treating you like you’re not there. That’s miserable.

Maybe you’ve felt that in a human relationship. Have you ever felt something similar with God? Do you know what that is like? To feel like you’re knocking on heaven’s door and your knuckles are bloodied and the door isn’t budging. There’s no answer. I know I have. And I’ve acutely felt what David has felt, that if God does not show up, I’m in a place spiritually where I might become like the wicked. This Psalm has has met me in my life when it’s not just that God feels distant, but I have felt personally like I am in the middle of struggle with sin or temptation, and it feels like I’m losing the battle. Like every day I see more sin in myself.

And it feels like, “God, I’m struggling. I’m concerned for my very soul. Because I see ways where I’m already like the wicked, like those who have a hopeless future in the pit. God, don’t be silent. If you turn a deaf ear I don’t know if I can hold on.”

That’s where God’s people find themselves at times. You either have or will find yourself there.

Application

And it’s important to say, that this Psalm shows you that 1. You have words to bring to God when you are feeling that. And that’s such a comfort. But also 2. That even when a child of God feels like they’re slipping from grace, God will never let go of them. A true child of God may doubt whether they are a child of God for a time, but it doesn’t change their status as God’s dearly loved child.

After David was anointed by Samuel, he was God’s chosen king. When he was running for his life in the wilderness from Saul, he was God’s chosen king. Even when his son turned on him and took the kingdom from him, he was God’s chosen king. Whatever David’s experience was, God’s word, and David’s true status based on God’s word and work,  never changed.

Christian, that’s true of you. You’re always God’s child. Jesus words “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” — those words are always true.

And your job is to do what David did: call out to God. Call out to Jesus, he is the Christian’s most holy sanctuary, he is at God’s right hand hearing our prayers. And when you’re worried you keep calling out to him.

2. Regarding the Works of the LORD

Now moving to David’s second petition, this second one focuses in on the significance of us trusting, not in our own works, but in God’s works.

Judgment

This 2nd petition can often make people uncomfortable. Because David requests judgment upon the wicked. What I want us to think about as we talk about his discussion of the wicked is this question: What ultimately makes someone wicked and another person “righteous”? What makes “the wicked” different from David? Why can he request mercy for himself and judgment for the wicked?

One of the possible answers you might guess is because David thinks he is better than the people he describes as the wicked. Let’s examine that.

In v3-5 David describes the wicked, first positively: what they do; and then negatively: what they don’t do.

If you look at what they do, here’s the description of them. 

What the Wicked Do

v3 They’re workers of evil – they seek to create trouble with their actions. Someone who enjoys seeing trouble grow because of his actions. But here’s the main positive characteristic of these people that David has in view in this Psalm. People “who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts.”  People who act like someone is a friend of theirs in person, but murders their character behind their back.

David actually had a commander like this. His name was Joab. He was clearly a skilled military leader. He’s David’s lead commander his whole reign. But he was a ruthless man. And twice when David shows mercy to other military commanders who were former enemies, Joab goes to these men pretending to greet them or deliver a message from David. And while speaking peace with these men, he gets close to them, and he kills them in cold blood.

Here’s what D thinks about such people. They deserve to be repaid according to their work, according to the evil of their deeds, according to the work of their hands. And so he prays for it. He prays for people’s works to earn them a reward from God. And I think that is actually instructive for us as we think of God’s judgment. That’s what David is praying for the wicked. He is asking for God to give them what they deserve. 

When God judges someone, he gives them what they deserve. David isn’t asking God to let loose on someone, or to fly off the handle at anyone. He is asking for God to be exactly what we want in this world: a judge who is perfectly just. A judge who gives wicked people what they deserve. Who doesn’t consider the status of the rich or powerful when he judges.

Now the searching question is, what separates the wicked from the righteous? Why is David’s plea for mercy heard and he isn’t treated like the wicked? Is it just because the wicked do these kinds of things and the righteous people don’t?

Well, no. You just have to look at David’s own life. David took Bathsheba, the wife of one of his most loyal soldiers, while he was gone to battle, and committed adultery with her. And when she becomes pregnant from his sin, he tries to get Uriah, her husband, to go home to her and spend the night with her and cover up his sin; he even gets him drunk to try to accomplish this manipulation, but it doesn’t work. Then he sends Uriah back to the frontline with orders for his commander Joab—orders that tell Joab to put Uriah at the frontline and have everyone draw back in the middle of the worst fighting. Orders that get Uriah killed.

David spoke peace to Uriah while evil was in his heart. David has done the very thing that he says characterizes the wicked. The one specific characteristic of what the wicked do is something that David did.

Now, There is a general truth that you tell the wicked by their evil fruit and the righteous by their good fruit. Those are the words of Jesus. The lives of Christians and non-Christians should in general look different.

But that is not why David’s prayer is heard. He doesn’t plead his own righteousness in this Psalm. Sometimes he will plead his relative innocence, because God is a protector of the innocent and the oppressed. But that is not David’s plea here. He doesn’t claim innocence. Because he has done the deeds of the wicked. Looking at his positive description of the wicked, it leaves both David and the wicked in the same boat.

What the Wicked Don’t Do

But look at the negative description of the wicked. What don’t they do? Verse 5 “They do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands.” Now I want you to see, verse 5 is the real reason for the judgment of the wicked. Verse 4, David prays “give to them according to their work… give to them according to the work of their hands.” But verse 5 says, do this “BECAUSE they don’t regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands.”

And v4 and v5 share 2 phrases: v4 their work; v5 the works of LORD, v4 the work of their hands; v5 the works of his hands.

David says, punish them for what they do because of what they don’t do. And what they don’t do is understand what God has done. They deserve judgment for the works of their hands, because they don’t regard the works of God’s hands.

My friend, why will someone be judged for their works? Because they don’t regard, they don’t understand the works of the LORD.

True Faith

What are those works? God’s works in OT terms are his saving deeds. He brought Israel out of Egypt; he provided a substitute for the firstborn by the blood of the slain lamb; he redeemed them to be his people. In NT terms Jesus says in John 5 that the works of God are the works of Jesus Christ. That he does what he sees his Father doing. The works of God ultimately, are the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place, for our sins.

And that is ultimately the divide between the Christian singing this Psalm and the wicked. It’s “do you regard the works of God?” Do you know, do you know that the cross is the work of God? Do you know that?

Not just “do you know” but do you believe it? People asked Jesus “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” This is what it means to regard the work of God: to believe in Jesus. To trust in him as your only hope for standing before God and not being judged for your evil deeds. You need true faith.

True faith is more than knowing facts about what Jesus did. It’s even more than agreeing that those things are true. Did you know that? Kids, did you know that? You can believe that Jesus is God and that he died and rose to save sinners, and not be saved. Demons in fact believe that. The Book of James says that.

What is true faith? Here’s an answer that the Heidelberg catechism, an old teaching tool, gives. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 21 – What is true faith?

“True faith is not only a certain knowledge that everything God reveals in his Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.”

Did you hear that: Not only others, but I too, have been forgiven, made right with God, and given salvation? That’s true faith. Certain knowledge that God’s word is true? Yes. But it has to become personal. Jesus isn’t just a savior. He’s not just the savior of others. He’s your savior. Not only others, but I too.

My friends, do you regard the works of the Lord, the works of his hands? Or are you willing to risk it on your achievements and works? Because it’s either get what you deserve for your works, or trust in the works of God on your behalf. The Lord is either your rock, your strength, your shield, or he will tear you down and build you up no more.

The good news is that however you answer that question just now, today is what the Bible calls the day of salvation. God calls to you to turn to him for salvation. To trust in his work in your place. If you hear the voice of Jesus calling you to turn to him, run to him. Cry to him, plead with him, like David does, for mercy.

And you will find what David and all God’s people discover about God. He is a God who hears cries for mercy. And he is a God who moves us from worry to worship when we trust in his work.

3. Moving from Worry to Worship

That’s what we see in verses 6-9. God moves David from worry to worship: So he proclaims, “Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.” David rejoices in the LORD. From desperation and a cry for justice, David moves to praise. God hears the plea for mercy from verse 2 and answers it in verse 6. And the rest of this Psalm is full of worship.

Now there’s a question here about what has happened between v5 and v6? Did David write the first half, wait, receive an answer to prayer, and then write the second half? It’s possible. We don’t want to rule that out.

Prayer’s Live Results

But here’s what I think has happened. Have you ever had it where you’ve had a pretty desperate prayer time with God, that starts pretty messy, but by the end you’re actually in a much better place? God has met with you “live from Heaven” and comforted you, calmed your raging heart, assured you of his love? I think that’s what has happened here.

In the very process of praying for mercy, crying out for God to hear him, in crying out for justice, David has found that God is not silent, not deaf. You see he calls God “my strength and my shield.” He recognizes that if God is his Rock as he said in v1, then he really is that. He is strong for David, he is his protection.

And then David declares, “In him my heart trusts, and I am helped.” And this is why I think David has “watched the results come in live” as he prays. See, the very act of crying out to God as your rock, even when it doesn’t feel like God does hear you, is an act of faith. David is living by faith in his desperation.

Living out our faith actively helps us. Acting upon your faith in Christ helps. Faith exercised is faith strengthened. Does God feel distant sometimes? Yes. And at the same time, God is often so quick to encourage us helpless children when we act on our faith, even if it’s by feebly crying, “God, my rock, help!”

And when God does encourage our faith, some of our most desperate cries end in the heartfelt worship that we see David expressing: “my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” God is so gracious to us in Jesus Christ. He is so worthy of our hearts’ exultation, and our songs of thanksgiving.

Praying for Others

Now, that would be a good end to the Psalm. But there’s 2 more verses. And I love how this Psalm ends because David looks beyond himself. This is a pattern you see in Psalms, is that once someone recognizes how God has shown mercy to them, their view widens and they start talking about God loving and saving his whole people.

When God shows grace to us, he expands our hearts. Our hearts are like the Grinch’s heart. We have shriveled, empty hearts, 2 sizes too small, and God grows our hearts 3 sizes. And we think about how God not only is at work in our lives but he is at work in the lives of others, and we want for others what we’ve seen God do in our lives.

Jesus and Psalm 28

And that dynamic is especially important for David as the King. He is God’s anointed one. The word for “Anointed one” that you see in v8 is the word we get “Messiah” from. And as the special representative, the head of God’s people, the idea is that what God does for the Messiah, we can know he will do for all his people.

And that’s absolutely true. Not just true about David. It’s ultimately true about Jesus. Think about this Psalm as a Psalm about Jesus. He knew what it was like for his own disciple to speak peace to him, to kiss him, while evil was in his heart; He was treated like those who go down to the pit; He was dragged away with the wicked. On the cross when he cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” God was silent.

But God heard his cries. He trusted his Spirit to God. His heart trusted in him even on the cross. And he was helped. He was raised from death, and ultimately vindicated. The LORD is the saving refuge of his Messiah, his Anointed, His Christ! 

And because he is the saving refuge of THE Anointed One, we know that what God did for our Messiah he will do for us. Because Christ could sing this song, we can sing this song.

And so with Christ, we worship using verse 9, turning from our own troubles to the needs of his whole people and cry “save your people!” God save others! Help others!

Bless your heritage! Make others know they are God’s heritage, God’s treasured possession!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever! It’s a cry of petition, not from a worried heart, but a worshipping heart, that trusts in God’s saving work.