(upbeat music) - Pastor John, in episode 101, we looked at Jeremiah 29 11, which is a very popular verse for a lot of Christians. And one listener asks if the promised blessings to Israel can rightly be applied to the Christian life, and if so, how? As a follow up question to that episode, how do the blessings promised to the psalmist apply to us today, or do they at all?

- This morning, Tony, I was reading in Psalm 18. In fact, I read the whole Psalm, it's a long Psalm, 50 verses, and the question that rose is, what does this have to do with me? Because this is really, really about David. This Psalm 18 has, I think, the longest introduction of any Psalm.

It goes like this, "To the choir master, a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this Psalm to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, he said," now that's a long introduction.

So we know this is really about David, it's about his situation, and when you read it, it's just full of God's salvation for David from his enemies, and then it ends that way. "Great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever." So I got finished reading it, and I was happy for David, and I know that Jesus is the true David, the final David, and the final king, and therefore I'm celebrating the triumphs of Messiah as well, but I wondered, can I take these verses?

I mean, here they are, I mean, things like, "He's my strength, he's my rock, he's my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, he saves me from my enemies, he brings me out into a broad place, he rescues me and he delights in me, and he's a light and my lamp, and he lights my darkness, I can run against a troop, I can leap over a wall, your right hand supports me, you delivered me from the strife of the peoples." So when I read that, can I say, "Yes, God does that for John Piper because it says so here," or do I have to say, "Well, yeah, it says so here, but really I have to go over and find some nice text in Matthew to find God's care for me." And here's the thing I'd love to share, 'cause God just did it for me this morning in a very precious way, when it says at the end, "Great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love," and that's what I want every day, I want God to love me in a steadfast moment-by-moment way, and I wanna be assured of that from the Bible in a warranted true way, I don't wanna just make it up, and he says he does that to David and his offspring.

And when I read offspring, I thought, okay, is that just Christ, is that just the line of kings who have a right to the throne, or is more going on there for me than I might think? And the Lord brought back to my mind, 'cause I worked on this years ago in a pretty concerted way when I preached on Isaiah 55, goodness, must have been 10 or 15 years ago, I don't know, the first verses of Isaiah 55, and a lot of people know these verses, they're really precious, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters." So now, when I read that, I think, everyone who thirsts?

Okay, I'm there, and I'm thirsty, so this is about me, he who has no money, that's me, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money, without price, so this is incredibly broad, you don't have to be a Jew, you don't have to be smart, all you have to be is hungry for me, come to me, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for what doesn't satisfy?

Listen to me, incline your ear to me, come to me, and here's the promise, I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. I thought, okay, I think what you're promising me there is that if I'm just a hungry, thirsty, bankrupt, needy person willing to turn to God, he will make a covenant with me, and the covenant is his love for David, which is absolutely stunning promise, because what it says is, all the promises I make to David, all that verse 50 of Psalm 18, the steadfast, sure love that I have for David and to his offspring is yours, because you've come to me, I've grafted you into that, and then you can go over to the New Testament, where all that's worked out for us and how that works, but the truth of it was really there in Isaiah 55, 3 and Psalm 18, 50, and in the New Testament, if we endure with him, we will reign with him, we will sit on his throne, Revelation 3, 21, and so you start to feel the incredible implications of being the offspring of David and having the covenant with David made to us.

So what God did for me this morning in regard to Psalm 18, Tony, was really quite precious, and I would just commend the Psalms to all of our listeners that they might enjoy the way they really are meant to be taken for God's people. - Thank you, Pastor John.

Those sermons on Isaiah 55 are titled, "The Great Invitation," and they were preached in the months of July and August of 1998. There's a total of five sermons in the series, which cover Isaiah 55, 1 through 13, and they can all be found in the desiringgod.org sermon archive, along with 1,500 other sermons, all for free.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)