BATTLING THROUGH MY MESS WITHOUT MAKING MORE MISTAKES (THE HOLINESS OF GOD) (Session 2)

There have been some infamous contests in sports history where an athlete crossed over into another sport. In 1994, NBA legend Michael Jordan played professional baseball with the AA Birmingham Barons. Jordan hit 3 home runs and stole 30 bases, but he couldn’t hit a curve ball. And with a meager .202 average the NBA’s greatest player couldn’t make it on a major league baseball roster. Jordan returned to basketball and went on to win 3 more championships and was named league MVP in 1996 and 1998. 

Though fictitious, a crossover that grabbed my attention as a child occurred in the 1982 film Rocky III when Rocky took on a wrestler named Thunderlips (played by Hulk Hogan. Rocky was tossed, slammed, and eventually thrown out of the ring as Thunderlips went into a fit of rage, determined to embarrass the boxing champ. 

Every man has his battles. And there will be times in which he finds himself fighting on multiple fronts. And in some situations, much like a crossover athlete, the battle can be unfamiliar.

 Such is the situation in Psalm 18. David is a king and a commander. He is a ruler and a warrior. In verses 4-5 David describes his turmoil. He is about to get tossed over the top rope. He is wrestling for his life.

In verse 6 David cries out to the Lord for help. God heard David and answered him. God rescued David from “my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me (v. 17).”

Like David was a king and a warrior, men are dually employed. Men crossover in their roles as:

• Husbands and may find that they must fight for their marriage.

• Fathers and may find that he must battle for his children.

• Workers, employers, managers and may find that he must take a stand for God in the workplace as he is called to compromise his faith. 

• Members of a church where a man may teach or lead. As such he constantly finds himself in spiritual battles, pushing back on the darkness in his community as he seeks to fulfill the Great Commission and to make disciples. He may find himself called within the church to stand for sound doctrine. 

And a man may find himself in more than one of those battles at any given time.

And when a man is in the throes of battle, like David describes in verses 4-5, he may feel like he is in over his head. So, a question arises. Not only how he can have victory, but how can he avoid making mistakes, maybe even a moral failure, that make a bigger mess than the one he is already in? 

This concern is at the heart of the celebration in Psalm 18. Not only has God given David victory (v. 17), but God has minimized David’s mistakes (v. 23).

In the midst of our battles, we want to know the right way to go, the right thing to do. So imagine, in every future fight you are going to face (18:31-39) that the Lord:

• Equips you (v. 32)

• Strengthens you (v. 32)

• Secures you (v. 33)

• Guides you (v. 34)

• Protects you (v. 35)

• Supports you and helps you stand (v. 35-36)

• Gives you victory (v. 37-39)

The way David secured a righteous victory was by following a Holy God in his battles. If a man follows the Lord, the way he fights and wins will reflect the character of the God he follows. 

The Lord will help you win His way, the right way, in a way that reflects who God is. 

God is holy. The holiness of God is explicitly mentioned throughout the Psalms. An example would be Psalm 99 where we are called in verses 3 and 5 to praise the Lord. Why? It goes on to repeat in both verses that we praise the Lord because, “Holy is he!”

What does it mean that God is holy and what are the implications of His holiness as he leads me through my battles:

1. The holiness of God means that God is unique. He is unlike any created thing. This means that God’s ways are not the world’s ways. Because of God’s holiness, His ways are not obvious. You can’t just do what you feel. You can’t just do what everyone else would do in the same situation. 

2. The holiness of God means that God is morally pure. God leads His people to do things in wise, righteous ways. We cannot fight evil with evil. You can’t fix what’s wrong by doing wrong. When we follow the Lord we do not seek revenge, but righteousness. 

And the Bible says that because God is holy, His desire is for you to be holy, even in our battles. This holy influence on David’s life is reflected in Psalms 17 and 18 as he celebrates how the Lord brought him to victory. We will glean some verses from the text and see how a holy God not only helps a man win in his battles but helps him win the right way.

Because God is holy:

• I will be careful about what I say (17:3)

The battle is a trial. Psalm 17:3 reveals that God is not only concerned about your circumstance but your character. God uses the battle to mold his man! 

In 17:3 David says that God tested and tried David. But David, “Purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”

Think of how many battles where you, as a man, made a mess, not based on what you did, but based on what you said. You may be right in the decisions you are trying to lead your family, business, or church to make. But we all know that words can do a lot of damage. 

You may be fighting for your marriage, but make sure you don’t wound your wife with your words. 

You may see that your kids are straying off into danger. But make sure your words don’t drive them further away.

You may have the best idea for your business but forfeited your right to influence this situation based on foolish words said in the past. 

A holy God tests us in our battles so be sure that what comes out of our mouth is pleasing to Him.

• I will hold myself to a standard so that God can righteously answer my prayers (17:6, 18:6).

Your moral life effects your prayer life. Often we need to ask God to clean up the man before we ask God to clean up the mess. David wanted to ask for God’s help, but David made sure that he was right with God.

Are you right with God?

The Bible makes it clear that if we regard iniquity in our heart, He will not hear (Psalm 66:18).

As a pastor I’ve met a lot of men who lived in sin but got serious about their faith when the bullets began to fly in their battle. So they prayed. But nothing happened. And many of those men got angry at God. Some even gave up on God. 

The problem wasn’t that God didn’t care or didn’t exist. The problem wasn’t that prayer failed them. The problem was that they weren’t repentant. They wanted to persist in sin but get a holy God’s help. 

James 4:1-4 teaches that if God cannot righteously answer our prayers, He won’t. God won’t become an enabler to your self-centeredness. His concern in answering prayer is His Holy glory! Pride is no motive for prayer. Because God is holy, sin and selfishness should have no place in prayer.

• I will get in God’s Word so I can know what pleases God (vv. 21-23).

When we are in the midst of the battle our emotions and opinions tend to take over. In verses 21-23 David made sure that his decisions were not based on what he felt or thought. David said that his concern was to keep the ways of the Lord. “All of his rules were before me.” And because David was concerned to obey God, “I was blameless before Him and I kept myself from guilt.”

When a man is in a situation where he feels like he is in over your head, he gets desperate. He starts swinging emotional, opinionated haymakers hoping to land a knockout blow and end the situation quickly. But a man would do well to deny his emotions and set aside his opinions and instead get in the Word and learn the ways of God. 

God loves to give His people wisdom (James 1:5). A wise man doesn’t make decisions out of desperation but based on the revelation of a Holy God that is found in God’s Word, the Bible.

• I am careful that I let God’s Word shape my attitudes and my actions (vv. 25-28).

The old saying in computing is “junk in, junk out.” The same can be said for our souls. In verses 25-28 David was careful in the battle that his attitude reflected God’s attitude. If he wanted God’s mercy, David needed to be merciful. If David wanted to be saved, then he needed to be humble, not prideful. 

Sometimes God doesn’t deal with the battle because He’s dealing with the man. Again, a holy God won’t bless sin. So, we must be careful in the midst of the battle that we keep a check on our attitudes and our actions so that they please God.

• My faith is increased (29-30).

Throughout the Psalm David gave testimony of how God worked in the battle to help him overcome his enemy. 

If a man follows God in the battle he will not only come out with victory, but a testimony. He will be able to share stories of what God has done in his battles to show himself mighty and faithful.

In the midst of the battle David’s faith increased. Verse 29 doesn’t necessarily mean that God made David into an incredible athlete, a superman who could leap tall walls with a single bound. But David is expressing confident faith that as he followed God that there would not be a single thing that came against him that God did not have something for him. 

And how does this sort of faith increase in a man? It isn’t in miraculous strength or mystical feelings. But notice verse 30. David’s faith increased as he realized who God was in his holiness:

i) This God – His way is perfect. His way is better than my way.

ii) The word of the Lord proves true. He has revealed to me the path that pleases Him.

iii) He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. I can trust and follow the Holy God in the midst of my battles.

Conclusion:

As a man you have various roles and there will be times in which you fight multiple battles. But when you pray and employ the help of the holy God, His ways become your ways. His righteousness becomes your concern. You minimize mistakes that are often made from emotion. Instead of harsh words doing damage out of desperation, you are careful to follow God’s Word and do things and say things that are pleasing to Him. 

In his wrestling David learns to worship. He grabs on to a holy God and learns that His ways are right. His way is best. David praises the Lord for his help.

When a man grabs onto a holy God in his wrestlings, when he is overwhelmed, he will get the help of God but he will also walk away in worship. He will gain a testimony of God's holiness, faithfulness, and goodness that he can share with others. 

When you are overwhelmed and the battle unfamiliar, cry out to God and He will help you. 

Discussion Questions:

• Michael Jordan tried baseball. Rocky wrestled Hulk Hogan (fictitiously) but it didn’t go well. What are some other crossover athletes or matches you can recall that didn’t end well?
• What is a role in your life or a situation where you feel like you are in over your head?
  • What are some mistakes you’ve made in difficult situations?
• David turned to the Lord in the midst of his battle and he testifies in Psalm 18 that, the Lord “made my way blameless.” In each verse below explain how turning to a holy God in the midst of a battle:
  • (v. 32a) equips a man and trains a man (v. 34) for what he is facing.
  • (v. 32) strengthens a man through his battle.
  • (v. 35) protects a man, lessens the blows and the damage.
• Look at verses 37-39. Is there a man at the table who can share a story of how he turned to God in the midst of a battle and the Lord gave him victory?
• When a man turns to a holy God he will win in ways that reflect God’s character. Turning to a holy God helps a man minimize the mistakes he is prone to make as he wrestles with the various issues of life. Read each of the following verses and explain how turning to God in our battles:
  • Psalm 17:3 - makes a man more careful about what he says.
  • Psalm 18:6 - makes a man more prayerful and intentional about what he asks the Lord to do.
  • Psalm 18:21-23 - makes a man more diligent to be in the Word so he knows how to obey God.
  • Psalm 18:25-28 - makes a man more humble in his battles.
  • Psalm 18:29-30 - increases a man’s faith.
• What are your takeaways from this session?