Speaker 1: 0:05

I invite you to turn in your Bibles, if you have them, to Psalm 9. If you don't have them, don't sweat it, it'll be on the overhead. But I'll be reading and preaching from the English Standard Version. I highly commend that version to you, by the way. It's a very good one. I'm going to introduce the Psalmsalm to us this morning, psalm 9. We're only going to look at the first half of this psalm. This psalm has a lot in it and it's a very comprehensive psalm. We'll look at half of it this week and the second half next week. And I can remember back in high school in my earlier days, I had a couple of twins in our class. I remember the Eshelman twins and the Fraley twins. Well, I say that because Psalms 9 and 10 are twins.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Some people see the fact that there's no superscription above Psalm 10. You'll notice that, like there is above Psalm 9. If you look in your English Bibles you'll see the superscription right above where it says verse 1 there, psalm of David. It's in that line, but it is a couplet. It's a couplet, the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, and in fact the apostles sometimes quote that version in the New Testament. It actually has Psalms 9 and 10 as one psalm.

Speaker 1: 1:29

And you'll see too that with this psalm Psalm 9, it's an acrostic. An acrostic is simply a psalm. That's when you look at it in the original it goes sort of like from A to Z, with each successive verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So it's Aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, and so on, right. Probably the most famous acrostic is Psalm 119. Even in your English Bibles they'll put above the first section of Psalm 119, aleph. That's the first letter, and then Bet, and then gimel and dalet, and so forth. So this is an acrostic psalm Psalm 119, psalm 34, psalm 145. There are those other acrostic psalms in the Psalter, but what's interesting about Psalms 9 and 10, this little couplet or these twin psalms, is they'll be going along and David's going going along, and then he'll skip a letter of the Hebrew alphabet or you'll get to a place and sometimes he'll flip the order out of order. And I agree with those scholars that think this is on purpose. I think it's actually saying something. There's a purpose to him doing that, because that's how life is right. Things get out of order, things get broken. We live life in an uneven world and he's giving that wink just in the way that he structured this psalm.

Speaker 1: 2:57

I think a great introduction to this psalm would be the hymn A Mighty Fortress by Martin Luther. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. As we've looked at these Psalms this summer, we began in verses Psalms one and two, rather the introductory Psalms to the Psalter and then, when we got to Psalms three and four, we saw David in night danger. We got to Psalm 5 and we see David the next morning In Psalms 6 and 7, we saw David crying out for justice from God. Then in Psalm 8, we see him sort of come up on an oasis where I believe he was in exile, and he lays down and looks up at the night sky and sees the stars and the moon. He's reminded from those stars, the promises of God, and he gets refreshment from his soul.

Speaker 1: 3:47

And now, in Psalm 9, what we see is a celebration of God's justice. He had prayed for it mightily and now we're beginning to see a celebration. And it's interesting because Jesus, we see the same pattern with Christ. Psalms 3, 4, 5, and 6 and 7, it's that, all that suffering, but it's moving toward glory, it's moving toward resolution based on the promises of God which we see in Psalm 8. Jesus said in Luke 24, it was necessary that he first suffer and then be glorified. And so we see that pattern over and over and over. That's the life of the Christian we first suffer and then we'll enter into glory. The cross comes before the crown and the resurrection.

Speaker 1: 4:41

So with that brief introduction, I'd like to ask you to stand. I'm going to read the first 10 verses to you this morning. And this is the infallible and errant holy word of the living God. And he sends it to you with love in his heart, to you, to bless you and to transform you spiritually. Let's receive it now with expectation and faith To the choir master.

Speaker 1: 5:05

According to Muth Labin, a Psalm of David, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, o Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment. You have rebuked the nations. You have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished. But the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice and he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, and those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, o Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen, you may be seated. Thank you, father. We come now to your word. You are our help. Our help comes from you. You are our Ebenezer, our stone of help. So I pray God now you would send forth your Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to hear your gospel and your truth. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 7:00

We're going to look at this first half of Psalm 9 in three parts. We're going to see here that David is celebrating and he's beginning to celebrate with confidence. So the first thing I want us to see is that God is our joy. Look at verses 1 and 2 again. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, o Most High. And so David says here, in these first couple of verses, in the first half of Psalm 9, what he's doing is he's giving joyful thanks and praise to the Lord. That's the heartbeat of this psalm. It's a psalm of thanksgiving and praise. And you'll notice what David is giving praise for.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Two things Notice in verse 1, the Lord's wonderful deed, and that's covenant Lord. All capitals, the promise keeper, great is thy faithfulness, lord, who's never going to go back on his promises to David or to God's people. So he's praising the Lord's wonderful deeds, verse 1, and the name of the covenant Lord, verse 2. Well, that's basically the name of the Lord is basically the same thing as what comes before it. The name of the Lord is referring to the fact that the Lord reveals himself. It's who he is. And how does the Lord reveal himself? He does it through his wonderful deeds. So to praise the name of the Lord is to praise the Lord's wonderful deeds in this context. And of course, how does he show us his wonderful deeds? He does it in creation and he does it in salvation or redemption, we could say. And so we hear David praise him for his wonderful deeds in creation.

Speaker 1: 8:49

You remember last week, in Psalm 8, verse 1, o Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Your glory right. You have set your glory above the heavens. His glory is so great the whole world can't contain it. So his glory is above the heavens. It's how great God is. And so he's revealed his name.

Speaker 1: 9:08

Well, here David is praising God for revealing his name, not so much in creation but in salvation or redemption, in this particular context, saving him from his enemies, the enemies of the kingdom of God. They're attacking King David who is the king of the kingdom of God. They're attacking King David who is the king of the kingdom. Remember, israel was the beachhead for the kingdom of God under the Old Testament days. That's where God was going to. Out of Israel was going to come the Messiah and God was going to spread his people throughout the whole earth and his gospel. And notice this creation and redemption. That's the two reasons we're given in the 10 commandments, particularly the fourth commandment. In the fourth commandment we're giving these two reasons for why we gather to worship God on the Lord's day. In Exodus 20, that's when Moses and the Israelites had come out of Egypt. They went to Mount Sinai. They got the law. So there in Exodus 20 we see all ten commandments together.

Speaker 1: 10:11

There's only two places in the Bible that's true in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. But in Exodus 20, here's what we read in the fourth commandment remember the Sabbath day. To keep it holy. Because what? Because God created all things in six days. And then on the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Because what? Because God created all things in six days. And then on the seventh day he rested and he blessed it and made the Sabbath holy. He set that day apart for a special blessing for God's people. So that's in Exodus 20.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Then we get to Deuteronomy 5. That's a whole generation later. They've gone from Mount Sinai now all through the wilderness. Now they're up in Moab, just outside the promised land. Moses is about to die. He's given his last sermon series in Deuteronomy, and in Deuteronomy five he lists once again all the 10 commandments and preaches them to God's people.

Speaker 1: 11:00

And when he gets the fourth commandment, listen to how he says it. They're called to keep the Sabbath day holy because it was the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery See redemption. In Exodus 20, we're saying because God is our creator and we're following his pattern In Deuteronomy 5, it's because he redeemed us and brought us out of slavery. In regards to the latter, we hear it this way in Galatians 1, in the New Testament, verse 4, god has saved us from this present evil age. Same idea, and so we gather every Sunday to give thanks and praise to God for being our creator and also being our redeemer. We live in a world that was created by the power of God's Word. We live in a miracle. Basically, have we lost our wonder at God's creation? Have we gotten too familiar with the truths of the scripture and the great thing he has done for us in Christ? And this Psalm is calling us to praise him as our creator and redeemer.

Speaker 1: 12:11

And notice David's not simply here in Psalm 9, praising God because he's the creator and after he creates things, he then just gets out of the way and leaves everybody alone. No, david's not simply giving thanks to him as the redeemer who saves. David's not simply giving thanks to him as the Redeemer who saves David's soul but then leaves him to his earthly troubles and earthly battles in the body. No, that's not who David is praising here. King David's praising the Creator and Redeemer, who is sovereign, and he's intimately involved in the details of every earthly spiritual battle of King David and, for that matter, all of God's people. And so you'll notice, here David's giving thanks to the Lord with his whole heart. I wonder if your heart's full to the brim with thanksgiving to God this morning. If it is, then sing heartily and give praise to God. If it's not, then the Psalm is teaching us here what to pray for. Lord, I'm missing that right now. That's what I want to be. Help me, help me, god, fill my heart with thanksgiving. Charles Spurgeon says half a heart is no heart, and so you have a heart here with David that's bursting with thankfulness. And there's difficulty. He's had a hard time, but this bursting with thankfulness is the mark of a Christian.

Speaker 1: 13:39

That great hymn writer, william Cooper, a friend of John Newton, who wrote An Amazing Grace. William Cooper, back in the latter 1500s, early 1600s, said as the scent reveals the liquid that's in the bottle, our mouths should smell continually of the mercy that has refreshed our hearts. We are called Christians. Bottles of mercy, bottles of mercy. You see, have you and I forgotten how merciful God has been to us, what our sin deserves? And yet, every day, wow, so what is that? Speaking of what our sin deserves, run All right. Well, where was I? Every day, we get up, we put our feet on the ground and we take another breath, and every breath, do you realize, is a mercy from God. We forget how wicked our sin is, we make light of it and we're going to pretend we don't hear, that we're just going to go on, all right.

Speaker 1: 15:03

So one of the marks of the wicked wicked, though, is they're silent toward heaven. And the reason they're silent? They've made themselves kings and queens of their lives, and kings and queens of this world have an entitlement mentality. They have an entitlement mentality, so they don't think they need God's mercy. They just think everything in their life should go fine. And boy is that annoying.

Speaker 1: 15:29

But in Romans 1, paul says the mark of an unbeliever is they neither honor God nor give thanks to Him. They know he exists it's self-evident in creation. They know all this didn't come from nothing. They know he exists, and yet they don't honor Him and they don't give Him thanks. That's the mark of an unbeliever. You know, sometimes you'll be driving down the road and you get that smell. Oh, there's a skunk somewhere. That's the sin of the world, grumbling and complaining. Sometimes as Christians we get pulled into that and the aroma is that of a skunk. But no, god calls us to have this scent of thankfulness, an aroma of praise to God, because we're bottles of mercy and we so easily forget it. Even on our worst day there's much to give thanks and praise to God for Amen. So let us all you know, if the shoe fits, just repent of the grumbling and complaining and let's resolve anew to be a grateful and thankful people to God. That's one of the things Psalm 9 is teaching us.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Notice here. You'll notice, in verses 2 to 6, david's praising God that he's mindful of the many times God has declared and or not declared, has defeated David's enemies. That word mindful, remember we heard that back in Psalm 8? So one of the ways God's mindful to David as he deals with his enemies you remember the Philistines and the Moabites and all these other ites. And as king, it would have been easy for David, like many politicians we see today, to take all the credit. But in verse two, I will be glad and exalted in you, I will sing praise to your name, o, most High. You know he didn't rename. Oh, it's King David's Highway, or it's King David's highway, or it's King David's airport, which is what we get a lot today. No, it's God. I give you praise. I may be king and our enemies may have been defeated under my watch in battle, but it's all because of you, and I know it. My victory comes from above.

Speaker 1: 17:51

As Luther would say in his hymn, david knew he had victory in his life over the world with devils filled that's how Luther puts it. That's the world we live in, those devils that threaten to undo us. David knew the victory that he had was due to the grace of God, and so in verse two, he calls God Elion. O Most High, o, most High, the Lord, the God of Israel. He's not just the little tribal God of Israel, he's the God of heaven and earth, he's the God over all the nations, he's the one in charge, and David is taking joy in that reality. David's Lord is Most High, and that also means that God Most High is the Christian church. He is our God and he's the God over the nations.

Speaker 1: 18:37

And we see so much rebellion and chaos and confusion in our society today and in the world. Think about the hostility toward Christ and the Bible and even, at times, christians, in our courts and schools, in our public life, even in some churches, against the word of God and the name of Jesus Christ. It calls us not to bitterness. It's easy to let these things anger us, but we have to be reminded, and God is reminding us here anew in Psalm 9. Don't be pulled down into a life of bitterness from your enemies. Learn to praise me in the midst of all. Learn to exalt my name in the midst of all. Learn to sing to the one who is most high and is not gonna let these things stand in the end, aren't you glad? We're gonna see he's gonna deal with it, and that's the confidence that David has.

Speaker 1: 19:34

And so David has taken joy in his God here. God is our joy, even when things are tough. But notice, god's our advocate. David can give great praise to God because he knows and see, an advocate's more than a cheerleader. An advocate's somebody that will defend you more than a cheerleader. An advocate is somebody that will defend you. And when God is defending you, he is not going to fail, he will succeed. And so notice in verses three through six here look at the first couple of verses David's rejoicing here in God's victory over his enemies. God is his advocate in the battle against his enemies. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence, for you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.

Speaker 1: 20:22

You see verse one to the choir master. This is a psalm not just for David as an individual. This is a psalm not just for David as the king. It's a psalm for the whole church, all Christians who experience injustice and persecution, and there are many throughout the world today. I remember them telling us in seminary don't forget, when you get in, the pastor, don't forget the poor pastors of the world and don't forget the persecuted church. And if you're not being persecuted right now, this psalm's here to remind you. Don't forget to pray for the persecuted church, because that's normal. God's people throughout history have been persecuted horribly.

Speaker 1: 21:05

But notice how the defeat comes to the enemies of David and the enemies of the church of Jesus Christ. Look at verse three. They stumble and perish before your presence. It's the presence of the church of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 3, they stumble and perish before your presence. It's the presence of the Lord, it's the special presence of the Lord's favor that turns back the enemies of His church. It's the Lord, present with and in His church, who causes the enemies of God's church to stumble. This idea of stumbling, this is not oh, I tripped and kind of re-caught my balance kind of stumbling. This is the kind of stumbling that ruins the person, stumbles and they are completely ruined. Notice verse three. They stumble and perish. See, they stumble and perish, like the Egyptians at the Red Sea, like many of the Canaanites did when Joshua came in to the promised land.

Speaker 1: 22:03

In the gospel of John, the 18th chapter, we see something very interesting. We see there Jesus is there at the garden of Gethsemane, and here Judas had already betrayed him. And here comes the pack, the wolves and the lions coming to take Jesus, to round him up, to crucify him. And Jesus says to them whom do you seek? And they answered him Jesus of Nazareth. So Jesus then said back to his enemies I am he. And John says Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them, with the enemies. And when Jesus said to them I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. In the words of Luther's hymn. One little word shall fell them. Christ had all the power, I am he. And they fall to the ground. And yet he was determined to go to the cross, even for his enemies. It's a remarkable thing. He asked him again whom do you seek? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered I told you that I am he, so if you seek me, let these men go.

Speaker 1: 23:24

How helpful it is to read the New Testament in light of the old and the old in light of the new, because this Lord that David is praying to is incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the new it's a fuller picture of Jesus Christ, the Lord and the judge of heaven and earth, and this psalm here helps us understand Jesus more fully. These enemies of Jesus, that's greater son of David, the true king of Israel. He's standing in the very presence of the enemies of the or the very presence of the Lord of the church. He is the Lord of the church, he is the judge of all the earth.

Speaker 1: 24:03

And then, as he's standing there amidst those enemies, what does the apostle Peter do? He pulls out a sword and he cuts off Malchus' ear, the high priest's ear, and Jesus says to him put your sword down. Put your sword back in its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? So what does that mean? The same Lord who caused David's enemies to stumble and perish tells the apostle Peter put your sword away, because I have a mission to fulfill. I'm going to do my Father's will and I'm going to drink the cup of God's wrath for sinners, even while they were yet my enemies.

Speaker 1: 24:49

It's a remarkable thing, our Lord, that he saves his own enemies Not all of them, but, thank God, many. And it's at the cross. Jesus ultimately defeats all of his enemies. Satan and the rebellious world send death in the grave. Now, it's because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. It's because Christ took God's own wrath on our behalf. That's how we're able to receive the favor of God and the forgiveness of God and the mercies of God, and yet God, at the same time, remains just, and so it's important that we see that biblical forgiveness is not the overlooking or the forgetting of an offense, no, it's. We get true, eternal forgiveness and mercy. It's a forgiveness and mercy rooted in the justice of God. Christ took the justice we received. We get his mercy and forgiveness Knowing that Christ has died for our enemies in mercy, or that God will sooner or later bring judgment upon the enemies of His church and of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the basis for us to forgive our enemies. It's the basis for us to love our enemies. It's the basis for us to pray for them. It's the basis for us to pray for them when we see their true condition.

Speaker 1: 26:19

They're in trouble, and this was the confidence David had. So he can say in verse four for you, lord, have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment. If you've been horribly mistreated as a believer in Christ in this world, if your faith has caused the world to knock you upside the head, mistreat you at work, whatever the case may be, you can be reassured. God's going to deal with it. He's going to deal with it. He will maintain your just cause. You're trying to live right. He's going to deal with it. He will maintain your just cause. You're trying to live right, and maybe your family's giving you a hard time about it. Maybe you were shunned by your friends once they found out you actually took the Bible seriously. Whatever the case may be, god will make it right in the end. He is your advocate and David continues to praise God as his advocate because he looks ahead to that day when God will make all things right, when all of God's enemies will be totally defeated.

Speaker 1: 27:21

Look at verses 5 and 6. You've rebuked the nations. You've made the wicked perish. You've blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in the everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished. Whoa, just like the Amalekites in Exodus 17, where God says I will utterly blot them out of my memory. I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. It's a horrible situation for someone to go against the Lord. And you notice here the past tense. David is talking as if this has already happened. He says you have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever. The very memory of them has perished.

Speaker 1: 28:15

If I tell Eric Reddish, if Eric says to me, corey, I'm going out of town, I need you to cut my grass so that I can win the lawn contest in my neighborhood while I'm gone, and I say to Eric, eric, it's done. Well, it's not done, it's a week away, but it's done in the sense of what, eric, you can be so certain I'm gonna come cut your grass, I. But it's done in the sense of what, eric, you can be so certain I'm gonna come cut your grass. I can just say it's done. The prophets do the same thing.

Speaker 1: 28:38

David was a king. He was also a prophet. He is so certain that the destruction of his enemies is ultimately coming. He speaks of it as if it's already passed. They have perished. He has a confidence God is going to deal with his enemies. It's God's going to deal with his enemies.

Speaker 1: 28:59

It's called the prophetic past, and God not only judges the nations, notice, he judges rebellious cities. You see that here in verse six, sodom and Gomorrah comes to mind as a famous city that was judged by God. But David had all these enemies, and the surrounding nations would attack Israel, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, one by one, and in his own way and timing. God brought judgment upon these hostile enemies of the kingdom of God because they were unrepentant neighbors of Israel. They were unrepentant neighbors and they pressed on until they were unrepentant neighbors of Israel. They were unrepentant neighbors and they pressed on until they were destroyed.

Speaker 1: 29:40

What is that a picture of? It's a picture of all who fail to repent and come to the Lord Jesus, who all who continue to rebel against him and not honor his sovereignty and his lordship. This is why the prophets would preach in tears, because they saw the condition of people and a judgment day was coming. Micah the prophet says when you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed, and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you. You see, the destroyer one day is going to be destroyed, and by God's justice, the destroyer of the church becomes the destroyed, unless God saves them. Saul was the greatest persecutor of the church in the New Testament right, but Jesus showed up and converted Saul and made him the apostle to the Gentiles, and now most of the New Testament letters are written by a man named the Apostle Paul.

Speaker 1: 30:41

By the grace of God, god's enemies can become his friends and his children. Aren't you glad for that? So always pray for your family and friends that don't know the Lord. Pray for those who don't know him, because Jesus died for sinners and everyone that's saved. He died while we were still yet an enemy of His. It's a horrible thing to think about the judgment.

Speaker 1: 31:04

We see something of this judgment in Revelation, chapter 6. The sixth seal. And the sixth seal is the wrath of the Lamb of God. If you haven't read that, it'll take your breath away. If you ponder it much, that same Lord, jesus Christ, that's in Revelation 6, pouring out his just wrath on the nations and peoples who rebelled against him at the end of time, is the same Lord who's dealing with David's enemies here in Psalm 9.

Speaker 1: 31:39

It's very sobering, and so David's praising God that he's his personal advocate, his sovereign judge. He's the judge of the nations and within history, but he's also the eternal judge. He's also the eternal judge In verse 7, you see that little word, but he's also the eternal judge. In verse 7, you see that little word. But David's contrasting something here. You see that God's enemies are going to perish from the earth's memory evil dictators and wicked movements and vile cities and people and institutions that are against the Lord. They will one day perish, they'll be rooted out in perish, david says. They're, but for a season on this earth, and they'll be blown away like chaff, as Psalm 1 says. But David says in verse 7, and here's one of the greatest joys that pervades the hearts of the godly the Lord will sit on his throne forever judging the nations and the peoples within history. But in the end, in the end, he's going to establish a world of peace and joy and justice and righteousness. Aren't you glad for that? A day is coming where everything will be right.

Speaker 1: 32:48

Isaiah the prophet talks about it in the ninth chapter. We typically read this around Christmas time For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace, and of the increase of his government and of peace, there shall be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore. And the good news is this the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. God is determined to establish justice on the earth. So every time we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we can know that we're praying the promises of God and that God will establish these things upon the earth. But there are consequences to that and those who are not right with God.

Speaker 1: 33:48

It's a scary thing to think about. Jesus says in Matthew 5, the meek shall inherit the earth. What kind of earth are the godly going to inherit? Well, it's the kind of place where the laborers would actually get the fruit of their labor. You won't have to hear that phrase making ends meet anymore. You won't have to wait for them to come out with the inflation report or about choke when you go to the store. Have you seen what the price of boar head meat is lately? Boar's head Right. We won't have to worry about that anymore. There'll be no more child abuse, no more spouse abuse. We won't have any more civil wars, no more world wars. The poor will no longer be exploited by the rich. The rich won't be exploited by the government. The governments are not going to be held hostage anymore by what we may call here the military-industrial complex and so on and so forth. We just go on and on.

Speaker 1: 34:48

The Bible says a better day is coming. Here's how they put it. The peoples shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. We won't need boot camp anymore. Can you imagine in our world if we could take all the money our nation spends on our debt and upon our military and our police and the crime and put it toward things, other things. Can you imagine such a world? There's a day coming. We'll have to worry about that. In that day, the mechanic will be honored just as much as a jock baseball player. Women will be valued just as much as men. The value of men and true manhood will no longer be mocked, like it is in our culture today, sadly, where black and white and brown and red and yellow skinned people will all worship together and feast together in joy at the table of the Lord. That's going to be the day when we have true biblical diversity, in contrast to the immoral diversity that's rammed down our throats every day of the year here ad nauseum in our country, there is a good kind of biblical diversity. And what's the difference between the world I've just described, where everything's gonna be right, and the world we live in today and the world that David lived in? The difference is a particular day, and it's the day of judgment. There's a day fixed coming.

Speaker 1: 36:18

You remember when Paul preached at Mars Hill in Athens, greece, about 2000 years ago? He alludes to Psalm nine, verse eight, in his preaching at the famous Areopagus in Acts, chapter 17. Listen, the times of ignorance got overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man, that's Jesus Christ, whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. How do we know? The judgment is surely coming, because Christ is bodily risen from the dead and he will return in glory. But, you see, because that day is fixed.

Speaker 1: 37:04

This is why evangelism is important, why church planning and world missions is important. It's why it's important that you pray for your lost family and friends and neighbors and coworkers and when you get opportunity, you share the gospel with them and you tell them how good God has been to you and how merciful is this Lord that we share, or that we worship and serve and share with them the goodness of God David. What he's doing again and again and again, is he's understanding his circumstances in light of who God is, and when he sees and understands who, again, is he's understanding his circumstances in light of who God is, and when he sees and understands who God is, he knows what the outcome is going to be. In this case, god is just he's going to make things right in the end. It has to be that way because of who God is. And so he rejoices that God is our joy and our advocate. And lastly, and very briefly, he rejoices that God is our stronghold.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Look at verses 9 and 10. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, and those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, o Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. You've not forsaken those who seek you. This is not the seekers who are lost and they're trying to find. No, this is the kind of seekers who return again and again and again because they know something's available, like my wiener dog, mo. When he hears the fridge open or he hears the potato chip bag crinkle in the kitchen, here he comes. He's seeking because he knows something's available and he's going to be there. And that's a good picture for me and you, christian. We need to be seeking God, and God does not forsake those who rely upon him by faith, who know that he will make things right. All things are available through God, and Christian God is a stronghold, not just for David, but for you. Christian God is a stronghold not just for David but for you. He's a stronghold for you.

Speaker 1: 39:03

I'll end with this. There's an old Anglican, john Trapp, lived back in the 1600s, but at any rate he said the Egyptians back in those days, when they live in the wetlands, the low wetlands, they're plagued with gnats, and so what they do is they go sleep in high towers because the gnats couldn't get up that high. And here's what Trapp says it would be good for us, when bit with the cares and fears of this world, to run to God for refuge and rest confident of his help. I wonder if you have confidence in the help of God. If he sent his son to die for you, to drink the cup of hell for you, and raised his son from the dead, and Christ is at the right hand of God as your advocate this morning, interceding for you, on your side, your sure defense and your stronghold, what is in your life that he cannot help you with? This morning? He will help you and in the end all things will be right and all things will be well. Are you glad?