Speaker 1: 0:06

Good morning Westtown Church family. Great to be with you, as always. I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 10. We're down to our last couple of weeks of the summer Psalm series and I hope you've been encouraged by it. I certainly have. If you love the Psalms, say amen, man, I'm glad you gave me an amen. That's good. I love the psalms. We need them. They put iron in the blood. I'm going to read this in just a moment. I want to introduce Psalm 10 to you. We're going to look at it in two parts, meaning this week and next week, and then we're actually going to go back it in two parts, meaning this week and next week, and then we're actually going to go back to 1 Corinthians. But before we do that, I'm actually going to preach one sermon on labor over Labor Day weekend, on the importance and significance of work.

Speaker 1: 0:55

So but I came across in Boyce's commentary a Gallup poll and it's really interesting. It's on Americans. Here's what he found out in his polling. There was a positive side to it. The positive side was 81% claimed to be religious, 71% believe in life after death. 84% of Americans believe in heaven, 67% believe in hell and in this particular poll it was. Half of all Americans can be found in church on an average Sunday morning. Well then, he had another side of the data that he looked at, and here's what he found.

Speaker 1: 1:32

What he basically found was that the religious beliefs of many of those polled actually made very little difference in how they lived their life. 95% said they believe in God, but only one in four say that religion is the most important and influential factor in their life. What kind of a God is that? Must be a puny God. Most parents want some kind of religious instruction for their kids, but religious faith ranks well below many traits parents desire for their children. In other words, it wasn't really a high priority for them. Only one in eight say they would sacrifice everything they have for their religious beliefs or God. It's not worth dying for A glaring lack of knowledge of the Ten Commandments. And then only one in eight say religion makes a significant difference in his or her life.

Speaker 1: 2:26

That was by their own testimony. What's amazing about that is that pulls from 40 years ago. So where are we today? Now, thank God, before I get you too depressed going into this sermon, hang with me. Hang there, there's hope here today. We serve a God of revival. Aren't you glad for that? You study church history even right now around the world. I would love to talk about with you sometime the great revivals that are going on right now, sweeping Africa, sweeping parts of Asia, parts of India. Great revival there's revivals in parts of South America and in other places. God is on the move in the world. He's not dead, Amen.

Speaker 1: 3:15

But as American and American Christians we have to face this fact that when we look at their own testimony and we look at polling like this, most Americans are practical atheists. I don't know about you, but that hurts me to say that. It hurts me to say that they have certain beliefs, but those beliefs in many ways make little difference in how they actually live. Why do I bring that up? I bring it up because those who are opposing David in Psalm 10 were practical atheists. They were practical atheists.

Speaker 1: 3:55

And, by the way, I want us to remember as we come to Psalm 10, like all the Psalms, the Psalms are really the Lord's Prayer expanded and the Lord's Prayer in many ways is really just all the Psalms compressed. And in that regard, when we hear Psalm 10, if we look to the Lord's Prayer. I think we can hear a rephrasing of Psalm 10 this way deliver us from evil, and that's what David is praying for. Deliver me, Lord, from these wicked men. Deliver me from these wicked people. Well, with that introduction, I'd like you to stand, if you would, because I'm going to read Psalm 10, and I'm only going to read the first 11 verses this week. It's inerrant, it's infallible, it's holy, and God sends it to you in love. So receive it with faith in your hearts. God sends it to you in love, so receive it with faith in your hearts.

Speaker 1: 4:45

Psalm 10. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised, For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord In the pride of his face. The wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

Speaker 1: 5:34

He sits in ambush in the villages, In hiding places. He murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor. When he draws him into his net, the helpless are crushed, sink down and fall by his might. He says in his heart. God has forgotten, he has hidden his face. He will never see it. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen, you may be seated, Father, we come to your holy word. It's living and active. So do surgery in our hearts, Lord, give us grace, Give us strength. Open our eyes and ears to see and to hear the glory of Christ. Plant us by streams of living water today, Lord, that we might prosper and flourish for the kingdom of God. It's in Jesus' name, Amen.

Speaker 1: 6:43

Well, we see here in verse 1, what some call the problem of faith. The problem of faith Because, you'll notice, it's the why of the godly. It's the why of the godly, the godly in this case being King David, the king of Israel. Look at what it says. Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? You see the very first word of the Psalm why. And of course you see it twice there in the first verse, and once again we're reminded of the two great questions of the Psalter why, O Lord, and how long, O Lord. Can anybody relate to that? Why, O Lord, and how long? Here David's asking why, and he's asking why, why are you standing far off? Why are you hiding, and, Lord, why are you doing this at the worst possible moment Into verse one in times of trouble.

Speaker 1: 7:39

David's in trouble, he needs help now, and so he's trying to reconcile what David's doing here. He's trying to reconcile what he knows about God to be true theologically and what he's experiencing in his life. What he knows to be true and what he's experiencing. Sometimes, as Christians, we experience that gap. One theologian calls it the disorientation that we read about in the Psalms that we experience. What does he know to be true? Well, when we were back in Psalm 9, Psalm 9, verse 9, the Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed. A stronghold when, In times of trouble, David knows the Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble.

Speaker 1: 8:26

He knows that theologically. He even knows it from his own experience. The problem is what he's going through right now. At this time he can't feel the truth of what he knows to be true. It doesn't feel like God is a stronghold to him right now, and so that's how we can pray this question of verse 1 of Psalm 10. You see, he's theologically rooted in God and he knows what's right about God, and yet he just can't feel it. So there needs to be a reconciliation of these things, and he's trying to deal with that tension and disorientation within himself at the throne of God. Both are realities, but these realities need to be reconciled within David himself. So again, how can David ask this question of Psalm 10, verse 1, when he declared back in Psalm 9 that God is a stronghold?

Speaker 1: 9:22

Well, the first thing is he can do this because he's honest, he's not a pretender. He's not a pretender. He wants to live more than just giving a quick Sunday school answer and moving on. No, he's honest. He's able to say to the Lord where are you? I'm hurting, Lord, when are you? I need you. Lord, you've promised you'll always take care of me and my family, but can't you see, I need a job, like yesterday, Lord, I'm trying to live my life for your glory. I know, and you know, that I'm far from perfect. But why am I having to deal with this, God? Why do you stand afar off? You know I tried to raise my kids right. You know I tried to raise them in the Lord. Lord, where are you? My daughter, my son, they're lost. Lord, why do you remain hidden while my boss makes my life a living hell? You know that I do right and live right at work. Lord, I'm trying to be a light shining in the darkness. Do you see this, Lord? Do you care about this? This is where Christians live.

Speaker 1: 10:49

The Bible is an honest book. It's an honest book not only about life in general, but the Christian life in particular. It's honest about our relationship with God. It doesn't stuff those questions and say, oh, that's unbelief. Not at all. So one reason David can pray like he does in verse one is that he's honest. He's honest in his faith with God and that's a virtue. But secondly, David asks this question not only in honesty, but he asks it. I want you to see this in faith. He asks this question in faith.

Speaker 1: 11:24

Joseph Alexander points out that King David here, he's not a skeptic and he's not in despair. What would a skeptic do in times of trouble? He'd shrug his shoulders, he would start to put on self-pity and he'd say something like well, that figures. Doesn't it always happen this way? Or somebody that's in despair. If David was in despair, he would have given up on any relief. He would have ceased praying, he would have quit praying relief, he would have ceased praying, he would have quit praying.

Speaker 1: 12:00

But the opening two questions of this psalm, they're honest and they're questions of faith, Questions of faith. It is not an act of unbelief to bring your doubts and questions to God in prayer. It's good to bring our questions and our puzzlement to God in faith to the Lord. That's what believers do.

Speaker 1: 12:24

Why is David doing this? Because he is, as Alexander says, he's got a firm belief that God is able and that God is willing to deliver his own people. That God is able and that God is willing to deliver his own people. He may be puzzled, but he's going to God anyway. He may have questions, but he's going to the Lord anyway. So David's genuinely puzzled because he does know who God is. He does know God's a stronghold for the oppressed and in times of trouble. He knows that. That's why he's puzzled. He's puzzled at the truth of God and how it intersects where he's living at the moment. And here's where we have to humble ourselves and remember.

Speaker 1: 13:06

God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His judgments are unsearchable. His ways are inscrutable. God baffles us sometimes, does he not? He does, and the Psalms give us permission to enter into that bafflement with God in prayer. In fact, it calls us to do that by faith.

Speaker 1: 13:32

We're going to see, really, in this Psalm, the way the godly and the wicked deal with the apparent absence of God. The apparent absence of God and I say apparent because God's never absent. But how do the godly and the wicked differ in how they deal with this apparent absence of God? What David does is he takes his problem of God's apparent absence to God in prayer, by faith. As I just said, that's what the godly do. We're going to see, in contrast verses 2 through 11 how the wicked deal with the apparent absence of God. We'll check that out in a moment.

Speaker 1: 14:11

But one of the great things that we learn from David in this Psalm is that our sense of God's presence is not a sure indicator of God's presence. Our feelings or sense of God's presence is not a sure indicator of God's presence. We can't go by our feelings on whether God is present with us or not. That's not what we go by as Christians. We live what? Not by faith? Yes, we do. We live not by sight. Scratch that. Back up the tape. We don't even have tape anymore. Back up the digital thing back there, whatever.

Speaker 1: 14:49

We live by faith, not by sight, and we don't live by feelings, right, we live by faith. What does that mean? It means we live by faith, not by sight, and we don't live by feelings, right, we live by faith. What does that mean? It means we live by his promises. We live by the promises of God, even when our feelings and our confusion are heavy. We don't live by what we can see or what we can sort out, or even by what we can always understand. We live and rely upon the promises of God that he will what Never leave us nor forsake us. Our Bibles does not say my feelings are a lamp unto my feet. It says thy word is a lamp unto my feet. That's where we get the light we need when we're in the pressure cooker and life is confusing.

Speaker 1: 15:43

The third chapter of the prophet Daniel. What a great book that is. Daniel. There is in Babylon, in exile godly man trying to do his best, working in the Babylonian government, and there's wicked King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And in that third chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar gave the order to send three of Daniel's godly Jewish friends right into the fiery furnace Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I know that my wife and I are finished having children, but if I had triplet boys, that'd be their names, Don't you love that? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. That's just fun to say.

Speaker 1: 16:22

And it says in the third chapter of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar gave the order and these three fell bound into the fiery furnace. And then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. It says he declared to his counselors did we not cast three men bound into the fire? And they answered and said to the king true, O king. And he answered and said but I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt.

Speaker 1: 16:59

And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. See him, pre-incarnate Christ, the good shepherd, with his sheep when they were in the valley of the shadow of death. It's like that burning bush that wouldn't consume. See God's grace. God's grace, the Lord was in the fire with them, Charles Spurgeon.

Speaker 1: 17:22

But remember, Christian, the Lord is always close. The refiner is never far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire. What's gold up to now? 2,500 bucks an ounce, Something like that. You could gather all the gold in the world and then some. It wouldn't compare with how precious you are in God's sight. You are God's gold. You were bought, dear Christian, with the blood of the Son of God, the blood of the living and holy Son of God. How precious are you in God's sight that it cost him the death of his Son? And so when God sees his gold in the fire, he does not abandon them. He's with them in the fiery furnace. He's our refiner. Jesus Christ is always close and walking with his people. Whether we can feel it or not, he's with you, dear Christian. He's with you and he's for you and he's in you.

Speaker 1: 18:41

Notice the why of the godly, like I said in verse 1, but then notice the folly of the wicked verses 2 to 11. The folly of the wicked. David was afflicted at the hands of the wicked. It's in this context that David did not feel that God was sympathizing with his afflictions. Why is the Lord waiting? I need intervention and help now.

Speaker 1: 19:07

Well, we see those who were opposing David and persecuting David in verses 2 through 11, we see the practical atheists and we're going to see that there's four characteristics of them. But let's just remember there's two kinds of atheism there's the theoretical atheism and then there's the practical atheism. The theoretical atheist he really comes to believe that there is no God. He's lied to himself so many times that his conscience is scarred over. That's a scary place to be. That is a very scary place to be. The practical atheist is different. The practical atheist, or you might even say a functional atheist, is someone who they might go to church some or whatever, but if you ask, do you believe in God? They'll yes, and so on and so forth. But it really makes no difference in their life. It's sort of a knowledge that they have in their head but it's not really moved into the heart and into the bloodstream. So that's a practical atheist.

Speaker 1: 20:23

Well, notice here in Psalm 10, in verse 4, you begin to see the contradiction in the practical atheist. Look at verse 4, all his thoughts are there is no God. So there he is there is no God. But then, in verse 11, he says in his heart God is forgotten. He's hidden his face. He will never see it. Well, which is it? Is there no God or is God forgotten? He's conflicted.

Speaker 1: 20:51

Notice the four characteristics of the wicked that are attacking King David here. And when you think of the attacks on King David, forward in your Bibles to all those attacks on the Lord, Jesus Christ, King Jesus, Because David is a picture of Jesus Christ, the true King of Israel. Look at the arrogance verses 2 to 4. In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul and the one, greedy for gain, curses and renounces the Lord In the pride of his face. The wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. So notice he's got three arrogant actions that he takes the wicked does here.

Speaker 1: 21:37

Notice in verse 2, the wicked hotly pursue the poor, Hotly pursue them. Verse 3, the wicked boasts of the desires and lusts of his soul. He's proud of it. He's proud of this vile stuff in his life. You ever see somebody boast of their wickedness. It's disgusting. Verse four the wicked does not seek him. That is, the wicked does not seek God. The kind of seeking here that is talked about is the kind of seeking believers do when they return again and again and again to the available grace that God ongoingly gives to his people. The wicked don't do that. They can live without God. They're just fine without God. They got it Overconfident. And so it's interesting that David is a king, but he puts himself among the poor here he puts himself amongst the helpless. In that sense he's experienced the affliction of the arrogance and he's among the poor. He's a king who identifies with the poor. Does that sound familiar?

Speaker 1: 22:41

You see that in Christ, and so in the Psalms in particular, you see it in the scriptures in general. In the Psalms in particular, this idea of the poor, it's not merely the socially oppressed, although sometimes it actually is that. The gospel of Luke has a lot of that in it but it's not merely the socially oppressed or the physically or spiritually afflicted, although it can involve that and it does involve that here it's almost a synonym for God's people, the poor, for God's people, the poor. We're an exception in world history. Most of God's people, throughout all of history, have been on the outskirts of society and downtrodden. Not always true, but in many cases that's true around the world, in many places now In our culture. We have a lot of talk in our culture, in our schools, our media, about tolerance and diversity. But make no mistake, there's one thing that's not tolerated it's God's truth, it's Christ-centered godliness.

Speaker 1: 23:49

Did you see how some of these Christian Olympians, when they came out and said what they did, how the media just despised them? They couldn't hardly control them. The disgust, Well, that's in our institutions too. And so David pleads with God not to stand far off any longer. Don't hide yourself, Lord, Rather. He's saying look what he says.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Let the wicked be caught in the schemes that they have devised, that they've devised, God, against your king and against your people and the vulnerable, the helpless, the powerless, In other words, the poor In our day. Think of the schemes of the wicked. Have you seen this with judicial tyranny, where judges are so arrogant that they take upon themselves to legislate from the bench? They don't feel bound by the constitution or by precedent, they're just going to become a legislator and do it themselves. That's arrogant, because they know better, See, they know better than everybody else. It's the arrogance of the wicked. Some of you are in corporate sensitivity. Training Isn't that wonderful, God bless you, Christian, when you have to stomach that. The promotion of radical diversity in education. There is a good kind of diversity, but the immoral, unbiblical diversity just rammed through the creation of hate speech laws, Nope, Redefinition of marriage laws, Shattering of sexual norms and just the constant promotion of immoral lifestyles just shoved in our face at every turn.

Speaker 1: 25:40

There was a pastor back in the 1600s, John Bunyan. John Bunyan he wrote the second most popular Protestant book of all time, Pilgrim's Progress 1678, he wrote it. He wrote it while he was in jail. He was jailed for 12 years. What was he jailed for? Because he was preaching the gospel and he disagreed with the Anglican church on how the church should be set up and so on and so forth. Well, who was he? Persecuted by the Anglican church, in concert with King Charles II.

Speaker 1: 26:19

Sometimes the godly are persecuted from within. You see, that's what's happening to David in Psalm 10. It's the wicked Israelites that are coming after him. Bunyan's case he was preaching dissent and, see, he disagreed with those in power. See, they violated the I guess the hate speech laws of the day. And, by the way, they decide what the hate is, don't they? There's no objective standard, it's just whatever the elites don't like at the time. And so he took that hit.

Speaker 1: 26:57

We need to pray as the church that the schemes of the wicked will fail. Look at verse two caught in the schemes they devised. He's asking God, let them get caught in their own schemes. Lord, Some people struggle with that. It sounds unchristian, it doesn't sound kind. You got to remember David's, the king responsible for the whole kingdom, for law and order. That's number one. But number two many people who are leading wicked lives, ungodly lives. When does the Lord often get their attention? When he brings them low. And so he's not praying for them to be destroyed outright. Here he's asking that they'd be caught and hopefully they'll repent. They'll repent. Notice what it says, for the wicked boast of the desires and lusts of his soul and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

Speaker 1: 27:51

It's interesting that word curses can also be translated blesses. It depends on the context. Here it's curses. What is this like? It's like the thief that rides away in a getaway car after robbing the bank and says thank you, Lord, for I'm rich. It's a weird prayer, isn't it? You see that kind of a prayer in Zechariah 11, verses 4 and 5, but it's actually a curse to God and it's a curse that comes back on the person themselves.

Speaker 1: 28:26

A practical atheist what kind of a person would that be? That's a person who cheats the government of taxes even though his Lord says pay him. Oh, I know, I don't like it either, but the Lord says pay him right, so we pay him His customers. He cheats his customers of an honest price, a reliable product. A lot of good businessmen out there praise the Lord for that, but the wicked ones? They don't care if the product's reliable, they just want the sale and that's the end of that. Some wicked men cheat their employees of a fair wage. Thank God, there's good ones out there. Some employers their employees. They don't give their employer a day's labor right and they get their paycheck. And what do they say? Thank you Jesus. Same kind of prayer, Thank you Jesus. That kind of praise is no blessing to God, it's a curse. And so God exists for the wicked, but it's just theoretical. It's functional, Practical atheist lives and deals with money as he pleases.

Speaker 1: 29:40

That's his realm. So you see the arrogance of the wicked. You notice too. There's a second characteristic about the wicked here worldly security. In verses five and six His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his foes, he puffs at them. They can't seem to touch him. He says in his heart I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. So the second great characteristic of the wicked is that they get their security, security not in the Lord but in the world.

Speaker 1: 30:15

And it's discouraging to God's people. Is it not discouraging to see, I mean, George Soros and I don't know, fill in the blanks of billionaires that you know and you're thinking to yourself, billionaires that you know and you're thinking to yourself, wow, where you see wild partiers or adulterers, arrogant young men getting multi-million dollar contracts in pro sports and yet bragging about the ungodly things they do and in their books saying how many women they've gotten and things of that nature. And it just seemed to me the Hollywood types that are just so arrogant sometimes and look down upon God's people and they just seem to be so wealthy in doing so. It just seems like to many Christians, godliness just doesn't seem to work. Godliness just doesn't seem to prosper. Of course we know that's not true. God's going to write all things in the end. Aren't you glad for that? He will Notice in verse five two things.

Speaker 1: 31:26

The wicked seem to be immune from God's earthly judgments. It just seems like they go on and on and human oppression. You see their enemies, they just puff at them. They seem to have the ability to just. They can't be touched by their enemies for some reason. And to top it off, the heart of the wicked is revealed here in verse 6. Look, I shall not be moved or I shall not be shaken. Throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.

Speaker 1: 31:52

It's interesting that King David prays that same thing over in Psalm 16, verse 8. I shall not be shaken or I shall not be moved. But it's interesting to me the remarkable difference between the wicked, who says that in his heart here, and David in Psalm 16. Listen to how David says it. You see, when the wicked says it, he's relying on his own strength, wisdom and abilities to manipulate his surroundings. I'm not going to be moved, I'm not going to be shaken. It's all about self and what he can do and can control. But listen to David in Psalm 16, verse 8, I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Because he's at my right hand, I'll not be shaken. That's a confidence of faith in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 32:41

And so the Christian has a security, but it's a security that's not found in what the passing things of this world. Nothing wrong with wealth at all. There are many godly people of wealth in the Bible and in church history. But that's not where they put their trust. The security of the godly is rooted in knowing that God is with us and for us, and in us and in the church and in our families. The wicked, they're arrogant. They find worldly security.

Speaker 1: 33:11

And thirdly, vile speech, Vile speech, verse 7, his mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression under his tongue, or mischief and iniquity. This is the kind of cursing maybe not just cussing, but false swearing under oath. And when they do that they're bringing a curse from God. They're bringing we make a false oath. We're bringing. We're saying God judge me if I break this oath, if I break this promise. So it's a cursing upon themselves. The deceit they're crafty, this oppression, this violence, and then under their tongue like chocolate, is mischief and iniquity. They just sort of leave it there, and when it's right to bring it out, they'll bring it out, but it's hidden under there.

Speaker 1: 33:55

Cs Lewis says that so much of this oppression and so much of this violence and deceit, it's all over the Psalms. It's all over them, he says. One almost hears the incessant whispering and tattling and lying and scolding and flattery and circulation of rumors. And he says that's not a surprise, because that's the world we live in, is it not? It's a world of just. We're surrounded by these things. And so there's vile speech of the ungodly.

Speaker 1: 34:29

And fourthly and lastly, violence. Look at verses eight through 11. He sits in ambush in the villages, in hiding places. He murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket. He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws him out or when he draws him into his net. I can almost picture that, like I'm watching one of those animal kingdom shows you know, on TV. You just see that lion ready to get his prey. So this is the fourth characteristic of the wicked, namely violence toward the poor, in this case toward the people of God, those who are helpless in this situation with David and notice who they pick on verse eight those who sit in ambush in the villages. You see, in the ancient world the villages were not like the cities. The villages were vulnerable. Today it would be akin to somebody picking on the elderly or the children or abusing the elderly or children. The villages did not have walls around them. They were vulnerable to attack, Not like the cities. They had walls and gates, had protection. But the wicked, they were just willing to go wherever people were vulnerable and take advantage of it. That's just how they operated.

Speaker 1: 35:47

I love what John Calvin says here. He says David's not so much speaking here about robbers who hide in the highways and in alleyways although I suppose you could include them but those great robbers who hide their wickedness under titles of honor and pomp and splendor. How much better if you can do wickedness, if you wear a judge's robe or a policeman's uniform or a doctor's smock or a pastor's robe, or maybe you're a CEO of a crumbling financial institution and you take your 50 million and head out with a parachute and leave everybody behind you, just stuck with whatever they're stuck with. Not everything that's legal is morally right. God will sort it out in the end.

Speaker 1: 36:40

What do we know here? Verse 11, the wicked says in his heart God has forgotten, he's hidden his face, He'll never see it. Oh yes, he will. He has. And what the wicked are mistaking is the patience of God for the fact that God will hold them accountable. Don't mistake God's patience.

Speaker 1: 37:01

It's interesting too, that Paul, when he writes Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, says there are some having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. And how does he describe these who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power? Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And I'm out of breath. But that's the world.

Speaker 1: 37:47

Now, what do we do with all this? Let me park the bus. We see the difference between right and wrong. We see how the godly handle these things compared to the ungodly. But we also take clues from the New Testament on what we need to do with this, and I'm just going to point out one. We have to guard ourselves, as God's people, of being self-righteous, Because in Romans, chapter 3,.

Speaker 1: 38:15

The Apostle Paul applies this psalm to all people apart from the grace of God. In other words, here's what he says in Psalm 3, None is righteous, no, not one. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. He's pulling here from Psalm 10, verse 7. What does that mean? It means, Isn't it true that all of us have been prideful and arrogant at times? Isn't it true that all of us have latched on to worldly security in ways that we should not have done? Isn't it true that all of us have spoken in ways that are not loving and can be hateful and ungodly? Isn't it true that, even if we don't do physical violence although certainly that happens too we've at least had hateful things swirling in our heart and mind as Christians?

Speaker 1: 39:16

We just need to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true King of Israel, the Messiah and Savior of the world, he came to save wicked people and ungodly people. Aren't you glad for that? Because that means he came for sinners and it means, yes, as God's people we can now live like David and we can live a life of prayer and by faith and trusting God. But it also means we can look at our neighbors who need the Lord and realize these are precisely the people that God saves. So pray for revival, pray for your neighbors. It's not enough for us to say, as Christians, well, they're not living right. Well, but by the grace of God, we wouldn't be living right either. And even as God's people, we still have a residue of sin in our life too, don't we? We live by the grace of God.