Would you turn to Psalm 7. The seventh psalm. Oh Lord, my God, in thee do I
put my trust. Save me from all them that persecute
me, and deliver me, lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending
it in pieces while there's none to deliver. Now, hold on just
for a second. Look at the title to this psalm. A Shigion of David, which he
sang unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.
And this is what this is a reference to, the words of Cush the Benjamite.
Evidently Cush the Benjamite, he was scared of him. And Cush
the Benjamite, just the fact that it was a Benjamite lets
you know that he had some connection with Saul and he went to Saul
to tell of David's word. So that's good to realize that
as we read this psalm. Now look what he says in verse
three. Oh Lord, my God, If I have done this, if there be iniquity
in my hands, if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace
with me, yea, I have delivered him that without cause is my
enemy. And he's talking about Saul, twice he delivered him.
Now, if that's the case, let the enemy persecute my soul and
take it. Yea, let him tread down my life
upon the earth and lay mine honor in the dust. Selah. Arise, O Lord, in thine anger.
Lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies and awake
for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. So shall the
congregation of the people compass thee about. For their sakes,
therefore, return thou on high. The Lord shall judge the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness, according to mine integrity that is in me. Oh, let the wickedness of the
wicked come to an end, but establish the just, for the righteous God
trieth the hearts and reins. My defense is of God, which saveth
the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, And
God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turned not,
he will wet his sword. He had bent his bow and made
it ready. He also had prepared for him
the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against
the persecutors. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity
and had conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood. He made
a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon
his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon
his own pate. I will praise the Lord according
to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the
Lord Most High. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy son. And we ask in his name that you
would be pleased to meet with us, to speak to our hearts from
your word. Enable us to worship thy dear
son. Cause us to hear the gospel in
the power of your spirit. Accept our thanksgiving. Lord,
we're so thankful that salvation is in your son. We're so thankful
that salvation is by your grace. We're so thankful for our Redeemer.
And we pray that he might be exalted, that you'd unite our
hearts together to fear thy name. We confess our sin and our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
and how we thank you for the forgiveness of sins that we have
for Christ's sake. Lord, give us grace to love you
more, to love one another more. We pray for our friends that
aren't here. We ask that you would bless them and keep them
by your grace. Meet with us for the Lord's sake.
In his name we pray, amen. Now we don't read anywhere of
Cush the Benjaminite than right here. We don't have a record
of what took place. But something that took place
with this man is what caused this psalm to be written. Evidently,
he spoke harshly of David and made some harsh accusations of
David, which David denied. And that is what is behind this
psalm. Now, look once again in verse
one. Oh Lord, my God, in thee do I
put my trust. Save me from all them that persecute
me and deliver me." Now, what a blessing to be able to say
this. Oh Lord, in thee do I put my trust. I love what Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able.
Are you? I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. I'm
persuaded that nothing else is needed but what he has done. and he is who I am relying on. And that's what David says at
this time. I'm not looking to man, I'm not
looking to methods, I'm not looking to self-help, I'm not looking
to myself, in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord. I don't wanna be anywhere else
to you, in the Lord. Do I put my trust, save me from
all them that persecute me and deliver me, lest he tear my soul
like a lion, rending it in pieces while there is none to deliver. Now this is how formidable this
man was to David. Now, you and I both know that
when we speak of this, we're speaking of our enemies, our
sins, Satan, how easily he can tear us like a lion and rend
us to pieces and none deliver. But he was talking about this
man, Cush, and what he had accused him of. Now, he claims innocence. Look what he says in verse three.
Oh, Lord, my God, If I have done this, whatever it was he accused
him of, we don't know. Like I said, this is a story
we don't know anything about. But every one of us know what
it is to be accused of something. Every time I think of this, I
think of being a little boy and being accused of something and
whipped for something that I didn't do. And oh, how my little self-righteous
soul was grieved with indignation over how I'd been treated. Now,
there's many things that I didn't get caught at, but this was bad. And this is the way David felt.
This is wrong. I haven't done this. Look what
he says. Oh, Lord, my God, if I had done this, If there be
iniquity in my hands, if I've done what he's accused me of,
if I've rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, that's
what he was accused of. Yea, I've delivered him that
without cause is mine enemy. He's talking about Saul, when
he could have killed Saul, when Saul was after him, but he let
him go. He says, if I have done those
things, now let the enemy persecute my soul and take it. Yea, let
him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honor in the
dust. That's what I want if I have
done these things. With regard to everything we've
done, look quickly down at verse eight, we're gonna get there
again. where David says, judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
according to mine integrity that's in me. Now, with regard to anything
I've done, I mean, I haven't done it, but I can't say anything
like that. At any time. I might have done
the right thing, but I had a bad motive. And I had evil thoughts. And I mean, with regard to everything
I've done, with regard to everything you've done, there's only one
person who can really say this, isn't there? The Lord could say,
judge me according to my righteousness and according to the integrity
of my heart. Oh, that is the Lord. But David
is feeling that he's been unjustly accused and flandered and represented. He says, I've got no power before
this enemy. Now, one of the things that this
reminds me of with regard to everything, pray. There's nothing too small, nothing
too insignificant. Pour your heart out to the Lord
with regard to whatever this is. This is what David is doing
at this time. He's pouring his heart out to the Lord with regard
to this incident. Pray. Cast all your care upon
him, for he careth for you. In everything, by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. And that's what David is doing
at this time. Now let's go on reading. He says
in verse six, Arise, O Lord, in thine anger. Lift up thyself
because of the rage of mine enemies, and awake for me to the judgment
that thou hast commanded. Now, I look at this, and I, when someone does you wrong,
and slanders you, and misrepresents you, it's happened. Should you
be asking the Lord to judge them, and destroy them? No, no. I can tell you right
off the bat, we're to pray for those who despitefully use us.
That's what the Lord says to do, to pray for them, to seek
their benefit, to seek their salvation. And once again, this
is the Lord praying. praying against His enemies. When He said, Father, forgive
them, everybody He prayed for was forgiven, and everybody He
did not pray for was not forgiven. Now, this is the Lord praying
against His enemies. And the thing with this, He's
so different than us. I mean, we pray against our enemies.
We're, what we're looking for vengeance. You know, the Lord
said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. So this
is the Lord praying against his enemies. You can see this in
and out of this Psalm, how these are the words of the Lord. Yes,
they're the words of David, but these are the words of the Lord.
Verse seven. Now he says, arise, O Lord, in
thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies,
and awake for me the judgment that thou hast commanded. And
so shall the congregation of the people compass thee about.
For their sakes, therefore, return thou on high. Now when he's talking
about this judgment that's gonna take place, what is this gonna
gather the people back to him? Well, the judgment that took
place on the cross. And that's what people, come to him for,
and that's what we're all gathered together for, is what Christ
accomplished for us on Calvary's tree. Now he says, verse eight,
the Lord shall judge the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness and according to mine integrity. that is in
me. Now, this is how innocent David
felt of what they accused him of. And I can relate with that. When I've been accused of something
I don't think I've done, you know, but that's not right. You
know, judge me according to my innocence. But once again, anytime
I think something like that, There's all kinds of things that
let me know that I shouldn't be thinking like that. My innocence
is not very innocent. And my integrity is not a lot
to it. And that's, at all times, we're
sinners. And at this time, more than anything
else, this is the Lord praying this prayer, isn't it? I mean,
every Psalm is him speaking in the first person. And he could
say, judge me according to my righteousness. And oh, the judge
me according to my integrity. But David meant this, that as
you know, I didn't do what they're accusing me of, protect me. Verse
nine. Oh, let the wickedness of the
wicked come to an end. And you know it will. When he returns, it's all going
to come to an end. You know, men think things are
going to keep on going as they're going, but they won't. Everything
will come to an end in his time. Oh, let the wickedness of the
wicked come to an end, but establish the just, for the righteous God
trieth the hearts and the reins. Now, in this verse of scripture,
two people are spoken of, the wicked and the righteous. The
wicked and the righteous. There are only two kinds of people
in this world, wicked people. and righteous people. And I love to say this. I've
said this many times over the years. I'm gonna say it again.
All of the wicked, without exception, believe themselves to be righteous.
And all of the righteous, without exception, believe themselves
to be wicked. That's just across the board. But this is how real justification
is When Christ died, the sins of all of God's people were made
to be no more. His righteousness is given to
them as their own personal righteous. And when a believer is referred
to by God as the righteous, it's because they're righteous. If
you're a believer, you are righteous before God. He doesn't treat
you as if you're righteous. You are righteous before God. And if I am in myself, I am wicked
before God. That's just the reality of Adam's
fall. That's the reality of my own
mind and heart and actions. I'm either in Christ, righteous,
or I'm out of Christ on my own. Now, he says, let the wickedness
of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just for the
righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns. He knows what's going
on in my heart. He knows what's going on in my
desire, in my emotions. He tries the righteous in Christ. So David says, my defense is
of God. which saveth thee upright in
heart. My defense, my shield, my buckler
is God. And what does he do? This word
defense is shield. What's a shield for? A shield
takes the blows, doesn't it? What was the Lord on Calvary's
tree and behalf of his people? A shield. He took the blows of
God's wrath, and I don't have to. He saves the upright in heart. Now every believer, and only
the believer, is upright in heart. Now let me tell you what uprightness
in heart is. You look to Christ only. If you
don't look to Christ only, you're not upright in heart. You're
just playing games. You're a hypocrite. But if you
look to Christ only, God calls you upright in heart. That is
every single believer, the most And this is the gift of God,
but the most righteous thing anybody ever does, and this is
only because God enables them to do it, is to look to Christ
as their righteousness. That's the best thing you could
ever do. And you won't do it unless God enables you. I won't
do it unless God enables me, but it's true. The best thing
that you can ever do is nothing, and look to Christ alone. Now, he saveth my defenses of
God, If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, I want you
to think about this. Believer, God is for you. He's for you in every respect.
If God be for us, who can be against us? Verse 11. God judgeth the righteous. Now, this is a reference to the
cross. God judgeth the righteous. I've been judged. My sins have
been judged, they've been put away, and I stand before God
as righteous. God judges the righteous, and
God is angry with the wicked every day. Every hour, every second. Non-stop. God is angry with the
wicked. And remember, his anger is not
like ours. His anger has to do with his
holiness and his righteousness and his justice. And he is angry
with the wicked every day. Look back at Psalm 5. We looked
at this a couple of weeks ago. Verse four, for thou art not
a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak lies. The Lord will abhor the bloody
and deceitful man." And this is the character of God. And
God is angry with the wicked every day because of who he is.
He's holy. He's just. He's right. He's right
in doing so. Look in verse 12. If he turned
not, speaking of the wicked, If he turned not, he will wet
his sword, he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. Now, first
I see mercy in this verse. If he turned not, there are some
people who by the grace of God turn. Now, this turning is turning
to Christ away from salvation by works. That's what turning
is. And you know you won't turn unless
he turns you. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts. Cause thy face to shine and we'll
be saved. You know that the only way you
turn is him turning you. Turn me. Turn me. When I was turned, then I repented,
Jeremiah said. Turn to me. Now, the first thing
that I see is the mercy that God causes some people to turn
to look to Christ only. What a blessing. Turn to me. But if a man doesn't turn, he's
got nobody to blame but himself. Listen, there's no victims in
this thing. Well, God didn't enable him to
turn. Well, that's because they didn't want to turn. You can't
blame God for your sin. If you don't turn, You can't
say, well, God didn't elect me. Christ didn't die for me. You
can't say that. It's because you didn't want
to turn. Now, this wicked person is someone who does not want
to turn. He likes things his way. Now,
please remember at all times, nobody's a victim to God's sovereignty.
If God sends somebody to hell, it's not because he ordained
them to hell without reference to their works. It's not some
kind of arbitrary choice on God. I'm going to say that one and
I'm going to send that one to hell. That's not the way it works
at all. If I go to hell, it's because
of my sin. And this man who doesn't turn,
what's it say? If he turn not, he will wet his
sword. He hath bent his bow and made it ready. He also hath prepared
for him the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against
the persecutors. He's already taken care of the
way that he's going to destroy that person. Look in verse 14.
Behold, he This one who doesn't turn. Now
look at this description. This one who does not turn, and
this is the way you and I are by nature. Behold, he travaileth. And the idea here is childbirth. In all three of these things,
the idea is childbirth. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity
and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood. Now this is the description of
every natural man that doesn't turn, that doesn't look to Christ.
All that comes from him, this is what is birthed from his soul.
This is talking about our own natural depravity and this is
the man who doesn't turn, that God is going to destroy. And
look what verse 15 says. He hath made a pit, and digged
it, and fallen into the ditch which he hath made. It's kind
of what goes around comes around. He dug him a ditch that he was
going to entrap David in, and he himself fell into it. It's kind of like Haman, same
thing. Haman made that gallows that he was gonna make sure Mordecai
was hanged on. Guess who was hanged on it? It
was Haman, and this is exactly what this is saying. I mean,
and the Lord, I'm so thankful salvation is by grace, and I'm
so thankful for the justice of God, and I know that If he left
me to myself, I'd be the one falling into the ditch that I
dug. All my problems are my fault. They're all homemade. They came
from me. They're my fault. And that's
what the Lord is saying through David at this time. It says,
he made a pit, he digged it, and has fallen into the ditch
which he hath made. His mischief shall return upon
his own head. Now he's talking about Cush at
this time. Remember the Lord's in control
of everybody. There's no person in the world
that he does not see and know and control and his will shall
be done. And this man he's talking about,
his mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent
dealing shall come down upon his own pate. Now that will happen. Maybe not in the time we think
it should, but that will happen. Now this is not karma. You have
good karma, good things will happen. If you have bad karma,
bad things will happen. That's most people's religion. If you
do good, if you're good, good things will happen. No, no, that's
not karma. But this is the truth. God is
the righteous God. He's glorious, and when people
are condemned, they... It's kind of like this. A lot
of times when people get fired from a job, you fire yourself.
You fire yourself. It's your fault. You got fired
because you fired yourself. And that's what the Lord is saying
right here. His mischief shall return upon
his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon
his own pate. I will praise the Lord, David says, according to
his righteousness. Now, can you say that? I'll praise
the Lord according to his righteousness. Now, that encompasses, and I've,
oh, how I love this. In Christ, I am righteous. It's his righteousness. And I'll
praise him according to his righteousness. And I'm so glad that we can say,
shall not the judge of the earth do right? Whatever he does is
right. And it's right because he does
it and every believer can say from their heart, I will praise
the Lord for his righteousness. All his righteousness is exceedingly
glorious and will sing praise to the name of the most high. Now we see David dealing with
his trouble with Cush. And like I said, we don't know
what it was, but what a blessing it is to see also, this is the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking, saying, judge me according to my righteousness,
according to the integrity of my heart. And when God looks
at you right now, if you're in Christ, if you're a believer,
He sees you as someone with perfect righteousness and perfect integrity. And that integrity is seen in
the fact that you look to Christ only. And if you look anywhere
else, all you prove by that is you have no integrity. You're
not to be trusted. Nothing about you is believable. I'll tell you what's believable,
is when someone believes that the only righteousness they have
is Christ. I believe that person. That person's
believable. Anybody else, they're not believable. It's not true integrity. But I will praise the Lord according
to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the
Lord.