Psalm 52. Tonight we'll be looking
at different verses of this psalm, but mainly verse 1. And the title of the message this evening
is, Eternal Goodness Quiets an Evil Boast. Eternal goodness
quiets an evil boast. The scripture says, Why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually. This reminds me of the psalm
in Psalm 118 that says, The mercy of the Lord endureth forever. The mercy of the Lord and truly
the goodness of God and the mercy of God are one and the same.
The mercy and goodness of God. And so when wicked men boast,
this is the antidote of boasting. This is what quenches their fire
against God's people. God is good no matter what. God is good no matter what. Now, this psalm was written to
be a song of instruction. If you'll notice that in the
title, to the chief musician, Mishel, that's how you pronounce
it. It's Hebrew, so you can kind
of pronounce it as you see it. I don't know if that's correct.
But I know this, it means to learn. This is a learning psalm. This is a psalm that God's people
should learn. And I'll tell you, we can never
come to the end of the mercy of God. We can learn the mercy
of God for eternity and still not come to the end of it. His
mercy is great and it's eternal and it endures forever. And so
we should learn the mercy of God. We should learn from this
psalm. Now, this psalm was written by
David when David was unjustly hated of Saul and he ran from
Saul. You remember that the first place
he went was to the land of Nob, the land of Nob, where this priest
Ahimelech lived. And David ran into this priest
and he said, I need bread and I need a sword. You see, David
left so fast. so in fear for his life that
he didn't even stop to get bread from his house or a sword to
defend himself. David ran with haste and got
out from Saul. He fled from Saul. And this priest,
he said, why are you coming? What's wrong? He said, why don't
you have bread? Why don't you have a sword? I
don't understand. Aren't you the servant of Saul? And he said,
yeah, I'm on a secret mission. would not want this man to be
caught up in his fleeing. He would not want this man to
be harmed because of his running from Saul. So he told him, he
said, this is a secret mission. And so this man, he gave David
the bread and the sword of Goliath. And this man, Doag, If you read
that in the front, it says, Psalm of David, when Doag the Edomite
came to Saul and said unto him, David is coming to the house
of Ahimelech. Let's go over, let's see this
in 1 Samuel. Look over to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 22, or chapter 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21, and let's look at verse 7. It says, And now a certain man
of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the
Lord. And his name was Doag the Edomite,
the cheapest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul. Now, this man, Doag, he was the
herdsman. He was the head shepherd of all
the flock. Now, if you want to understand
this, they didn't really deal with coins as much as they did
with animals as money. So all of Saul's money, this
man was his accountant. This man was in charge of all
of Saul's riches. He was put in trust with this. And it was there at Nob that
he witnessed this, and then he heard David and this man Ahimelech,
and he went immediately and told Saul concerning David. He told
Saul concerning, hey, this man Ahimelech and David are conspiring
against you. Now, this man, he was a wicked
man. He was a wicked man. And David,
when he had told Saul about David, flip over to the next chapter
there in 1 Samuel 22, and look over there at verse Verse 7, and then Saul said unto
his servants that stood about him, Hear ye, hear now ye Benjamites,
will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards
and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds."
In other words, has David bribed you? Did David bribe you to keep
my son and his covenant a secret? That you all have conspired against
me, and there is none that showeth me that my son hath made league
with the son of Jesse. There is none of you that is
sorry for me." Oh, poor Saul. I'll tell you, he is so caught
up with self-pity. He is so caught up with himself.
He said, nobody's sorry for me, or showeth me my son has stirred
up my servant against me to lie in wait as it is this day. And
that wasn't true. David was a good servant of Saul. He had never lied in wait for
Saul. It was Saul that sought to kill him. And then answered
Doag the Edomite, which was sent over the servants of Saul. And
he said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob. and Ahimelech
the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave
him food and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine." And
then that's when Saul called Ahimelech before him, and it
was a mock trial. It wasn't even a fair trial. He just brought this man and
he said, you're guilty even before he said anything. And this man
was innocent. This man didn't know anything
about David fleeing. But yet Saul told his servants,
he said, you killed this high priest, you killed this priest
and all of his family. And the servants of Saul were
scared. They wouldn't do that. They knew that, hey, this is
the priest of God. We wouldn't do that. But yet
this man, Doag, the Edomite, he had no problem. When Doag was commanded to kill
this priest and his family and the women and the children and
all the animals of Nob, he did not hesitate to do so. He murdered
them all. Notice back in that previous
chapter in verse 7, it said that the Lord detained, that Doag
was detained before the Lord. This man had no love for God.
and no love for his people. Matter of fact, he was a descendant
of Esau. He was an Edomite. And the only
reason he was there in Nob and he was having to worship was
because he was detained to do so. He was made to do so. You see, all of the Jews demanded
of their servants that they worship God according to the law. And
their doag was, he was in that sanctuary and he was worshiping
God, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. He was
detained. Who do you suppose detained him?
Who do you suppose it was that allowed doag to be there at that
particular time to see David and Emelech together. Well, we
know it was the providence of God. We know it was the will
of God. It was no accident. It was God's
providence. And because Doag hated the worship
of God, he also hated the people of God and did not hesitate to
destroy them. Did not hesitate. And so, by his lying tongue Saul
then demands the death of this man, this priest, and his family. When David says this, why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? That's not really saying
that Doag was a mighty man. That was sarcasm. He said, O
you big man, how big you are to be able to kill defenseless
Men, women, and children, oh, you mighty man, you boast and
think this is glorious that you were able to kill these innocent
people. Doag was a wicked man. And notice
the hypocrisy of Saul, that when God told him to kill all the
enemies of the church, Saul hesitated and disobeyed God. But when it
came time for him not to kill God's people, he killed everybody.
This exposed Saul to be a wicked, wicked man. He wouldn't kill
the Amalekites, but he killed every priest of God in this place. And there was one that escaped
to tell David, and that's why we have this psalm. The Lord
allowed one, the son of Ahimelech, to escape, which is Found in that in chapter 22. Look over there. I keep flipping
back and I keep this place. In chapter 22 of 1 Samuel, it
said, and the son, verse 21 of the sons of Ahimelech, the son
of a high tub named Abathar, escaped and fled after David. And he told David what had happened.
And this is the reason that we have this psalm here. for our learning. Can you not
see that in every aspect of life, God is in charge of all things? There is not one thing in this
history that I have just explained to you very briefly, there's
not one thing in here that God had not ordained. Not one thing. There is not one thing that came
to pass that surprised our God. Our God has ordered all things. All things. Believer in Christ,
we should therefore learn from this song concerning the dark
providences of God. The dark providences of our God. This was a dark providence upon
David. Can you imagine how he felt when
he heard that because he went and took bread and that sword
that these people were killed? Do you not suppose he felt responsible
for that? You bet he did. Matter of fact,
in that last verse, he says he does. He says, it was me. It
was because of me this happened. And I'll tell you, sometimes
God's people are put under such dark providences that we can't
understand what God is doing. We can't see how it's possibly
going to be for our good. But we must learn this, that
God does all things after the counsel of his own will. God
does all things after the counsel of his own will, and he does
not need our permission to do anything. I suppose we get upset
at these things. We get anxious and we say, why
would you do this to me? I was doing well. Who are we
to say such things to God or to question his will? Matter
of fact, we ought to submit ourselves to God's will, whatever it is. Whatever it is. Learn, believer
in Christ, also that God, if God controls all things, that
includes our enemies, doesn't it? Oh, believer, don't be deceived
to think we don't have enemies. We have enemies who are very
powerful, who are very powerful and very numerous. Jesus, when
he pictures us, he says, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Now, that's a good picture. That is a great picture of how
God has sent us into this world. We are like sheep in the midst
of wolves. And I'll tell you this, a sheep
in the midst of wolves is totally reliant upon his shepherd. Sheep
are dumb animals. Dumb. Rock stupid. They are the dumbest animals
on the face of God's earth. Matter of fact, when they are
attacked, they'll lay down as a defense. They won't run. They won't hide. They won't kick. They'll lay down and die. And without a shepherd, they're
defenseless. And friends, I know many times
we are ignorant of our enemies. We're ignorant that we are in
the midst of wolves. But I'll tell you what, sometimes
the Lord lets us see this. And I'll tell you what, it is
comforting to know that our shepherd watches over us, that not one
of the wolves will touch us. Not one will come near us, no
matter how powerful our enemies are. Our God is greater. He's greater than all our enemies. And this is illustrated for us,
if you remember when Peter denied the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ
tells Peter, He said, before the cock crows, thou shalt deny
me thrice. He told Peter, He said, Satan
hath desired to sift thee as wheat. Now, how hard is it to
sift wheat? I mean, wheat is in this little
bitty shell. It's a thin coating and it's
nothing to sift the wheat from the chaff. It's nothing. Remember
when the apostles walked through the land, what did they do? To
sift the wheat. They just rubbed it in their
hands. And they had wheat to eat. They had the corn to eat.
You see, friends, Satan, it is nothing for him to destroy us.
It is nothing. He is powerful. Satan hath desired
to sift the apostle Peter as wheat. He sought permission from
God as he did from Job. You remember that it was God
that gave Satan permission. And what did he do to Job? He
destroyed all he had. He was even allowed to take the
lives of his children at the permission of our God. And Satan
is asking the same thing of Peter, to ruin him, to test and try
his faith. Peter, serve thee for naught." Oh, but you just try his faith
and you see he'll deny you. And don't think you escape that
either, because he says the same thing about you and me. He is the accuser of the brethren. Martin Luther said in his song,
On Earth, is not his equal. Friends, I hear people boasting
of how they can control the devil with their words. Matter of fact,
they are being controlled. They're not controlling anything.
You know, when people just blurt out, well, in the name of Jesus,
I dismiss... You don't do anything. Friends, this enemy we have is
powerful. He is mighty. But our hope of
victory is not in our own strength. In our own strength, if we were
to confide, our striving would be losing. We trust in Jesus Christ. Because of this, Peter had hope. Satan had desire to sift his
way, but I have prayed for thee. that thy faith fail not." You
see, the only hope Peter had was that Christ prayed, Christ
interceded for him. And you notice the Lord didn't
pray that Peter would not deny him, did he? He said, I pray that thy faith
fail not. And when you're converted, When
you've repented, when you've turned, when I've shown you my
love and my grace, when you've come back to me." He said, then,
you teach my people. You feed my lambs. Have you ever thought of the
difference between Peter's sin and Judas? What was the difference? They
both denied the Lord. They both betrayed Him in front
of men. Would not confess Him to be the
Christ. What made the difference? Christ
prayed for Peter. He did not pray for Judas. He prayed for Peter. The difference
was Christ. Believer, are you troubled? At
the sight of your enemies, do your foes seem numberless? Do they constantly bombard us
daily and wear us down? I'll tell you, we are truly a
fearful people, we are fearful. It doesn't take much to fear
us to make us fearful, does it? It doesn't take much. We are
a fearful people and constantly in need of comfort. I tell you, there is not a day
goes by that I don't need the comfort of the gospel. There
is not a moment of my life that I do not need to know that Christ
is all in all to me. There is not a time that I don't
need to know that His blood was shed for all my sins. It's not
a moment that goes by that I'm not needing his comfort, need his assurance. We even fear when there's nothing
to fear. Matter of fact, most of our fears
are fears of nothing that have happened yet. All of our fears
seem to be things that haven't happened. You want to see it? Go over to
the next chapter in Psalm 53. Look at that. Verse 5. I've read
this before, but it just became so clear to me in this chapter. Chapter 53 and verse 5, it says,
There were they in great fear, where no fear was. Oh, man, we are a fearful people.
Constantly in need of assurance. And if you need that, then God's provided it for us. Do you fear the boast of the
wicked? This man, Doag, was boasting. And I'll tell you, our enemies
boast at us. They boast against us. They say,
look at you. You have nothing. We're rich. We're powerful. We have all of
these things. And I'll tell you, it wears on
your soul. But God has provided comfort. You want to see it,
go over to Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41. I'll tell you, even though we
have no strength in ourselves against our enemies, even though
we fear them, even though we've mistrusted our God, even though
we've denied Him, He will not deny himself. He cannot deny
himself. He says to us in verse 10, Isaiah
41 and verse 10, Fear thou not. Now, who doesn't understand that?
Anybody? I'll tell you sometimes I think
I don't. Fear thou not. Why? For I am with thee, be not
dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness." God has said He will help. He will uphold. He will give
us His righteousness. You know, only a guilty man needs
to fear. Isn't that right? It just came to me. One pastor,
Todd Nybert, he likes to run a lot on the treadmill. And some
of us other pastors, we don't run. And so one of the pastors
was saying to Todd, he said, you know that the scripture says
that only a wicked man runneth when no man chaseth. I'll tell you what, if we would
understand that we have the righteousness of God in Christ, what then would
we fear? If God's not mad at me, then
what in the world would I fear? If God loves me, if God cares
for me, if God has promised to be with me, then what have I
to fear? Why would I fear the boast of
bloody men. Our God has given us great comfort. There is no reason to fear. Why? God said, Fear thou not. Fear
thou not. When David learned the news of
this man's doag sin, he is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in that
he gave comfort to the son of Ahimelech. Can you imagine this
man? He just lost his whole family. His whole city was killed before
his eyes. And he ran to David. And David said, I have occasioned
this. I have occasioned this. And those that seek your life
seek my life. I'll keep you safe." Is that
not what Christ says? Now, David didn't mean to occasion
this. But I'll tell you this, our Lord means to occasion everything
he does. Everything that happens to us,
our God occasioned. Our God brought to pass. And
when we run to him, he said, I'll be your protection. Those that seek your life, seek
my life. Now, is that not something? When
people are against us, they are against God himself. That's how much we are in union. David said, abide with me. Is that not what our Lord said?
Abide. Abide in me. You see, David couldn't get as
close, could he? He said, abide with me. But Christ
said, no, you abide in me. How much closer is that to be
in Christ? He is our head and we are his
body. When they attack his body, when
they attack his church, they attack him. Will He not defend
us? Will He not safeguard His own
body? You bet He will. You bet He will. And we should
learn this. I've not learned this. I want
to learn this. I need to learn this. I pray
that God would teach us this, that our God's counsel is immutable.
That's the goodness of God. Is that not the goodness of God
that quiets the wicked? Our God's counsel stands no matter
what you do. This man, Doag, did exactly what
he wanted to do. Saul did exactly what he wanted
to do. And without their knowledge,
without their consent, they were doing exactly what God had determined
before to be done. God is not chargeable with their
sin, they are, but yet they did exactly what God had determined
to do. And I'll tell you this, I don't
care if men can't reconcile that. God says it. God does whatsoever
he pleased. Even the dark providences. In
Isaiah 46, verse 10, it says, God, I am God. There's nobody
else. I declare the end. When? When did God declare the end
of all things? When? From the beginning, I declared
all things. Who else did that but me? Isaiah 43 says, Yea, before the
day was, I am, I am. And there is none else that can
deliver out of my hand, I work and who shall let it? Who's going
to turn back my work? Who's going to speak against
what I decree to do? Who? Why boastest thou thyself, O
mighty man, O bloody man? Why would any man have anything
to boast in? We boast in the goodness of God's
counsel. God, our God, does whatsoever
He pleases with whomsoever He pleases. That includes us. But that's okay. That's good. This is good and marvelous in
our eyes. Believer in Christ, we who have
been washed in the blood of Christ and forgiven of all of our sins,
do we not understand this was the counsel of God? This was
the counsel of God from eternity, that Christ would come, that
Christ would suffer in our place, that the Holy Spirit would come
and deliver our souls. This was the counsel of God.
Who would stand against it? I'll tell you what, I did try
to stand against it. I did oppose the Almighty. But the day God said to my soul,
arrest that man, surely I was arrested. Surely. I was convicted. Surely I was
quickened by the Holy Spirit in the day that my God spoke
to my heart. Surely I was risen from the dead
just by the sound of his voice. And he made me willing in the
day of his power. You see, I praise God for his
counsel. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that he delivered
me, that he saved me. He did all things and does all
things Well, and we will continue in faith
because He has willed it so. Is that not the goodness and
mercy of God? The goodness of God endureth continually. I'm so thankful that He didn't
give me faith and leave it to me to keep it. I'm so thankful that I'm kept
by the power of God, and who shall let it? Who will turn it
back? Not even me. Not even me. In all my sin, our
God has saved us, and He has saved us for His own namesake. Now, is that not good? He forgave
me, not because of me, but because of Himself. What then in me would cause him
to turn away from me? Nothing. Nothing. He saved me by his grace and
he gives me assurance, even in his providence, the goodness
of God continueth, it endureth continually. Someone once said
absolute power without justice is tyranny and absolute justice
without powers of no value. Isn't that true? If God was all
powerful but had no justice, what kind of world would this
be? If God had all justice but he
had no power to wield it, what good would it be? But our friend,
God, our God, not only has all power, all justice, but he has
all love, all mercy, all goodness. I'm so thankful that our God
When he puts forth his power to save, men are saved forever. Forever. God's goodness is continual. He is omnipotent, omniscient. all powerful, and he completely,
absolutely does all things good for his people in time and eternity. God says, but thou hast not called
upon me. O Jacob, thou hast been weary
of me, O Israel. Thou hast brought me no sweet
cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of
thy sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve, to be satisfied
with thy sins, and thou hast wearied me with thine iniquity."
What is he saying? He said, you demanded of me that
I just take your weak sacrifice. That's what men demand of God,
isn't it? Well, God, I willed it. You must save me. God said,
you made me put up with that garbage. That's us. That's who we are. But praise
be to God. Praise be to God that he would
show us mercy for his own sake. That he would show mercy because
he would. Where is the grace of glory?
of God to be found, where is the goodness of God to be seen?
You won't see it anywhere but the cross. The cross. I'll tell you what, that scene
should flash before us constantly. Because there we see sin. There
we see justice. And there we see mercy. We see all those things in the
cross of Christ. Behold the goodness of our God
to save sinners by Himself and to forgive us of our sins for His own sake. How then will God our Savior
do anything for us that is not good? If God has given us all
these things, what in the world do wicked men have to boast in? Their noise. Is it not the goodness
of God? I'll close with this scripture.
Go to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. Have we given thanks to our God? I'll tell you what, our lips
should never stop. Our heart should never stop giving thanks
for our God is good because. His mercy endureth forever. What then do we need to fear? He said, I have called upon the
Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set
me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. God says, fear
not. I will not fear. What man can
do unto me. I will not fear what my enemies
can do. Have done or will do. Because God is good. God was
good when Doag killed those priests. And God was good when he sent
Doag to hell. And God was graciously good when
he saved me by the blood and righteousness of his Son. How
shall he not then freely give us all things that are good? I pray that God would comfort
your hearts. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.