Let's come back to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. I've actually been working
pretty much all day on Psalm 116 for the service Saturday, James
funeral service or memorial service. I've been working on Psalm 16
verse 15. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. And I'm going to try not to get
myself confused where I'm at, because I've been working on
that one probably the biggest part of the day. But in Psalm
7, I titled the message, In Thee Do I Put My Trust. In Thee. Where do you put your
trust? times of trouble, heartaches, where do you put your trust?
David said, in thee do I put my trust. And he says, oh Lord
my God, in thee do I put my trust. He puts his trust in a certain
person, the Lord God. Now, if we apply this to the
greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that he put his
trust in God perfectly. And I thought, as I read this,
that our Lord prayed often He prayed often. At times, he prayed
all night long. He lived in the attitude of prayer. And I have no doubt, he sang
many of these Psalms, word for word, he prayed them. I have no doubt he prayed them. Because the Psalms are his. They're
his Psalms. And they speak of him. He tells
us the Psalms speak of him. And he trusted in God. He said
in one place, I go to my father and your father, my God and your
God. Now, this psalm, some call it
the psalm of the slandered saint. And our Lord knew what it was
to be slandered. He knew what it was to be lied
on. That's tough, isn't it? It is
probably one of the most difficult things to deal with is when someone
makes a false accusation against you. To deal with that, that's
tough, that's tough. And that's what happened here.
A man called Cush, some think this is Saul himself, but there
was a man, it says, called Cush, a Benjamite, he accused David
to Saul. of treason, of conspiring against
him to take the throne. And Saul sought David's life. He believed it. And he sought
David's life. He was jealous of David. And
David finds his refuge in the Lord. This is where we find our
refuge. The righteous have a refuge to
flee to in times of trouble. Oh Lord, my God! He is a sure and abiding refuge. He is a shelter in the time of
storms. The prayers that we've been looking
at of David, which he turned into songs, You know, it's a
testament to the grace of God when you can take your greatest
trials and turn them into a song. Now that is a testimony to the
grace of God Almighty. When you can take your toughest
times and turn them into a song of praise to God Almighty. And that's what He's done here.
That's what He's done. The Lord is a shelter in the
time of storm. We sing that song, a shelter
in the time of storm. The Lord is our covenant God.
We are His people and He will keep us. He will keep us. Now, He starts out here in this
chapter. He says, O Lord my God, in Thee
do I put my trust, save me from all They're all too strong for me.
All of them. The least of my enemies are too
strong for me. Save me from all of them that
persecute me and deliver me." The first thing in prayer is
faith. It's faith. We come to the throne
of grace believing the Lord God is first, my, my Lord, my God. I'm not praying to a god. I am
praying to the Lord my God." If you'll notice, that's capital
L-O-R-G, the self-existing One, the only One there is. Our God
is the only God there is. There is no God. He said that
in Isaiah, there is no God beside me. I am a just God and a Savior
and there's none like me, none at all. And here is the strength
of faith. Oh Lord, my God. This is the
strongest confidence a believer can have. He's my God in covenant. He's my God by election. He chose
me. The Lord said, you didn't choose
me, I chose you. He's my God by birth, born of God. You're the sons of God, sons
and daughters of God. He's our Father. He's our Father,
which art in heaven. God Almighty is our Father. Can there be a better Father? I want to say after that, Selah.
You know what that means? Pause and think about that. Pause
and think about who your Father is. God. You've been birthed
of God. Birthed of God. No matter the trouble that comes
our way, it is always, O LORD my God, in Thee do I trust. I trust Him. I trust God to bring
me through. I trust God to deal with whatever
the situation is. I trust God to carry me through
it. I trust Him. I trust Him. And here's the request. Save
me from all them that persecute me and deliver me. All believers
have their enemies. You know, most of them we can't
even see. That's the toughest part. Most of the enemies we
can't see. Those enemies that are in us,
indwelling sin, that old nature that we have, the unseen enemies of darkness. We can't see them, but they're
very, very real. They're as real as the enemies
I can see. We all have our enemies that
we need to be saved from. We can't save ourselves. We need
Christ. We need the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I know this as I get older, as I grow older, I realize I
need the Lord Jesus Christ to come to my aid continually. At
no time in a believer's life, no matter how great the faith,
no matter how strong the faith, at no time can we deliver ourselves. Deliver us from temptation. We can't deliver ourselves, we
need Him. We all have a common enemy, and
a common enemy is Satan, the accuser. The Scripture calls
him the accuser of the brethren. You know, Satan is always accusing
us of something. But in Christ, we're justified.
In Christ, the accusations can't stick. They cannot stick. In
Christ, we've been cleared of all charges. He cannot make anything
stick. and let us learn to flee to the
Lord Jesus Christ early for deliverance." Remember part of the prayer,
he said, deliver us from evil, that is deliver us from the evil
one. Deliver us from the evil one.
Even the angel, the archangel wouldn't even argue with him.
He said, the Lord rebuke you. He wasn't even about to touch
him. And save me. Save me. He says, save me. Save me by
your grace. Save me by your power. Lord,
save me. This is the continual cry of
every child of God. Save me. Day by day, save me. I need it. I need it. And here's a recognition of total
dependence on the Lord. Lest he tear my soul like a lion. The scripture says that Satan,
like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. You
know, when he came before God, when the sons of God came before
God, they're in the book of Job. And God said, where have you
been, Satan? Paraphrasing it. Not that God didn't know, but
he's making him account for where he's been. Accountability. And
he said, I've been going to and fro up and down in the earth. Now he's not just taking a stroll
sightseeing. He's seeking whom he may devour. That is his constant, now this
is just beyond comprehending, but the constant aim of Satan
is, who can I devour today? Who in this congregation can
I devour? When he went before God, and
God said, you consider my servant Job, and he said, well, I can't
do anything about it, you put a hedge about him. You think
that's the only time that ever happened? No. He's always wanting to devour
one of God's children. Let me at this one. Let me at
that one. And from time to time, God lets him. But you can't touch
his life because his life is hid with Christ in God. But lest he tear my soul like
a lion, render it in pieces while there's none to deliver. If God
let Satan alone, there wouldn't be a shred of us left. Not a
shred. Terence, he says here, in pieces. He knows nothing, I mean zero,
of mercy, of compassion. We even tried to treat prisoners
with what we call humane. We tried to treat them humanely.
He knows nothing of that. Nothing of that. I'm no match for my enemies.
They're too numerable and too strong. Especially Satan. And I pray, Lord, deliver me
from them. Deliver me. And I want you to notice what
David does here. He says, Oh Lord, my God, if I've done this,
And here's what's happening. David is taking sides with God. Every child of God takes sides
with God against themselves. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Oh Lord my God, if I have done
this, if this report, this slander, if it is true, if I have sought
to dethrone Saul, your anointed one at that time, if I have sought
to dethrone him, if this is true, 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." How
many times did David have Saul right in his grasp and could
have killed him? Remember he was in that cave? And then another
time he was sleeping in the field and David slipped in. I think
he cut a piece of his robe off. David had the opportunity twice
to have killed that man and wouldn't touch him because he said, and
this is important, he's the Lord's anointed. Now he may be a rotten
rascal, but I tell you what, that office that he holds is
of God and God put him there. God put him there for a time
until he raised up David and he trained David for that position. And he used Saul to train David,
chasing him around, trying to kill him. God made a leader out of David
by using Saul to do what he was doing to him. But he says here,
if I have done this, he said, listen, if this matter slander,
is true, if it's true, then let the enemy, let the enemy persecute
my soul and take it. If I'm guilty, if I'm guilty,
let justice take its course. Every child of God wants God
to do right. Abraham said this concerning
Lot, he says, Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Isn't
that our confidence? We want God to do right. We don't
want God to do wrong. That's another devil. We want
God to do right. Let justice take its course.
Let the enemy persecute my soul and take it. Yea, let him tread
down my life upon the earth and lay my honor in the dust. It's
like the old fable there, like Achilles dragged Hector's body
around the walls of Troy. That's what He's saying, let
Him just drag my honor in the dust, if it be true, if it be
true. You know, our Lord was innocent
of all the charges against Him. He truly could say, He truly
could say, if this is true, let my honor be dragged in the dust. He knew, our Lord knew, He was
innocent. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. But he says here in verse 6,
"'Lord, defend me,' that is, save me, is what he's asking
for here. "'Arise, O Lord, in thine anger! Vindicate me!' Lift up thyself
because of the rage of my enemies. Show thy strength on behalf of
justice on my part. And await for me to the judgment
that thou hast commanded, appointed. You know, I've had to look at
this psalm. I've read this psalm several
times. You know, I didn't bring it last
week because I just couldn't seem to get a hold of it. And
part of it was this verse here. He says, O LORD, in thine anger... Now, first of all, let me say
this, because it does say on down here, God's angry with the
wicked every day. God is not upset, agitated, aggravated every
day. He's speaking in language that
you and I can... You know, the Bible's written
in language that we can understand. And God is not frustrated and
angry and upset. I mean, who wants to live like
that? But He's speaking in language that you and I can comprehend.
And He's asking God to respond to this, to rise up in anger
and destroy His enemies. Now, my first thought when I
looked at this is over in Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, He
said, Love your enemies. Pray for them which despitefully
use you. If your enemy's hungry, feed
him. Take care of him. And I've been
giving this some thought, and I still hadn't come up with anybody
that gave me anything that really satisfied me, but what I thought
was this. The Lord tells us to love our
enemies. Because I tell you what, my enemy today might be my brother
tomorrow. I don't know. Every one of us
were enemies in our minds by wicked works at one time. So that enemy might be my brother.
That one who despitefully using me, you ever do that? You ever
despitefully use anybody? Might be my brother. But the
Lord Jesus Christ knoweth them that are His." He said, I pray
for them, I pray not for the world. And I know this, and I
know that the Lord Jesus Christ can pray and ask God to destroy
His enemies. Because He knows the ones that
are His and the ones that are not His. But what he's praying here for
also is this, defend me. Defend me. Listen, be my defense. Be my defense. Is there any greater
defense than God? Is there any greater advocate
than the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, defend me. That's what he's
asking. And it's a plea for judgment
according to God's will. He says here, "...and await for
Me to the judgment that thou hast appointed. So shall the congregation of
the people compass thee about. For their sakes, therefore, return
thou on high." Some believe this is a reference to the resurrection
of Christ, that He would return on high and save His people,
and the congregation would be gathered together around Him.
But I know this, when God takes hold on judgment, the righteous
are safe and they gather about Him. We have nothing to fear. To ask God to rise up in judgment
gives us no fear because our judgment was passed on Jesus,
Jesus Christ. It was passed on Him. But He
tells us here in verse 8 that judgment's coming, judgment's
coming, The Lord shall judge the people. He'll judge the nations. Now people can laugh at that,
they can make fun of that. But judgment's coming. You know,
I imagine when Noah was building the ark and it had never rained,
it had never flooded, the creeks had never come up, not even an
inch. And he's building this ark and
he's talking about the flood coming and you know they're like,
Are you serious? Really? And then one day, one
day it starts to rain and rain and it says the depths broke
up and it's raining and the water's starting to come up. Now it's
not funny. Now it's not funny. The Lord
shall judge the people. And if the Lord judges the people,
I assure you, it'll be a right judgment. There won't be any
mistrials. No innocent person is going to
be condemned. It'll be a righteous judgment.
And then He says, Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness.
Now first of all, the Lord Jesus Christ can say that. Judge me
according to my righteousness. And secondly, you and I can say
that. Now listen, you and I can say
that in the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness is our righteousness. His righteousness is my righteousness. It's mine. It's mine. So we don't have to fear anything
of judgment. God can judge us in our righteousness
because our righteousness is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Scripture says that we are
made the righteousness of God in Christ. Oh, he says, let the wickedness,
verse 9, oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
put an end to it. I tell you what, This world's wicked, isn't it?
It's evil. We live in an evil world. We
just saw on TV all these shootings that just happened. You know,
if God didn't restrain people, that would not stop. It would
be far worse than it is right now if God didn't restrain it. Every now and then, God lets
it loose here and there to remind the human race, this is you. This is the human race. And he
lets a little bit of it out here and there. But he restrains it
for his elect's sake so we can live here. But oh, let the wickedness of
the wicked come to an end. It'll be a good day when God
says, time shall be no more. And all this wickedness is gone.
But establish the just. or the righteous God, He tries
the hearts. He knows the heart. When He says
establish the just, He said because God knows the heart, He knows
the difference between the just and the unjust. He knows the
heart that's pure and upright because He gave it, and He knows
the one that's not. And He tries the heart. He sends
along trials that tries the heart. My defense, he says there in
verse 10, my defense, and that word's defense, my salvation,
is of God. It's of God. "...which saveth
the upright, the pure in heart." God's my salvation, He's my defense. God judges the righteous, and
He's angry with the wicked every day. And this means he's angry
with the wicked every day. They do not have his favor. Now
don't think, do not think, because someone, or when you look at
people out here in the world, and they're rich and are increased
with goods, that they have God's favor. That will add to their condemnation.
If they have not Christ, that'll add to their condemnation. It'll
add to their torment. There are degrees of torment.
He said, Sodom and Gomorrah will fare better in judgment, in the
day of judgment, than the cities where his mighty works were done.
He said they will fare better. And he's talking about torment. God will give, He says, to every
man exactly what he, or woman, what she deserves. There are degrees of torment.
Now, I mean, the least of it is torment, but there are degrees
of it. God judges the righteous, but
He's angry with the wicked every day. They don't have His favor.
They don't have God's favor. There's nothing I can think of
that's worse than not to have God's favor. God judges the righteous. First
of all, He judged them in Christ. They were judged in Christ. Secondly,
God chastens the righteous. He does chasten us. He does discipline
us. He does. He does. But God's wrath is against the
wicked. There's a great difference between
chastening and wrath. I mean, they're poles apart.
One is out of love. And one is an execution of justice. Now, here's what's amazing in
verse 12. If he turned not, if the wicked
turned not, here's room for repentance. Here's room for repentance. You
know, when Cain offered the fruit of the ground, his works, And
he was upset because God favored Abel's offering, which was the
blood offering. And God said to Cain, if you
do right, shall you not be accepted? He couldn't do right, could he?
He couldn't repent and go back and offer what God said to offer,
the sacrifice, the blood. Cain wouldn't do it. That's amazing. That's amazing. In here, he says,
he's talking about the wicked, and God's angry with the wicked.
Then he says, "...if he doesn't turn." There's responsibility. There's human responsibility
right there. "...if he does not turn." Spurgeon said on this
one, "...turn or burn." He said, "...turn or burn." "...he will
wet his sword, sharpened sword of justice." that sword that
cuts both ways, that sword that cuts asunder, that sword that
cuts and reveals every thought of the heart that you've ever
had, that you've ever had, every motive that you've ever had.
He'll wet his sword and he hath bent his bow and he's made it
ready, he's ready to... If you could open or if God would
open If he were pleased to open the eyes of the wicked, if he
were ready to open the eyes of the ungodly, the unbeliever,
they would see that God is ready to cut them off. They would see the sword of God
hanging right over their head. That's what they'd see. For the
wrath of God, it says, abideth on them. He also, this is in verse 13,
God also, or God hath also prepared for him, the wicked, the instruments
of death. He doesn't know it, the wicked
doesn't know it, but you know God has already prepared the
instrument that's going to take his life. I'll never forget Henry
saying in a message one time, he said, they may be making the
car in Detroit that's going to take your life. You might die in an accident,
but it will not be an accident that you died. And the instrument by which you
are going to die, by the wicked's going to die, and really by the
way you and I are going to die, it's already prepared. It's prepared. There's nothing concerning God
that's not prepared. He's not preparing things as
He goes along. It's done. It's prepared. The
time of my death, you know, my dad, and I think he said this
probably in a lighthearted manner. He said, I'm not afraid to die,
but I'm trying to keep my feet above ground as long as I can.
I said, you have nothing to do with that. You have nothing to
do with that. To the very second your life,
your life is determined. Job said, man's life is like
a hireling. What does a hireling do? He punches
the clock in the morning, and then after eight hours, he punches
it, or ten hours, he punches it out, and he goes home. There's
a time we come in, there's a time we go out, there's a time to
be born, there's a time to die. "...he prepared for him the instruments
of death, he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors." The
arrows are already ordained. The instrument of death, the
arrow that God's going to use to take him out is already pointed
at him. He doesn't see it, but it's pointed,
the bow is drawn back. And when God says, release, he's gone. He's gone. That rich man, Lazarus laid at
his gate, that rich man, God took him. I bet he wasn't expecting
that. I bet he was just one day just,
Things were going well, but this is the guy who's going to build
bigger barns, and, you know, so thou hast much goods laid
up. God said, you fool, this night your soul is required of
you. And he grabbed his heart, oh, and that was it. And he lifted up his eyes in
hell. The instrument, the arrow, he
ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. And here's the life of the believer,
or here's the life of the unbeliever, I mean. Verse 14, I'll wind this
up. He's pregnant with mischief and
he's in birth pains until he gives birth to his mischief.
I mean, he's just like he's in agony until he finally gets his
mischief out. He's got to... You know, the
Scripture says to the wicked, mischief is a sport. They enjoy... You think, why do people do that?
You know, why are they so stupid? Why do they... Because it's like
sport. It's like, I like to play racquetball.
They like to steal. They enjoy it. They get a high
out of it. They get a kick out of it. It's a sport, Solomon said. And
here it's like they're pregnant with mischief and they've got
this birth pains and they've got to give birth to it. It's
like, I've got to do this. Got to do it. He made a pit. This mischief, the wicked, he
made a pit, and he digged it, and he's fallen into it himself.
He made a pit for the wicked, and he fell into it himself. Listen, the wicked is not afraid
to get his hands dirty doing dirty deeds. There's an old rock
group called ACDC. He has a song, Dirty Deeds Done
Dirt Cheap. They are. God will overturn man's
evil plotting against his children. He'll overturn it on their own
heads in the end. He'll do it. His mischief shall
return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come
down on his own pate. The mischief of the wicked will
be like the boomerang. He'll throw it out there at you,
and they'll come around and hit him right in the back of the
head. But as for the believer, and
I close, he says, I will praise... Here's confidence. Here's resolution. We ought to have some resolutions,
and here it is. This ought to be first and foremost. I will
praise the Lord according to His righteousness, to who He
is, His righteous dealings, and will sing praise to the name
of the Lord Most High. While mischief is the occupation
of the wicked, praise is the occupation of the righteous." We just looked at Matthew 18
this past Sunday. He said, Woe to the world for
offenses, for offenses must come, they must come. Living in a world
we live in, living on enemy turf, so to speak, live in a world
where you're hated, offenses are going to come. But when they
do, trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. O Lord, in Thee
do I trust. Trust Him. And we need not worry. The Judge of the earth will do
right, and when He finally rises up to do judgment, the congregation
of the righteous will gather about Him. They won't be scattered. You know, the wicked will be
crying for the rocks to fall on them, hide them from the face
of the wrath of the Lamb. But you're not. You're going
to be right there with Him. You and I'll be right there with
Him. All right.