Psalm 11 to the chief musician,
a psalm of David. It says, In the Lord put I my
trust, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain.
For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow
upon the string, that they may privilege you at the upright
in heart. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked in him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon
the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible
tempest. This shall be the portion of
their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, His countenance doth behold the upright." Now, David begins this psalm,
and of course as we have said, these are the prayers of the
Lord Jesus Christ as David was given to record them and of course
to experience the same things that he did. in the human experience. I think
these things are actually very common to those who would seek
to follow the Lord. In the Lord put I my trust. Where
else can the children of God go but put their trust in the
Lord? I mean, you look around, you
going to put your trust in the government? Would you put your
trust in other men? I mean, what man would you trust
in? I mean, who would you have confidence
enough in to know that they would never lead you wrong? They'd never do the wrong thing.
Have you ever met anybody like that? Have you ever met anybody
whose judgment was so good that you knew that in whatever situation
they were in, it was going to be right? No. In the Lord we put our trust.
We wait upon Him. Now, he speaks here, this is
kind of like he's making a statement, and then he's pointing out the
fact that the wicked bend their bow and privilege shoot at the
upright in heart because they ridicule that. See, because here's
the question. They say, how say ye to my soul,
flee as a bird to your mountain? There you go. All you do is just
talk about trusting in the Lord. See, the natural man, he would
rather trust in the arm of the flesh. He says, I don't want
any of that trusting in the Lord stuff. I don't have time for
that. I mean, the natural man, he feels like that he has the
power to deliver himself. And apart from the grace of God,
he'll go on in that way. I mean, men are born self-sufficient. I mean, they're not self-sufficient
as babies, but they grow up, they get to a point, do they
not, pretty early on, when they decide their way is the best
way. And that's just natural to men. Men want to trust themselves. They want to do what they want
to do. They don't want to do what their parents tell them
to do. I mean, some are more easily shaped than others, but
that's just the natural way of man to want to do what he wants
to do and to have confidence that he knows what he needs to
do, even though he may be surely on the path to destruction. I
mean, you know how often do children, I mean, they just run right out
in the road if you let them. I mean, they figure that's the
best thing to do. I see something's in the road, I want to go out
there and get it. They don't understand what's going on. So
the world looks at the man that trusts the Lord, and they think
that's kind of quaint. Well, it's all right for you,
they might say. Or they may ridicule him. Flee as a bird to your mountain. How say ye to my soul, flee as
a bird to your mountain? I mean, just go ahead, fly away,
have that will. We'll trust in ourselves. For
lo, the wicked bend their bow. They make ready their error upon
the string that they may privilege you that ye upright in heart.
You see, men are not content to go their way. It's not enough
for an atheist to be an atheist. You ever met an atheist that
was satisfied with being an atheist? Huh? No, he's not satisfied because
you're not an atheist. He's mad with you because you
are an atheist. I mean, you believe in prayer
and he doesn't. And he says, well, you can't
pray. I mean, if he doesn't want to pray, it's all right with
me. I don't care. I mean, he can go. live in a mud hut somewhere,
do whatever he wants to do. See, the way of the world is
against the things of God, the truth of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ came speaking the truth of God. As purely as a man could
ever speak the truth of God, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the
truth of God, and they crucified Him. I mean, men hate the way
of God. Now, there is a way that seemeth
right unto men, the Scripture says, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. The ways of man lead to death. I mean, it doesn't matter how
smart a man is, he is gone the road to destruction. And left
to himself, he will destroy himself. The wicked bend their bow. You
see, they take aim. at the upright in heart. It's
not enough for them to go on their way. They just don't want
you, they don't want the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be
mentioned. Isn't it an amazing thing, and
I'm not swindling anybody out here, but isn't it an amazing
thing that the liberal bias in the world, and being a conservative
does not make you a godly person, okay? It doesn't have anything
to do with that. But being a liberal doesn't either.
But isn't it amazing as you look and you see the liberal mindset
that wants Equity for everybody, so they say. You know, we want
all people to be free to do what they want to do. Let's don't
oppress these Arabs and Muslims that want to come over here and
take over the country and all that. Oh, well, that's right,
let's just sit back. But oh, what if a godly man, a man who
is a servant of Christ, wants to preach and glorify Christ,
in an open fashion. Oh, that's your oppressing us. See, why is that? Why is it that
men would consider that it would be a good thing for a Muslim
to stand up and spout off their spiel and stuff? And that's okay. We ought not to say anything
about that. But if somebody gets up and preaches what the Word
of God says, about things and exalts the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Scripture does, there is something wrong with him.
I mean, we've got to stop that. We don't want this religious
bias against us. The wicked men there, Bo, they
get ready and they take aim that they may privilege you at the
upright in heart. See, they are not shooting at
the the destructive forces in society. I mean, the degradation
of the moral fabric of society, they are not concerned about
that. What they are concerned about is that somebody might
be actually magnifying Christ. Because men hate the gospel of
Jesus Christ. They privilege it at the upright
in heart. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Now here is the very essence
of what he says in the Lord, put I my trust. And if that foundation
be taken away, what do we have? Paul said, if the dead rise not,
we are of all men most miserable. Now that would be the destruction
of the foundation of the Christian belief, would it not? if there
is no resurrection of the dead? I mean, what are we going to
do then? I mean, we've preached that Christ rose from the dead,
and then if it turns out Christ didn't rise from the dead, what
happens? We don't have anything. If foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? There's nothing we can do. We're
not building our hopes upon tight dreams. If these things be taken
away, then there is nothing. I mean, society... Dear brethren,
if God, is not an absolute sovereign in control of all things in the
earth, we are in a world of trouble. I mean, we are in a mess. There is no basis upon which
for us to trust in anything. I mean, if Stephen Hawking is
correct, I do not think he is because, you know, where is old
Stephen? We're not sure where old Stephen
is, but I know one thing, he's not spouting off any great philosophies
anymore, is he? But you see, the Word of God
stands true forever. I mean, when the world is dust
and ashes, when the volcanoes erupt and everything is swallowed
up, The Word of God will be true.
It will stand true forever. Now, it's the mercy of God if
a man can see and understand that and believe it. I mean,
I can't make a man believe this. You can't either. I mean, you
can argue all day with a man and you can't make him see it. But if God, who is pleased, who
is rich in mercy, causes a man to see and understand and know
that the Word of God is the basis upon which all of those things
that we stand upon is true, then He has a basis, does He not?
And so these are the foundations. Some people say that the Bible
is our foundation. Well, the Bible is not actually
our foundation. Now, the Lord in His mercy has
seen fit to give us the Bible, but the Bible does not encompass
the Word of God. Now, the Word of God, this is
the Word of God. It has come to us from God. But
the Word of God is much greater than the Bible, because the Word
of God existed before there ever was a Bible. And it will exist
long after every Bible has been burned up. See, our foundation
is not the Bible. Our foundation is indeed in the
truths that are set forth in the Bible. And what do they tell
us? It says, in the beginning, God. Now that is a pretty strong foundation
right there. Now, of course, you know, those
that shoot at the upright in heart, they say, well, we don't
believe that. You know, in the beginning was
a spark. And the spark sparked another
spark and they had a bunch of sparks and all of a sudden something
came out of it and here we all are. You know, going along the
way and everything is just happening willy-nilly here and there. No
telling what's going to happen. tomorrow, next week, or whatever.
I mean, you know, a man may one day live to be 2,000 years old
if we can figure out this gene pool and how to adjust this,
that, and the other, and all of those things that men put
their confidence in. But, dear brethren, the foundation
of the righteous is in the Lord Himself. Because if the things
that the Lord has told us are not true, then brethren, we're
in a mess. But I believe they are true.
And upon those things, the righteous can't do anything if you take
that away. I'm not going to try to build
my case on some intellectual argument, because the intelligence of man
will fail. You know, all you've got to do
is go to one of these old folks' homes and see people sitting
in a wheelchair. And they've got no more idea
of what's going on around them than anything else. They're just
there. The intelligence of man will
fade away. If you live long enough, your
mind will stop. You know, it will. So that's
not our foundation. It's not in what men think. You
know, sometimes people get mad because if you declare what the
truth of God is, they say, well, I don't believe in a God like
that. Well, that's okay. I mean, I
fully understand why people wouldn't believe some of the stuff I believe
and say. I wonder that anybody believes
it, really. But the thing about it is, Because
I believe it or because you believe it, that is not what makes it
true, is it? I mean, does the existence of
God depend on us believing in Him? No. I mean, He is. And He is the basis of all that
we believe. I mean, we believe that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners. Now, why do we
believe that? Is that true because we believe
it? Or do we believe it because it's true? If the foundations
be destroyed, what can the righteous do? We don't have any place to
turn, dear brethren, apart from the very basis upon which all
the things that we have rest. Keep silence, all created things,
and wait your Maker's nod. My soul stands trembling as she
sings the honors of her God. You see, that's the foundation.
That's the place. Wherein we rest. And if that
foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? And so
David's not saying this might happen, is he? He's just saying
that's the basis upon which we rest. And the Lord put out my
trust. And then look what he says here.
If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The
Lord is in His holy temple. Now there it is. See, he describes
what the foundation is. That's it. The Lord is in His
holy temple. Somebody says, well, why do you
believe what you believe? The Lord is in His holy temple. Well, why do you think that one
day there is going to be a resurrection and the Lord is in His holy temple? I mean, dear brethren, what else
can we rest in except that the Lord is in His holy temple? Now,
that is not good enough for some people. They have got to have
a better explanation than that. And I guess, you know, intellectually,
maybe they did it. I cannot give it to them. You
know, they need to get a hold of one of these guys that can
explain all that. I can't explain it. But I know
this, I know that the Lord is in this holy temple and that's
the foundation on which we rest. And if that's not true, then
we don't have one. I mean, anything is good, one
belief is as good as another, is it not? I mean, really, is one religion
on earth better than another one? No, I mean, you put them
all in a pot, stir them up, and they all come out the same. But the foundations of the righteous
are not in religion, is it? The Lord's in His holy temple.
See, that's the place where God's people rest. That's the only
place we can rest. And that's where we're meant
to rest. The Lord's in His holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. Do you remember David? He speaks about the gods that
men hew out. The idols of men and the gods
that they come up with. And he says that they have feet,
but they run not. They have hands, but they handle
not. They have mouths, but they speak
not. But he said, but our God is in the heavens. He has done
whatsoever He has pleased. The Lord is in His holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. Dear brethren, this is the place
of our rest. We don't have any other place. And men will make a mockery of
it because they always have and they always will by nature. You would too. You wouldn't ever
believe a lick of this. if it wasn't for the grace of
God. The Lord's thrones in the heavens,
His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. Now,
does that mean He's trying to do something? No, it means that
He places trials upon men. All of these things, dear brethren,
the Lord is accomplishing His purpose in the earth. There's
not one thing out of place. There's not one thing lacking.
Never will be. The Lord's purpose is going to
be accomplished in earth according to His good pleasure. And His
eyes behold the ways of men. Why? Because He made men. He
didn't make men to see what they would do. Now, I know that a
lot of people That's kind of how they view it, you know. The
Lord made Adam and He put him in the garden and He wound him
up like one of these little wind-up toys and He put him down there
and said, I wonder what he's going to do? Well, he knew what he was going
to do. Did he not? Well, sure he did. He made Adam
to be Adam. that He might perform His purpose
in the earth to accomplish His purpose. And that purpose is
to bring glory to His name in the redemption of men who are
sinners in Adam. Now, men don't like that. I understand that. Because men
want it to be about them. Isn't that really the question?
What's this all about? Remember there was a song when
I was growing up, what's it all about? Alfie. I don't know why
that came to mind. But that's kind of the way it
was. And when I was going to school, that was a big question.
It was coming out, you know, what are we here for? What are
we here for? We're here because God put us
here. Now that wasn't the answer they were looking for, of course. They weren't some philosophical
thing, you know, we think, therefore we are. Have you ever heard that? Well, buddy, you're in trouble.
If you are what you think, you're in big trouble. No, we are what
God made us to be. I rejoice in that. That's the
glorious thing. You know that it is so that the
Lord, His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. I mean,
He sees our every motion because He knows our every motion, because
He directs the path of the righteous. Now look, I want you to notice
this. It says here, His eyelids try the children of men. Now
listen to what He says in the next verse. The Lord trieth The
righteous. Now that word trieth there means
simply He puts trials upon them. He works His work in them. The Lord is at work in the righteous. Now we know that the Lord works
in all men. He said, I make peace and I create
evil. I form the light, I make the
light and I form the darkness. The Lord does all these things.
That's what he said to Isaiah. And you know men spend more time
trying to figure out why that's not true than they do just falling
down and worshiping Him because it is. I guarantee you, you go
and you listen to somebody take that verse, and most everybody
that you ever listen to that takes that verse of Scripture,
they'll try to tell you why God didn't really mean that. Well,
that's not really the way God is. Well, listen. The Lord said
that is the way He was, that He ruled in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and there is none
that can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? The
Lord's throne is in the heavens. And He says here, The Lord trieth
the righteous. He works in the righteous. But
listen to what it says, But the wicked, In him that loveth violence,
his soul hateth. Now I guarantee you one thing,
there will never be a man that is ever destroyed that does not
deserve it. There will never be a man who
is ever destroyed who does not deserve it. Now that is not on
the basis of what you think he deserves. Thank God for that. Because,
you know, how would you like it if you had to stand up in
front of, say, the community of people, and there was a panel
up here, and they decided who gets into heaven and who doesn't.
Now, would you feel good about going up there? Well, now, you know, if you could
pick the panel, you might. But what if it is just like a
bunch of people that are totally opposed? What if it is a bunch
of Democrats and you are a Republican? And you are going up there and
they are going to decide whether or not you are going to enter
heaven or not. Or vice versa. What if you are a Democrat and
it is a bunch of Republicans or a bunch of NRA members and
you have been marching around with a sign, Do Away With Guns?
I mean, do you think you are going to make it in? Probably
not. Probably not. But you can be
sure of this, that God is just in all of His dealings with men. His eye lives to try the children
of men. He looks to see if there is any righteous. Remember Abraham? He came to the Lord when the
Lord told him he was going to destroy Sodom. He said, Well,
wait a minute. What about if there is fifty down there? Will
you destroy it? No, I won't destroy it for fifty. Well, what about
40? No. 30? I don't remember the
numbers, but anyway, it was progressive down. He got right on down. The Lord said He wouldn't store
it for one righteous man. But there wasn't any because
He took them out, did He not? He took the righteous out. And
who was the righteous man? The Lord said, righteous lot. And if you read about the life
of Lot and you look at him moralistically, you would never come to that
conclusion, would you? Why was he righteous? He was
righteous because God said he was righteous. He was righteous
because God made him righteous. He was righteous because God
chose him. Again, people don't like to hear that. No, they can
have more confidence in their own choice than they do in the
choice of God. Well, I rest in the choice of
God. I'd rather God be doing the choosing than a bunch of
men, especially if it's somebody that don't like me. The Lord
trieth the righteous, but the wicked in him that loveth violence
his soul hateth. The Lord will judge sin. Now
the Lord is in His holy temple, and there is none that can enter
in there except the righteous. I remember there used to be a
song, This train is bound for glory, this train. You don't
carry none but the righteous and the holy, this train. Of
course, their concept of who made it on there was whatever
good works and good deeds you did got you on that train. Well,
dear brethren, the only thing that gets any man on that train
is the righteousness of Christ and the choice of God, of that
person as that one whom He will grant eternal life. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked in Him that loveth violence is so hated." The Lord works in the children
of God, those whom He loves. But Him that loveth violence
is so hated. Now, violence is anything that
is set against the kingdom of God, is it not? It's set that
which is another way. I mean, how far does a man have
to deviate from the truth in order to be wrong? How much error does there have
to be mixed with what you think is right for it to be wrong? See, God's truth is true. It's
exactly true. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked in him that loveth violence his soul hateth." God
will judge sin. He will judge men. And it is
a true fact that if it wasn't for the mercy of God, every one
of us would be destroyed. No question about it. Listen
to what it says here, "'Upon the wicked he shall rain snares,
fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, this shall be the portion
of their cup." Now over in Hawaii right now, they are having the
eruption of this volcano, and I thought it was interesting
that one of the things that they said was, was real prominent in this eruption
of this volcano was the release of sulfur. Now brimstone, that's
what brimstone is, is sulfur. Because it's a very poisonous
substance. And if you breathe enough of
it, it'll kill you. If you don't have enough oxygen
to dilute it down, it is a poisonous substance. But it's released
in this fire and brimstone. When it comes out of the earth,
there is brimstone. Now, often in the Scripture,
it mentions that fire and brimstone is going to be the result of
the wicked. That is the thing that is going
to come on. Now, what can a man imagine that would be physically
any more consuming than to be thrown in a pit of lava? I mean, how long do you think
you'd last? I mean, but see, the Lord will destroy the wicked.
I mean, there's no doubt about it. I mean, unless the Scripture
is not true, and if it isn't, then we don't have any legs to
stand on anyway. Because, dear brethren, think about this. If
the wicked will not be destroyed, then why would we believe that
the righteous will be taken into the presence of God. Because
you see, the very basis upon which we believe that these things
be true is what? The Lord's in His holy temple,
and He said these things. He said this was true, so it's
just as true that the wicked will be destroyed as it is that
the righteous will be given life. I mean, that's just as sure as
it can be. This shall be the portion of
their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. Now how much righteousness does
he love? Does he love a little bit? Does
he love righteousness that is mixed in with something else? No, it says the righteous Lord
loveth righteousness. It doesn't say he loves some
righteousness. It says he loves righteousness.
And there is a pure righteousness that He loves. And His countenance
doth behold the upright. Now who could that be speaking of? It
couldn't be speaking about men. I mean, I don't know of anybody
that measures up to that standard of his own self, do you? I mean, if the Lord said, well,
if you'll be an upright man and you'll never deviate from the
straight and narrow, then I'll behold you. I'll look at you.
See, that's what it means that the Lord beholdeth the upright.
That is, the man who does not deviate. Now, what we consider
an upright man is a man that doesn't deviate much. Or he doesn't
deviate always. Well, that's not what the Lord
looks at. The Lord looks at that one who does not deviate at all. Now, if I told you you had to
be absolutely perfect to enter into the presence of the Lord, what would you say? I mean, if
you had to come up with that on your own, you could quit now because you
already messed up. Maybe even before you ever heard
this. I mean, would it be good enough if when you heard this,
you said, well, the Lord is going to look at the upright, so I
am going to start being upright. No, you are already messed up,
because you already have a stain upon your record. The countenance
of the Lord doth behold the upright. There is one. And if Jesus Christ
be not our substitute, then brethren, we don't have any foundation
to stand on. What can the righteous do? But
the Scripture says that He came and He became sin for us, that
what we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now where is our righteousness
at? It's in Christ. I mean, when the Lord looks down
from heaven to behold the upright, I'm glad He's looking at Christ.
Because, you see, He's the perfect man. And He beholds Him. I'm hidden in Christ if I be
one of His. Just like Moses was hidden in
the cliff of the rock while the glory of God passed by. And he
was not consumed. And so it is when the Lord consumes
the wicked. If we be hid in Christ, He will
behold the upright. And all those who are in Christ
shall indeed be safe when the fire and the brimstone and the
portion of the cup of the wicked is meted out, according to what
the Word of God says. Now, did we take any delight
in the destruction of the wicked? The Lord said He didn't. I don't take any delight in the
destruction of the wicked. It's just a fact. I know this,
that left to myself, I'd be among them. And was it not for the
mercy of God, I'd be tasting the portion of that cup. But
by the grace of God, according to the revelation of His Word,
He shows us that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. And
everyone who has fled to Christ for refuge, has a place there. Because I'm telling you that
those who are wicked do not seek Christ. They will not have this
man rule over them. They will not bow their knee
in worship of Him. Now they may, you know, make
a show of it. They may come to church on Sunday. They may do a lot of things.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a man, by the
grace of God, who says, in the Lord, if I put my trust. I don't
have any other hope. If the foundation is destroyed,
what can I do? If the Lord is not in His holy
temple, I'm done for. If all the Word of God is not
true, I've had it. And I'm content to rest there.
And by the grace of God, I shall. Even until that day when He rains
fire and brimstone upon the wicked, and they are destroyed by the
words of His mouth as they come forth. May the Lord help us.