Psalm 9, this is to the chief musician
upon Muthlaban, a psalm of David. Most of the so-called scholars,
many of them at least, believe that this has to do with a particular
sort of instrument. that this psalm was accompanied
with. I take all of that with a grain
of salt since there are others that call themselves equally
astute who dispute that and say that it has to do with the meter
of the psalms. But for whatever reason, the
important matter before us is that this is a psalm of David, and a prayer of David, but yet
a prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as all of the Psalms, I believe,
are written unto His glory and do in great measure portray His
humanity before us. It says, I will praise Thee,
O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all Thy marvelous
works. I will be glad and rejoice in
thee. I will sing praise to thy name,
O thou Most High. When mine enemies are turned
back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast
maintained my right and my cause, thou saddest in the throne judging
right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen,
thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name
forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions have
come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities, their
memorial is perished with them. But the Lord shall endure forever.
He hath prepared his throne for judgment, and he shall judge
the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to
the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge
for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that
know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Sing praises to the Lord
which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his
doings. When he maketh inquisition for
blood, he remembereth them. He forgetteth not the cry of
the humble. Have mercy upon me, O Lord! Consider
my trouble, which I suffer, of them that hate me, thou that
liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may show forth
all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will
rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in
the pit that they made. In the net which they hid is
their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment
which He executed. The wicked is snared in the work
of his own hands. Hegion, Thela. The wicked shall
be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For
the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of
the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the heathen be judged in
Thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord. that
the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah." Now, I
don't think it requires any real deep consideration here to see
that this psalm is primarily the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
as He as a man walked in the earth and his purpose in the
earth was to bring glory to his Father. He said, I came to do
my Father's will. And so he said, I will praise
Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. That's what he came to do and
that's what he did day after day after day. I will show forth
all Thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in
Thee. I will sing praise to thy name,
O thou Most High." Now what a glorious place it is to be given the ability
to praise the name of the Lord. Now men think they can just praise
God whenever they get ready to, or they can not praise Him whenever
they get ready to, if they do not want to. Because men just
think they can just do whatever they want to do. But you know,
a man can't praise the Lord unless the Lord enables him to do so.
And a man can't not praise the Lord unless the Lord prevents
him from doing so. Because, you know, it is a privilege
to be given a heart and mind to praise the name of the Lord. And we must always consider that. If we have within our heart and
soul and mind any desire to exalt and honor the name of Christ,
we must recognize that as a blessing of God. It certainly didn't arise
from us. We didn't think up to do that. Because the Scripture says there
is none good, no, not one. There is none that seeketh after
God. Not a one. I mean, search out
the earth, and you won't find one man that of himself, without
any prompting from the Lord, that ever sought the Lord. And
yet men think that they can just do that any time they get ready
to. But it is a privilege. It is a blessing from God. to
be able to praise the name of the Lord. What a glorious thing!
And the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, being a perfect man and
being that One who was God in the flesh, that was His whole
purpose, was to praise the Lord. I will sing praise to Thy name.
When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish
at Thy presence. Now this is interesting. And I don't know that it's specifically
speaking about this instance here, but it is very interesting
that there is an exact instance of this occurring when the enemies
of the Lord came to take him in the garden and they said,
we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And the Scripture says that he
stood forth and he says, I am. And now the King James adds,
he says, I am he. But actually what he said was,
I am. And the Scripture says that they
all fell backwards when he said that. Now that's what he says
here. He says, My enemies are turned back. They shall fall
and perish at thy presence. Now every one of them would have
died right then. but for the mercy of God to preserve
their lives, because you see, they had a purpose to perform.
And that purpose was to take the Lord Jesus Christ into custody,
which they did. But you can be sure that it was
according to the purpose of God and not according to some happenstance
situation. But mine enemies are turned back,
they shall fall and perish at thy presence." You see, men can't
stand in the presence of the Lord. The Scripture says, "...he
dwells in the light to which no man can approach." It's impossible
that a man could stand in the presence of God. You hear all
these people talking about what they're going to tell the Lord
in the day of judgment. You know, I'm going to say this
and I'm going to say that. No, they're not going to say
anything. They're not going to be able to say anything. They
are going to be upon their faces in abject fear before Him, because
it is impossible that a man could approach unto God and live. The Lord said, No man shall see
My face and live. It cannot happen. For Thou hast
maintained My right and My cause. Thou saddest in the throne, judging
right. The Lord did indeed. uphold the
way of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no accusation that
could be brought against Him that was true. The Lord did indeed
maintain His right and cause. And He said in the throne judging
right, as we spoke about last week, that God will do right. He may show mercy, but He will
always do right. He is a righteous God and He
will do righteously according to His determination. Thou hast
rebuked the heathen, and thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou
hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions
are come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities.
Their memorial has perished with them." Now the enemies of God
and the arch enemy of God, which the Scripture would indicate,
is Satan. that one who goes about as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and he has destroyed
many in this world. None that he has ever destroyed
except according to the purpose of God. In fact, he just serves
God's purpose as we see in the case of the book of Job. I mean, Job was going along,
everything seemed to be all right, didn't it? Satan, he wasn't taking any notice
of Job. But the Lord said, Hey, Satan,
have you thought about my servant Job? And old Satan looked over
there and he said, I said, nothing to him. He says, just give me
a little while here, I'll take care of him. But you see, the
Lord's purpose is greater than his enemy's purpose to destroy,
the Lord's purpose to deliver His people. Now, you know, some
would have said, well, he should have just left Job alone. Well,
no, because you see, Job wasn't where Job needed to be. Job was
an upright man as far as men in the earth were concerned.
He was a good moral man and all of those things. But you see,
as we come to find at the end of the book, even though Job
was quite well acquainted with some of the ways of the Lord,
yet he didn't really know the Lord in fullness, did he? Because
he said at the end, he said, I've heard about you. But he
said, Now mine eye seeth thee, and I repent in dust and ashes. Because you see, that's the purpose
of God dealing with His children, is it not, is to bring them to
the place He wants them to be. And that place where He wants
them to be is to recognize Him as Lord of all, as the King of
kings, as that one worthy to be worshipped. And He will destroy
their enemies Even as he has, O thou enemy, destructions will
come to a perpetual end, and thou hast destroyed cities, their
memorials perish with them." All that Satan has ever done
in the seeking to harm the people of God is brought to an end.
The memorial that he had, you see, he thought that he would
have this great memorial raised to himself of all these nations
that he has deceived in the earth. But these nations that are deceived
in the earth, the men of this world who are blinded by him
in this world, all of them are going to perish and all of that
memorial that he had is going to be gone. Nothing that he has will stand.
Their memorials perish with them, but the Lord shall endure forever.
He had prepared his throne for judgment. There it is again. He has prepared His throne for
judgment, for righteousness. And He shall judge the world
in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to
the people in uprightness. There is not any one. Nothing
is ever going to occur in the earth that is not going to be
held to the standard of God's righteousness and justice. Justice
will be done. Now, you know, a lot of people
say, oh, well, we want justice to be done. Do you now? I mean, really, you better think
that through. But I'll tell you, this is a true thing. God will
bring judgment in the earth. He will show that His justice
will be set forth. And it's not going to be according
to man's justice, but it's going to be according to His. And there's
no doubt about how that's going to turn out. He shall minister
judgment to the people in uprightness. But look at this, the Lord also
will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. The downtrodden, those who know
themselves to be sinners, those that fear the Lord, those that
recognize that His judgment is right and good, those who say,
Lord, if you slay me, Yet will I trust you. Yet will
I give praise to you. Yet will I fall down and say,
You're right." See, most people, they serve the Lord because He's
going to do something good for them. But the man who's been
given grace to know who God is, he'll serve God if he knows God's
going to kill him. You see, that's just the way
that the Lord works in His people, is to cause them to love His
way, even His justice. But he will be a refuge for the
oppressed, a refuge for those who are in times of trouble.
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. Now
that's just as sure as can be that a man who knows the name
of the Lord will trust the Lord. He can't help it. Now it's not
him. It's the mercy of God. But when
God causes a man to know the name of the Lord, He'll trust
him. Now Saul of Tarsus is a good
example of that on the road to Damascus, breathing out threatenings
and slaughterings against the people of God, and thinking he
was serving God. He's going along that way, and
when the Lord brought him down to the ground, did he not say,
Who art thou, Lord? Now, if you had asked Saul in
that moment, Saul, in whom are you trusting, he would have said,
well, I'm not 100% sure, but I know it's the one that just
knocked me off the horse. Or, I don't know that he was
on a horse. Scripture doesn't say he was
on a horse. You often hear people talk about him being knocked
off a horse, but I don't really know where that idea came from.
There's no mention of a horse in the the account there, but
one thing is for certain, he fell on the ground. He was on
the ground before the Lord, and he was trusting the One who put
him there. For He said, Who art thou, Lord,
Master? Who art thou? O you who are the
Great One, is what He said. And they that know thy name will
put their trust in thee. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken
them that seek thee." Now think of the amazement that came over
Saul when he said, Who art thou, Lord? And what did the Lord say? He said, I am Jesus. Oh my! Wait a minute. If he was a faithful
Jew, breathing out threatenings and
slaughtering against those, wouldn't he have risen up from there and
said, well, wait a minute, I hate you. No, what happened? Something happened, didn't it?
I mean, something changed his whole mind. Something changed
his whole heart. Something changed his whole being.
And he was born again. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he trusted in that one. who had put him there. They that
know thy name will put their trust in thee. Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken
them that seek thee." Now that's a sweet concept there, dear brother,
because you know from time to time the flesh, the world, the devil
does bring doubts and fears into our mind and tells us you are
not really one of God's children. This is all just a tightrope. There is nothing to this thing.
This is just something somebody told you. You got kind of swayed
in your mind. Some preacher told you some stuff
and you believed it. But there was not anything to
that. But dear brethren, those who
are seekers after God will never be forsaken. And regardless of
the level of doubt that might arise in our mind, it never is
of such nature that it could cause God to cast us off. Why
would we seek the Lord? I don't know. I can't tell you
exactly why a man seeks the Lord, but I know this, that everyone
that seeks shall find. He that knocks, to him it shall
be opened. And that is what the Lord says
here. He says, He has not forsaken them that seek Thee. Sing praises
to the Lord which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people
His doings. When He maketh inquisition for
blood, He remembereth them. He forgetteth not the cry of
the humble. Now there are two things. When
He maketh inquisition for blood, number one, The soul that sinneth
shall die. And the Lord will make inquisition
for blood. He is out for blood with sinners. He is going to destroy them according
to what Scripture says. But there is another manner in
which to remember when He made inquisition for blood in the
land of Egypt. He made inquisition for blood
and He got blood. from the firstborn of every one
of those houses of Egypt. But there were some houses that
he passed over, did he not? Because when he made inquisition
for blood, he saw the blood on the doorpost and the lintel.
And when the Lord makes inquisition for blood, when He comes to the
houses of those that seek the Lord, He will not seek the blood
of the house where He comes because He sees the blood of the one
who shed His blood in their behalf. For everyone who is a seeker
after God, everyone who is the humble who cry out to Him, they
shall receive mercy from His hand because He will pass over. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Consider
my trouble when I suffer of them that hate me. Thou that liftest
me up from the gates of death. Now this is exactly and perfectly
the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ as He cries out to His
Father in the time of His suffering. And He said, Oh, have mercy upon
me, O Lord. Consider my trouble which I suffer
of them that hate me. He was hated of all men. Thou
that liftest me up from the gates of death." Now, he was at the
gates of death, but yet he had anticipation that the Lord would
yet lift him up from the gates of death. I mean, death got hold
upon him, but yet he knew that his Redeemer, that is, the Father,
deliver him from the gates of death, that I may show forth
all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will
rejoice in thy salvation." Now, he would manifest the praise
of God in the midst of his people, the gates of Zion, that has to
do with the kingdom of God, the people of God. The Lord, He would
visit the gates of the daughter of Zion, the people of God. He
will rejoice in thy salvation, the salvation of the Lord, in
the midst of the people of God. Because you see, this is what
the gospel message is. This is the message that is brought
to the people of God, is it not? I mean, the world does not care
anything about the gospel of Christ. I mean, some of them
have something to do with the religion of Christ. They call
themselves Christians and they go about all these various things
that supposedly identify them as Christians. But they don't
love the gospel of Christ. They don't love the work of Christ. They are not delighting in that
praise which he speaks of here that he would praise. He would
show forth the praise of the Lord in the gates of the daughter
of Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. For joy that was set before Him,
He entered in and did those things in the behalf of His people.
He rejoiced in that salvation. The heathen are sunk down in
the pit that they made, and the net which they hid is their own
foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment
which He executed. The wicked is snared in the work
of His own hands." Can we not look back through history and
see the reality of that being true? I mean, can a man ever
say that he just got tripped up by the Lord? I mean, he was
just trying to do the things that God would have men to do,
and the Lord just fooled him. I mean, could a man ever say
that? No. Every man has dug his own pit. He has put himself in the exact
position that he is in. From the beginning, Adam, what
did he do? He did what God said don't do. He did it. He turned around and
said, well, it was the woman, she gave it to me, but he did
it. Every man does what he does.
There's not a man on earth that can ever bring one accusation
against anybody, most especially not against the Lord. Because
everything we've done, we've done to ourselves. Nobody did
it against us. It's not other people that's
our problem. You know, a lot of times we get
thinking about, well, you know, if old so-and-so would act right
and do this and that and everything would be all right. Well, he
made me mad. Well, people can't make you mad. Now, they can give
you reason that you can justify being mad in your mind, but a
man cannot make you mad. A man cannot make you hate him. He can't do it. See, all that
stuff rises up from within. And the only person that's to
blame is you. Now, we don't like that much.
I don't like it. I mean, I won't always be fine
as somebody else. It wasn't just exactly me, was
it? But it really was. David understood
it. True repentance brings a man to that place. Against thee and
thee only have I sinned. David said, look, there's no
blame to be shared around here, Lord. It's against you that I
did these things. The Lord is known by the judgment
He executed because He brings His people to that place to know
that to be true. The wicked shall be turned into
hell in all the nations that forget God. Now, how many nations
on earth is that going to be, do you reckon? Do you think America
is going to be spared? You know, we are all this godly
nation. I mean, we are this Christian
nation founded on all these principles and stuff. What does He say here? The nations that forget God.
Can you name a nation on earth that hasn't forgotten God? I
mean, Israel did. I was watching a thing here a
while back about the Netherlands. I mean, the Lord did a great
mighty work among the Dutch people. And the gospel took root there. But if you went to the Netherlands
today, you couldn't even tell. These things are true. I mean,
look at the United States of America. What have we done? We've forgotten God. You see, this is not singling
out. This is not like, The Lord is
not saying here, the nations that forget God, as though there
are some who have not. He is talking about the nations, speaking of all of them, that
forget God. They shall be turned into hell.
They shall be destroyed, in other words. For the needy shall not
always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish
forever. Blessed are the poor, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven." The Lord has given these things to
those who are poor, to those who are weak, to those who are
the beggarly elements of the earth, to those whom the world
ridicules and says, this is just a bunch of baloney. Arise, O
Lord, let not man prevail." Now can you say that? Boy, I want
it to be true. I want men to just be put down
in the dust and the name of Christ to be exalted. Let all men be
forgotten. May all the memorials that men
have raised to other men just be burned up with the fervent
heat. And all the things that men have
striven for, may they be forgotten. And may only that which Christ
has done be remembered. Arise, Lord, let not man prevail.
Don't let man have a place of glory. Let the heathen be judged
in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that
the nations may know themselves to be but men. Oh, may the Lord
give us a mind and heart to know that for ourselves. We're just
men. Now, the world thinks that's
a big thing, don't they? I mean, we're men. We've done
these things. We've looked at all these inventions
that we've had and all these different things that, you know,
the knowledge. Just think of how much we know.
I mean, just think of all the Stephen Hawkings of the earth,
and the Albert Einsteins, and all of these great men, and they
thought such great thoughts, and we have accomplished so much
in our medical, look at our medical advances, and all of these things.
Oh, aren't they wonderful? Oh, that the nations may know
themselves to be but men. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or of the Son of Man that thou visitest him? Oh, that
we might know. We are just men. And oh, we are
men without hope and help apart from that which He brings. May
the Lord give us a mind to know and understand that.