Good morning everyone, good to
see you here. If you would, be turning in your Bible to Psalm
chapter 9. I want to share some thoughts
that were impressed upon me in my study of this book, this chapter
9 of the book of Psalms, and I encourage you to look there
in your Bible because today I'm going to be speaking of several
verses, but I'm not going to take the time to read the whole
thing, so I think it's important for us to see it in its context.
And my emphasis today is reflected in the title that I've chosen
for this message, Judged in Righteousness. You know, Hebrews 9, 27 declares
to us with no ambiguity whatsoever that it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this, the judgment. That's a declarative
judgment that you and I and all of the fallen sinners in Adam,
shall face. And there is a certain eternity
to spend. And so, if you think about it,
when you get down to it, isn't that what really prompts most
of us to become first interested in or involved in religion? You
know, knowing that after we die, there is a heaven and there's
a hell. There's an eternal existence
in either heaven's glory or in hell's misery. And we want to
know how we might be among those eternally blessed and bound for
heaven. Well, I believe that this Psalm,
Psalm 9, when understood consistent with the whole of Scripture,
really should take away all the guesswork for us. It's, as I've
said concerning other passages, it's like it's an open book exam. The passage here clearly identifies
for us not only the standard by which we all shall be judged,
as my title suggests, in righteousness, but in this chapter, we'll see
characteristics cited that identify both first those who will be
judged righteous, eternally accepted in God's sight, who shall inhabit
heaven's glory, and we'll also see characteristics cited of
those who shall be cast into hell. eternally banished from
the presence of our holy God. So with that, what could be more
important for us to seriously consider, to set aside all our
distractions in our minds today and devote our attention toward
understanding? Because we're talking about my
and your eternal destinies, heaven or hell. Well, in verse 7 there
of Psalm 9, we read this. It says, but the Lord shall endure
forever. He hath prepared His throne for
judgment." So God has determined, see, to reign on His throne as
a judge. And I want you to notice first
that it's an eternal reign. The verse begins by noting the
eternality of our Lord. The Lord shall endure forever. And so we know that the judgment
spoken of here is an enduring judgment. And then, as verse
8 begins, It starts with these words, and He shall judge the
world. Now we see here the certainty
of this enduring eternal judgment. It does not read that the Lord
may endure forever. It does not read that He may
judge the world. It says He shall judge the world. So God has determined to reign
on His throne in judgment and we're speaking of a sure and
a certain and an everlasting judgment. And secondly, the standard
of judgment, the basis upon which God judges, is not a mystery. It's openly declared for us here
as verse 8 continues reading, and he shall judge the world,
what? In righteousness. Now we know this is referring
to the universal judgment of all men, that declarative judgment. That judgment won't decide anything.
It'll only declare what is. But this word world here is a
word that is a general name for all of the countries of the habitable
world. It's estimated that about a thousand
years after the Holy Spirit had inspired the psalmist David to
pen these words, the apostle Paul repeated them in his sermon
on Mars Hill. That's recorded for us in that
passage often quote from Acts chapter 17 where beginning in
verse 30 we read, and the times of this ignorance God winked
at. Now that's speaking of that time,
that period under the old covenant where only the nation of Israel
had the gospel in picture and type and that ceremonial law
and the Gentiles had been just left alone. That's the time of
ignorance he's speaking of. He's speaking here to Gentiles
and he continues saying, but now God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness. So we notice here, though, that
with the progressive revelation of the New Testament, we have
this standard of judgment by which all shall be judged, clarified
a little more as he continues. He will judge the world, it says
in Righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead. And as you know, this is speaking
of no less than the perfect, impeccable righteousness, established
by that man, ordained by God the Father, His only begotten
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's speaking of the very
merit of Christ's perfect obedience, even unto the death of the cross,
that which He rendered in perfect satisfaction, see, to God's holy
law and justice. And as verse 31 there tells us,
it says here that God assures all men everywhere. Now that,
that all men everywhere is the same all men everywhere that
are commanded to repent. In verse 30. That is, they're
commanded, see, to repent of imagining that anything other
than that righteousness, a righteousness equal to the one rendered, see,
by the Lord Jesus Christ would find them accepted. before the
judgment seat of God. And so it says here, He assures
all men, that is, He gives them cause to know something without
a doubt, assures them that Christ's righteousness alone is the standard
of judgment. You see, for it alone got the
job done in satisfaction to justice as testified by the that he came
up out of that grave. He raised him from the dead.
You know, Romans 5.21 is kind of a banner verse of our reign
of grace ministry, and it reads that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, if you think of that in
keeping with Romans 6, 23, where it says the wages of sin is death,
then know this, just as sin demands death. Now, listen, it's just
as sure that sin demands death that Christ died a bloody, sacrificial
death because the sins of a people were charged or impeded to it.
Well, even so, righteousness demands life. Christ came out
of that grave, you see, because the very righteousness through
which grace reigns unto eternal life, this very righteousness
by which all the world is going to be judged, it was fully established
by Christ's obedience unto death. You know, Romans 10 puts it this
way. It says, Christ is the end, or the finishing is what that
word means, of the law for righteousness. So righteousness speaks. of that
perfect satisfaction to God's holy law and justice. So this
means that perfect obedience to God's will from the moment
you take your first breath, from the cradle all the way to the
grave, is required. And as our Lord explained in
the Sermon on the Mount, not only in our outward deeds, but
in our very thoughts and our motives. As Christ proclaimed,
here's the summary of the law, love God supremely. And your
neighbor is yourself, and your neighbor is your worst enemy.
You see, that's what is required if someone's going to measure
up to this standard of righteousness, the standard by which he judges
all. Consider these verses. At the end of Matthew 5, there
in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ summarized what he'd been saying
by saying this, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect. So there's the standard, perfection.
Galatians 3 10 says for as many as are of the works of the law
They are under the curse for it is written Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things Which are written in the book
of the law to do them so what that means is if you're of the
works of the law that is if you imagine that salvation is Conditioned
upon something you do some decision you make something that proceeds
from you the sinner He says, then you're under the curse,
you see, because cursed is everybody that continueth not in all things.
James 2.10 says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and
yet offend in just one point, he is guilty of all. So that
least ill will toward my worst enemy makes me guilty. You see,
God is holy and He requires perfection. Can you render this perfect righteousness? No, no way. And that's why we
needed a substitute to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
And this substitute, see, had to be one who could represent
us. That means he had to be put under the same jurisdiction,
so to speak, that we're under. The scripture puts it this way.
It says he was made under the law that he might redeem them
who were under the law. That is, he had to walk on this
earth, you see, in our room and in our stead. subject as we are
to God's holy commands to all of humanity, and therefore obligated
as we are to a flawless compliance with God's revealed will. And
so, to render this righteousness as a substitute for sinners,
Christ had to be made like unto us, humanity, And yet, it says,
yet without sin. He could not be tainted with
the sin of fallen humanity as we all are as sons and daughters
of Adam. See, we're born in sin. But he
wasn't born of the seed of Adam. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He was what the angel called
that holy thing conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of
the Virgin Mary. And that was necessary. in order
for him to be a suitable substitute and an acceptable sacrifice for
sin. He had to be both God and man,
the God-man. And so not only, though, must
the precepts of God's revealed will be perfectly obeyed, but
now for grace to reign through righteousness. Now grace speaks
of that unmerited favor shown, but it's much like that word
mercy, the word that means propitiation. It's an unmerited favor in the
object, the one that receives that favor, but it is not unmerited. It has to be by way of a perfect
satisfaction to God's justice. That's what grace is. So the
law is just in strict penalty. See, due unto sin, the breaking
of the law, It had to be extracted. The just penalty had to be paid,
and that was necessary because Christ didn't come to establish
a righteousness for himself. He's God. He needed no righteousness
of his own. What he did, he came and did
as a substitute for sinners, lawbreakers. And so, not only
must they have the merit of his obedience, but his obedience
unto death. Their guilt must be dealt with
if they are going to be pronounced righteous, and look, only the
infinitely valuable blood of one who is both God and man could
pay the infinite price that was due to the injured justice of
a holy, holy God. So if grace, then, is to reign
through righteousness, the entire merit of Christ's obedience,
His obedience even unto death, it must be imputed or charged
to all the objects of God's everlasting love. Those same ones whose sins
were charged are imputed to him so that he who knew no sin might
pay the debt, see, for sins he had no part in producing before
God's justice. A debt that those objects of
his everlasting love, grace, and mercy, they could never pay
for themselves. An eternity in hell won't pay
that debt. It took the blood of one who
is both God and man. As Ephesians 1 teaches us, God
the Father chose a people, it says, in Christ from before the
foundation of the world toward this end. It says that they should
be holy and without blame before Him. Sinners, holy and without
blame. Yeah, that's what it is to be
a sinner saved by grace. That is, these sinners, see,
are viewed by God as one with Christ, as Ephesians 1-7 puts
it, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. So
what I want you to see here is that the standard is really unmistakable,
the standard of judgment. There's no ambiguity. All shall
be judged in righteousness. And you and I must have a righteousness
equal to that of the Lord of glory to be found acceptable
in God's sight. And you and I, we sinners, we
can't produce that. The only righteousness whereby
we might be found accepted is His righteousness. And that made
ours by God's gracious imputation or accounting of it to us, His
charging it, His reckoning it to us. Well, now, back in Psalm
9, I want you to notice that the last part of verse 8 reads
like this. It says, He shall minister judgment
to the people in uprightness. Now, that means with equity. If you look at Psalm 98, 9, it
reads, For he cometh to judge the earth. With righteousness
shall he judge the world and the people with equity. So in
other words, this standard of righteousness by which all the
world shall be judged is going to be applied equally to all
people. You see, the rules of the enduring
throne of judgment never change. You know, it's hard for us to
plan anything in this life. Tax laws continually change.
Our health care system, we have no idea what it may look like
in the years ahead. governmental rules and regulations
change. We live with all sorts of uncertainty
about our future. And so it's kind of hard to bank
on anything. Planning for the future is difficult,
to say the least, but this judgment of God, see, is upright. It is
according to an absolute standard, a never-changing perfection of
God's truth and justice. You know, we're dismayed sometimes
over the obvious injustices rendered from time to time in our own
less than perfect earthly court systems, but know this. Heaven's
throne, it ministers judgment in uprightness. That means with
equity and consistent with the character of an immutable God.
It will never change. Think about that. If it's inequity,
it means there's no distinction among purposes. It's just this
one righteousness that's going to matter. That's what we're
going to be judged against. So in this judgment, your good
intentions, your being more honest than others, your being more
religious, more dedicated, more moral than others, more sincere,
your shedding of genuine tears of repentance, your fervent prayer
life, None of these will matter, you see. Now those things do
matter, but they don't matter when it comes to this. This is
how you're going to be judged. You're going to be judged in
righteousness and we're going to all, every one of us, be equally
judged. We are equally judged. It's going
to be declared at that judgment, but we're weighed against this
one standard. Does your righteousness equal
that of the one by which God judges all men, the one He the
God-man whom He raised from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, we can stack up pretty good sometimes against our fellow
man. I know those who will say, well,
you've probably heard people like this, they'll say, I know
old so-and-so over here, and everybody thinks he or she's
such a wonderful Christian, but I know them. And I know this,
I might not appear as religious as they are, but if he or she's
gonna get into heaven, I'm okay. But look, that's just fooling
ourselves. If you hear God's Word, it's
God's throne of judgment, and we do not set the standard. God
does, and He clearly tells us here what it is He measures by.
He measures us by the impeccable righteousness of His Son, the
sinless Lord of glory, and you can't produce that. It has to
be produced for you and imputed to your account if you're to
be accepted in God's sight. You see, you have to be accepted
in Christ based solely upon His righteousness, having been graciously
put to your account. Well, I mentioned when I began
that not only is the standard of judgment clearly set forth
here in Psalm 9, but we also have some identifying characteristics. Both of those that are judged
righteous, eternally accepted in God's sight, as well as those
that shall be cast into hell. So let's consider first a few
descriptions here of those who shall be judged favorably in
God's sight. Look with me at verse 10. There
it reads, And they that know thy name will put their trust
in thee, for thy Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee.
Now I want you to notice it's speaking here of a group of people
whom the Lord has not forsaken. Now to be found among those whom
the immutable, never-changing God of this universe loves with
an everlasting love. Those whom He then never, see
no never forsakes, that's to be among those whom the Father
gave to the Son that they might be holy and without blame before
Him. Gave to Christ to be their surety,
to stand in their place and pay that sin debt for them. as Daniel wrote, bring in an
everlasting righteousness for them. You see, these are the
blessed of God who are judged righteous in Christ. And as God
says of Himself in Malachi 3.6, He said, For I am the Lord, I
change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. We
see it is because God does not change that those whom He does
not forsake, that means by By default, because of who God is,
He will never forsake. And it says of them here, these
He does not forsake, in Psalm 910, that they will put their
trust in God. And I want you to notice the
order. It does not say that the Lord has not forsaken them that
seek Him for or because they put their trust in Him. It says,
and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for or
because the Lord hath not forsaken them that seek thee. So here in Psalm 910 we see that
all who are so eternally blessed, those who are never forsaken,
those judged righteous in Christ, are said to what? Know His name. If you consider this verse, if
you look on down at the beginning of verse 16, we gain some insight
about what it means to know His name. We read in the first part
of verse 16 that the Lord is what known by the judgment which
He executed. What can we identify concerning
His judgment whereby we might know Him? It's very simple. He
judges the world in righteousness. See, God's name, a name is what
identifies someone. His name actually speaks of His
glory. That's what God's glory is. That's His chief design in
all things, is that we might know Him as He is. That's His
glory. And thereby we might worship
Him as He is. In John 17, 3, Christ prayed
to the Father. He said, and this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent." In other words, it's to know Christ as
he was sent of the Father, to do what the Father sent him to
do, not necessarily what we might imagine. Well, in Isaiah 45,
he distinguishes himself. He tells us something about this
only true God and Jesus Christ when he says, there's no God
else beside me. a just God and a Savior. There's
none beside me." And he says, look unto me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. Look where? To a just God and
a Savior. He said, for I am God and there
is none else. Now how can God be both a just
God That is, if he deals in strict justice, reigning on his throne
now as a judge, he can't simply save someone, show mercy to them
by saying, I'm just going to, since you've done your part,
I'll now pretend that you didn't sin. Now those sins have to be
dealt with. A penalty has to be extracted
for them. Well then how can he do that
and save a sinner? a sinner who deserves death because
of his sin. Well, he can only do it, see,
by the upright judgment which he executeth in the earth. He judged the world in righteousness
by the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. So his
righteousness, you see, is the method, the means whereby the
sins of his people were put away. To know God, see, as a just God
and a Savior, is to know His name. And His name is the Lord
our righteousness. Look in Jeremiah 23, 6. It's
speaking of Christ there, and it reads, And this is His name,
whereby He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And then
over in Jeremiah 33, In verse 15 we read, In those days and
at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow
up unto David. Now that branch of righteousness
is speaking of Christ and His humanity having descended from
King David. And it says, And He shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land. Those days shall Judah
be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the
name wherewith she, not he, but she. That's speaking of spiritual
Israel. The Israel of God that were chosen
unto eternal deliverance is typified by that nation Israel that was
chosen temporarily to deliver Christ. You see, this is the
name wherewith she shall be called. the Lord our righteousness."
We've got the same name. You see? All who are judged righteous
are so judged due to their oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ before
the eyes of God's holy and strict justice. So, listen, none know
God whom to know is life eternal, not the true and living God and
Jesus Christ whom He has sent. You don't know Him apart from
knowing His standard of judgment. All see who shall enter into
the eternal presence of a holy and just God. In their respective
lifetimes they will be awakened to the necessity of having His
righteousness made to be theirs." And as Psalm 910 tells us, those
who are brought to know Him as a just God and a Savior, you
see, they will put their trust in Him. You see, if you've become
convinced of your total unfitness as a sinner before a holy God,
and that in your heart of hearts, by the power of God's Holy Spirit,
according to God's prescribed means, it means under the preaching
of this very gospel of God's grace, that gospel of grace,
the one that is distinguished, as Paul said in Romans 1, 16
and 17, as the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation,
and he goes on in verse 17 to say, for or because therein is
the righteousness of God revealed, that very standard by which we're
going to be judged. Well, God, if you become convinced
under the preaching of this gospel of grace where that righteousness
is set forth, You see, if the Holy Spirit does a work, you
will solely trust in Him for all of your salvation. You see,
such convinced sinners, they can do no other. Because the
absolute necessity of possessing the very righteousness that Christ
alone could and did establish by His obedience unto death,
That necessity has been put upon their hearts, revealed to their
minds and their hearts by God-given faith so that nothing else will
do for them. They get turned into mercy beggars. They will put their trust in
Him and Him alone. There's a couple other things
that identify them here that I wanted to make mention of.
Notice in verse 11, the psalmist ends that verse saying this,
He says, declare among the people his doings. And then notice at
the end of verse 14, he says, I will rejoice in thy salvation. You see, those who are judged
righteous before God, they ultimately adopt God's standard of judgment
as their own. They see things God's way. That's
what that means. They rejoice in His doings, in
His salvation. It's of grace. So that means
it's not of any work of their own hand. But here even in this
Psalm, these who shall be judged righteous, they are contrasted
with those who are condemned. Those who shall be declared to
be void of this righteousness that answers the demands before
God's holy law and justice. Look with me at verses 15 and
16 of chapter 9. says the heathen are sunk down
in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid is
their own foot taken. The Lord, as I've already read,
is known by the judgment which he executed. The wicked is snared
in the work of his own hands." Haggaion, Selah. The metaphors
here are taken from hunters who dig pits for wild animals to
fall into. They're camouflaged or covered.
Or they hide snares or traps so that they can be captured
and thereby be more easily killed. And yet, these who are referred
to as wicked in this verse, they're said to be snared by their own
traps, by the works of their own hands. You know, that principle
can certainly be applied to physical realities. I know many of you
will remember the story recorded in the Book of Esther where Haman
built gallows designed for the hanging of his enemy Mordecai
only by God's providence to end up being hung there himself on
the very gallows he had built. But I believe this passage is
speaking prophetically of those who join in the idolatry that
has been prevalent in every age, including in our age. And I'm
referring to those who adhere to the way that seems right to
a man. But as they say, as it reads
in Proverbs, it's a way that ends in death. In other words,
it's the natural religion of man. It's what seems right to
us. It is the religion of works.
That is, we're speaking of those who seek to be saved based upon
something else other than that one righteousness by which God
just so clearly tells us He's going to judge all the world.
You see, many like me in years past, they claim to be trusting
in Christ. While at the same time, like
me, they would be calling Christ their Savior. and still imagining
that Christ died for everyone, so he really didn't do any more
for those who go to hell than he did for those who go to heaven. And you know, in that blind condition,
if someone had confronted me with the obvious contradiction
that we see in the hindsight of God-given faith, if they had
come to me, you know, and said, wait a minute, you say Christ
is your Savior, But you agree a lot of folks go to hell, so
you're saying he died for everybody, then that's not your Savior,
because I didn't get the job done for a bunch of them. And
you know, I wouldn't have hesitated a beat in that blind state, as
most wouldn't today. And I'd say, oh, yeah, but you've
got to believe. Or you've got to accept Jesus. Or you've got
to get baptized. Or you've got to make a profession
of faith. Or you've got to, you've got to, you've got to. Just fill
in the blank. And listen, no matter how often
we might have invoked the name of Christ, how often you might
invoke the name of Christ as your savior, the real savior
that you're relying on is exposed by what you perceive to be God's
standard of judgment. In other words, what you think
makes the real difference in keeping you out of hell and getting
you into heaven. And for many, it's as it once
was for me. It's their act of believing.
It's their exercise of faith that is presumed to make the
difference, not the Christ they're claiming to worship and call
their savior, not his person and work alone. You know, this
religion of works, it is so pervasive in our days. This past week I
read a sign on a church here in town that typifies this. You
know, most folks get their paychecks on Friday. They're paid their
wages on Friday, and I guess in keeping with that, this little
quote was written. The sign said, if you believe
the wages of sin is death, from Romans 6, 23, if you believe
the wages of sin is death, why don't you stop before Friday?
In other words, that's a cute little quote, isn't it? In other
words, stop sinning before you die, before you eternally die. And while that was kind of an
eye-catching quote, it's so typical of the popular version of Christianity
in our day. Look, friends, if you're a sinner
and you're going to be a sinner until the day you die, you can't
stop sinning because sin is what you are. You didn't become a
sinner because you sinned. You sinned because you were born
in sin. A sinner is what you are. And
so the only difference among all these sinners, all this mass
of fallen humanity, is this. There are sinners, and there
are sinners saved by grace. As David wrote in Psalm 133,
he said, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? If you're going to charge me
with my sins, who can stand? Elsewhere he said, Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness." So I believe
the snare spoken of here in Psalm 9 is the wickedness of false
religion. Religion that, like that trap,
that snare, is often camouflaged, a hidden pit, a hidden trap,
camouflaged in the cloak of religion and scriptural terminology. Many
even call it salvation by grace. But if the standard by which
someone suggests to you you can be judged saved or lost is anything
other than or in addition to God's standard, the righteousness
of God in Christ, then know this. The psalmist here is telling
us that is wicked and it is evil in God's sight and it shall not
stand at the judgment. When I was studying this passage,
I was reminded of the words of our Lord in the Sermon on the
Mount. He said there at the beginning
of Matthew 7, Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure
ye meet, in other words, whatever your measuring stick is, okay,
it shall be measured to you again. That's how you're going to be
measured. You know, that passage is not forbidding judgment, as
so many often quote it, suggesting, oh, don't be so judgmental. But
rather it's saying to be careful how you judge. You know, in John
7, 24, our Lord actually commanded us to judge. He said, judge righteous
judgment. So here in Matthew 7, what he's
saying is that if you're intent on making some work of the sinner's
hand, something that proceeds from you, the standard by which
you judge, then so be it. That's how you're going to be
judged, according to your works. But you see, that standard of
judgment is still God's. It's still His throne of judgment.
And so, you'll be measured by your works if that's what you're
banking upon, but it'll be against the standard of a perfect righteousness
which you can never, no never, produce. You see, to persist
in imagining otherwise can be likened to being tragically caught
in your own snare by which you judge yourself and others." We
see, if you continue down in Matthew 7 in the Sermon on the
Mount there, there's that familiar passage in which our Lord said,
beginning in verse 22, many will say to me in that day, and that's
speaking of the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. Why, this
sounds like some pretty zealous, active preachers, preaching in
the name of Christ, they would be held in such wide esteem in
our day, I'm sure, empowered by God to do many wonderful works,
and yet as they approach the judgment, banking on these esteemed
works of their own hands, not Christ's righteousness alone,
look what Christ says to them, and then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
That's sin. You know, that's what sin is,
is an inequity. It's missing the mark. And he's
saying, you're working something that doesn't measure up to the
standard, you see. You're banking on something that
falls far short of the standard of righteousness. And this describes
those that I think are found among the wicked as they're referred
to in Psalm 9 verses 16 and 17. of whom it is said in verse 17,
the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that
forget God." Now, before going any further, I just want to mention
those untranslated words at the end of verse 16 leading up to
verse 17. It reads, Haggaion and Selah. These words mean pause, meditate,
solemnly stop here and consider the seriousness of the subject
because we're talking about eternity. And the psalmist here, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he's told us plainly how we're
going to all be judged. It's right here before our eyes
and he says, pause, thoughtfully and prayerfully consider this
most serious matter. And so with that suggestion,
he says here in verse 17, the wicked shall be turned into hell
and all the nations that forget God. We just saw a clear example
of the wicked, I think, those workers of iniquity, to whom
God will say, depart from me, declaring that those religious
works that they thought to be good, he declared them to be
iniquity, sin. And given that the immediate
context here is speaking of their reliance on the work of their
own hands, I believe that the wicked, as they're called here,
I don't think they're necessarily referring to those who we know
are wicked, who we typically, a serial killer, You know, some
child molester, some awful creature whose outward acts of immorality
are so clearly opposed to God and to His revealed will. But
rather, I think the context here is when he says the wicked, I
think he's referring to religious folks. Religious folks, though,
who remain hell-bent on relying upon something, clinging to something
that proceeds from them. faith, their profession, their
good works, their repentance, just something that comes from
them in contrast to those that we read about who look to Christ
and to His work alone, who flee to Him for all mercy and grace,
who are brought to rely solely upon His work of righteousness.
And it does not say of these who persist in their works religion
that they might go to hell or that they're in danger of going
to hell, but they shall be turned into hell. You see, this passage
here, this psalm is so clear. It tells us clearly what the
standard is and there's nothing iffy about any of this. But notice
the last part of that verse. It communicates that likewise,
and all the nations that forget God shall be just as surely turned
into hell. And I do believe that that warning
certainly includes all those who commit gross outward acts
of idolatry and sin and evil. Those who live like the devil,
so to speak, because we know they've put God out of their
minds. They've forgotten God. But I
also believe this would apply to those that you and I would
probably judge as good, upstanding, honest, moral folks, but who
remain indifferent or remain unconcerned, who just forget
God. in the sense that they say, I'm
going to just put all of this out of my mind. I'm not going
to deal with it. Folks who might say, look, I don't know. I figure
everything's going to come out all right in the wash. I'm not
sure about all this, and I'm really not going to put a whole
lot of effort into delving into it. I'm a pretty good person,
or so they figure. Well, look, if that describes
you here again, this clear, easily understood message of this psalm.
It's a clear message consistent with the whole of scripture.
God is not going to judge you or me or anyone else based upon
how well we stack up against some other fallen sinner. That's not the standard. From
the message set forth in this very passage, I pray that you
can see how God so clearly, plainly, unmistakably tells us he's going
to judge the world in righteousness. And as we've seen, all who truly
put their trust in Christ, they have His very righteousness accounted
unto them. You see, such are blessed by
God to have seen, been brought to see, their desperate need
for His righteousness and that alone. The very merit of Christ's
obedience unto death on the cross, and any, see, who are so blessed
with that blood-bought gift of faith, that will cause them to
look to Christ's person and work. His righteousness alone for all
of their salvation, they can thereby see, know that they're
among those for whom He died, those to whom His righteousness
has been imputed. So truly see, as the Scripture
declares, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not believe on
your believing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
His doing and His dying, and thou shalt be saved. As we read there in Psalm 911,
let us declare among the people his doings. May God so bless
you.