Take me to Psalm 52. If I was going to give this psalm
a title, I would entitle it the goodness of God. The goodness
of God. Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually. It's all the time. It's nonstop. It's with regard to everything. Thy tongue deviseth mischief
like a sharp razor. Working deceitfully, thou lovest
evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest all devouring
words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of living. The righteous also shall see
and fear and shall laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that made
not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. I will praise thee forever because
thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name for
it is good before thy saints. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. We ask that you would teach us
of thy goodness in the person of thy dear son. We pray that
we might be enabled to hear your gospel. We pray that your gospel
would be preached and that you would give everybody hearing
ears. Lord, we confess our sin. We
confess our weakness. We pray for forgiveness, cleansing
and strength. We pray for your. Healing hand
upon those of our number that are sick. We pray for your blessing
upon them according to your will. We. Thank you for who you are. Would
you make yourself known for Christ's sake? Be with all your people
wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now notice in the title, and
these titles are inspired, it's part of the inspiration to the
chief musician. This was to be a psalm for public
worship, a mascal, a psalm of instruction, a psalm of David.
David wrote this, when Doag the Edomite came and told Saul and
said unto him, David has come to the house of Himelech. Now
this was the setting of this passage of scripture and this
is important for us to understand. He tells us why he wrote this
psalm. Now the setting was when David
was fleeing from Saul and he came into the town of Nob. You
can read about this in 1 Samuel chapter 22, where Ahimelech was
the priest. And you remember when the Lord
taught that he was the Lord of the Sabbath, and he talked about
David coming in on the Sabbath day and asking for bread, and
the priest giving it to him, and it was okay, and it was to
teach that he's the Lord of the Sabbath, he's in control of everything. Well, there was a man by the
name of Doeg, Ahimelech gave David and his men, gave him the
sword of Goliath, and they gave him the priest's bread to eat.
And they ate of that bread. And there was a man there that
watched this by the name of Doeg. And Doeg came to Saul at that
time and said, Ahimelech aided David. He gave him Goliath's
sword and he fed these men. So Saul comes to Ahimelech. and
confronts him about it. He said, you're a traitor. The
way you have done me, you're a traitor. And he had Doeg kill
85 priests, murdered in cold blood by this man, Doeg. And that is the setting of David
writing this song. Let me read what David said in
1 Samuel chapter 22, beginning in verse 20, and one of the sons
of Ahimelech, the son of Iatab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled
unto David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar,
I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would surely tell Saul. I've occasioned the death of
all the persons of thy father's house." He said, this is because
of me. Abide thou with me, fear not,
for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life. But with me thou shalt
be in safeguard. Now this mighty man he's referring
to is Doeg, and he's saying this really in sarcasm when he calls
him a mighty man. Now, look what he says. Why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? You've got a problem. And here's what your problem
is, the goodness of God. Now, people don't generally think
of the goodness of God as a problem, do they? But what David is saying
to Doeg, God's good and you're not. You've got a problem. The goodness of God is not going
to suffer you to live. Now that is what he's saying,
because God is so good. Here's what your end is going
to be. Look in verse five. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of the dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. Why is God going to do this?
Because God is good. And that's not usually when people
think about the goodness of God, they just think of good things
happening to them and him not letting them suffer and all those
kind of things. God's good. He wouldn't let that
happen. Now, this mighty man that he's speaking of, Doeg,
and like I said, he's using sarcasm, You're boasting yourself in evil
and in spite of your boasting, you're in trouble because of
the goodness of God. God only is good. Let me repeat that, God only
is good. I think of when the rich young
ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he didn't know the
Lord Jesus Christ was God, the God-man. He said, good master,
what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the
Lord knew he was just addressing me as a man. He said, why are
you calling me good? There's none good but one, God. the goodness of God. Now somebody says, well, how
could a good God let 85 priests be murdered? Somebody's thinking
that. Let me tell you this, that was
the best day of their life. They came directly into the presence
of the Lord if they were truly his priests. That's the best
day of their life. So don't say God wasn't good.
Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was. You see, everything God does
is good because he is good. The goodness of God. Do you remember
when Moses said, I beseech you, show me your glory? And how did
he answer? I'll make all my goodness to
pass before you. Now, goodness is an attribute
of God. Just like all of God's attributes
are holy, All of God's attributes are good. His love is a good
love. His power is a good power. His wisdom is a good wisdom. His wrath is a good wrath. His justice is a good justice. Every attribute of God is good
because he is good. Now somebody says, how do you
know that? Because the Bible says it. All of our knowledge of God comes from the
word of God. He said the goodness of God abides
continually. It is all the time. There's never
a time when God is not good. Everything is according to his
good purpose. Now, he is originally good. That means
he's good in and of himself. He is essentially good. He is
the essence of goodness. He's infinitely good. He's immeasurably
good. He's eternally good, and He's
immutably good. You know what that means? He
cannot be more good than He is, and He can't be less good than
He is. That is the goodness of God. He's good, and this is what He's
made Himself, this is the way He's made Himself known to us.
as the good God. God is good. I'm amazed. No, I shouldn't say I'm amazed.
I'm not amazed. Men are always calling into question
God's goodness. How could God let this happen?
How could God let that happen? Listen, God's good. You're to
believe that. From his word, God's good. And
to set in judgment on God, let me assure you this. I can say
this to me and you. God's good, me and you aren't.
You believe that? God is good. Me and you are not
good. Only one is good, and that is
God. Everything that emanates from
him is good. Everything he does is good, and
that's why we have this blessed promise in Romans 8, 28, and
we know that all things work together for good. Now, you and I lack the ability. Now, let me finish that verse. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to his purpose. Now, there's so much glorious
about God. But one of the glorious things
with regard to God is he always brings good out of evil. Now only God can do that. Only
God can do that. And God always does that. And the great example is the
cross. What's the most evil thing to ever take place? Men murdering
the son of God out of hatred toward him and nailing him to
a tree. What's the most glorious thing that ever took place? The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He fully glorified his father.
He completely saved his people by what he did. Now, there we
have the most evil thing to ever take place and the most glorious
thing. to ever take place. God brings
good out of evil. And whatever happens, I mean,
there's so much sadness in this world. There's so much heartache.
There's so many, quote, bad things. There's so many evil things. By faith, I know that God brings
good out of evil. Trust him. Trust Him. He is worthy of complete trust. That doesn't mean we're indifferent
towards the horrible things that happen, even in our life or somebody
else's. But trust Him. God, in His glory,
brings good out of evil. Now, I love the way he says this.
Doeg, what are you boasting about in your evil and your mischief?
The goodness of God is continual. It's nonstop. And that's where
your problem is. God is good. Verse two, he talks about Doeg. Thy tongue, and this is the way
every natural man is, thy tongue diviseth mischiefs evil, like
a sharp razor working deceitfully. That's why a good God is going
to punish you, Doeg. You know, I've got to say this. I hope I can say it with the
right attitude and the right spirit. But when Doeg is sent
to hell and anybody else is sent to hell who are described like
this, the last thing they are going to hear is the applause
to God of all creation for putting him into hell. Now, we can't
understand that now, but one of these days, when God sends
somebody to hell, all of those who are not there will be applauding
him for his absolute goodness in doing so. Now, let me repeat,
we can't really enter into that. If God sends somebody I love
to hell right now, I can't even stand the thought of it. But
the time is coming when I have a glorified mind, and I'm looking
at everything from God's perspective rather than my own. At that time,
everything God does, all of his people will applaud. And Doeg,
he says, your day's coming. Verse three, he says with regard
to Doeg, and this is true with regard to every natural man,
this is me by nature and you by nature. Thou lovest evil more
than good. What a statement. And that's,
you and I were born that way. Loving evil more than good. Look in Psalm 53, the next Psalm,
we'll look at this next week, Lord willing. The fool has said
in his heart, Notice that there is no God. This is not talking
about an atheist. He says no to God. Corrupt are
they? There's none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and did seek God. Every one of
them is gone back. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Now that's God's
description. of me and you, and Doeg. Doeg loves evil more than good,
and he prefers lying than to speak righteousness. Now, somebody
like that ought to be in hell, shouldn't they? Shouldn't they? God's justice,
God's goodness, placing somebody under his wrath because of that.
He says in verse four, thou lovest all devouring, destructive words,
slanderous words, O thou deceitful tongue. Remember David saying, when I
saw Doeg, I knew what he was going to do. And look at this
description of man's tongue. And now David talks about what
God's goodness is going to do to Doeg. God shall likewise destroy
thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. That is your end doing. Now look what he says in verse
six. The righteous also shall see,
and fear, and shall laugh at him." Now, that's unusual language,
isn't it? The righteous shall see. They're
going to see what God does to Doeg. They're going to fear,
and this is the fear of God that's the beginning of wisdom. They're
going to be afraid when they see what he does to Doeg, and
they are going to laugh at Doeg. Now, that almost seems cruel,
doesn't it? laughing at his destruction,
yet the scripture says the righteous will laugh. Now the first thing
that we have to understand is who are these righteous people?
The righteous shall laugh. Now, if you read Psalm 51, we
considered that last week. David did not consider himself
a righteous person in and of himself. I mean, that's his great
psalm of the confession of his sin. And if you would have asked
David if he was righteous, he'd say, no, I was shaping an iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. All I've ever done is sin, and
there's nothing I can do to make that right. So who are these
righteous people that he's speaking of? We'll turn back to Psalm
32. Verse one, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered, blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Righteous people are people that
God does not impute their sin unto them. Their sin's been covered by the
blood of Christ. And look at Paul's comment on
this in Romans chapter 4. Hold your finger there in Psalm
52 and look what Paul says in Romans chapter 4. He is quoting David at this time. And he says in verse 6, even
as David describeth also the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputeth, righteousness without works saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, who are
these righteous people? They are people who God does
not impute their sin to. Now, somebody says, how could
that be fair? How could that be right? Christ bore their sin. And the only way my sin can be
not imputed to me, because I did it, is if it was given to Christ
and Christ became guilty of that sin. And God punished Christ
as guilty on Calvary's tree when my sin became his. He wasn't
punishing the innocent. He was punishing the guilty.
and his perfect righteousness, his glorious righteousness is
given to me so that it really is mine. He hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now that's who these righteous
people are. God hadn't imputed their sin to them. They were
sinful in and of themselves, but not in Christ. absolutely
without guilt. Now, you can think, well, how
could that be fair? It's the most fair thing in the
world. It's glorious. It's righteous. It's holy. It's the goodness
of God in operation. Oh, God's good. And it's his
goodness that damns a man. It's his goodness that saves
a man. Whatever God does is good. I love him for that, don't you? The righteous, verse six, those
that God has made righteous. And if you're a righteous person,
you know what you know? You know the only reason you're righteous
is God made you so with the righteousness of his son. You, I don't have
to convince any believer of that. You know, the only righteousness
you have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteous
also shall see. They're going to see what happens
to Doeg. They'll fear. Fearing God. and they shall laugh at him. And here's what they're gonna
say while they laugh. Lo, this is the man that made not God
his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and
strengthened himself in his wickedness. Now, what this is referring to
is not a laugh of cruelty. It's talking about the laugh
of seeing how insane is it for a man to trust his works to be
saved. Why, that's crazy. That's laughable. Any man. the trust in the abundance
of his riches. He thinks that's going to help
him before God, the trust in his works. And he thinks that's
going to help him before God. Why? That's contemptible. That's
laughable. That's, it's just so wrong on
every level. And the righteous, well, you
know, the scripture speaks of God laughing at the wicked too.
in Proverbs chapter one, and this is revelation. And when
the righteous see this take place, it says, lo, the righteous shall
laugh at him. How insane is this? Lo, this
is the man that made not God his strength, but he looked to
his own strength. Isn't that insane? Isn't that
crazy? He trusted in the abundance of
his riches, what he had. And while he strengthened himself,
all he was doing was strengthening himself in his wickedness. And
truly, anything other than salvation
being all of grace, all in Christ, God doing it all, it's insane.
It's crazy. Now he says, but. You know, God's grace always
begins with a but, doesn't it? But, but God. If you're different,
it's not but you, it's but God. But, I am like a green olive
tree in the house of God. Now who is the house of God?
Jesus Christ. He's talking about being in Christ.
He's not just talking about being in a temple. He's talking about
being in Jesus Christ. I'm like a green living olive
tree in the house of God. That's all my salvation is being
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him. When he's talking about
being in the house of God, he's talking about being in Christ.
And all my life, all my health comes from being in Christ. I'm
like a green olive tree in the house of God. And here's what
I'm trusting. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. Here's who I trust. Him who is merciful. Now, let me remind you, and we're
going to see this in the next verse, that's not just talking
about some kind of general mercy. Most people, when they think
of dying, they think, well, I hope God will be merciful. I know
I've got mistakes. I know I've done sins. I know
I've done bad things. But my hope is that God will
be merciful. If that's what your hope it is,
no, he won't. Let me assure you, he won't. God's just. The mercy is in Christ Jesus. Now, God will not give you what
you deserve, and that's what mercy is, isn't it? If God gave
me what I deserved, what I earned, I'll be in hell. You will too,
in and of yourself. God's mercy is given in Christ. All of God's favor, all of God's
salvation, all of God's mercy is in Christ. It's for his sake.
Now let me say this about mercy. You only need mercy if your sin
is all your fault. If your sin is all your fault,
you know what you need? Mercy. Now, if it's somebody
else's fault, if you're a victim, If it's Adam's fault who got
you into this mess, if it's your parents' fault the way they raised
you, if it's your circumstances' fault, you don't need mercy,
you need justice, don't you? But if all your sin is all your
fault, you need mercy. And that's all you will ask for. That's what David says. He says,
this man trusted in the abundance of his riches, Here's all I have,
the mercy of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. Now verse nine, I will praise
thee forever because thou hast done it. Salvation by works is due. Here's
what you need to do to get things straightened up. Do, do, do. Salvation by grace is thou hast
done it. What were the words of the Lord
from the cross? It is finished. It is done. My salvation is already done
by what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. I will wait on thy name. His
name is his attributes. I will wait on thy name. You know, when my name is called
on judgment day, I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to
wait on his name to speak for me. I will wait on thy name for
it, his name, his name. His name represents the person
behind the name, his attributes, his character. For I will wait
on thy name for it is good. It's good. Before all the saints,
the sanctified ones, that's every believer. Every believer, they're
all in agreement right here. God is good. Everything with
regard to him is good. Now, Doeg. You boast yourself
in your mischief, you've got a problem. God is good. Thank the Lord for his goodness.