Okay, now, Psalm 11 this evening,
Psalm 11. It says there, Psalm of David,
a Psalm of David. David was God's king. David was
the anointed of the Lord. But David, before he was enthroned
and accepted in Judah, he was for seven years, and then all
of Israel for 33 years, and recognized as king in Hebron and in Jerusalem. But David, although he had many
blessings from the Lord, he also had much heartache, much trial,
and much trouble. The title of this message I'm
going to give this evening is The Song of the Steadfast. The
Song of the Steadfast. Charles Spurgeon, in reading
his Treasury of David, that was the title that he gave to this
psalm. The Song, the Song, S-O-N-G, of the Steadfast. Those who were
steadfast in Christ. That'll serve as the title for
this message. I think that sums up the life
of a believer. Steadfast. Steadfast unto death. Steadfast in faith. Steadfast
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some think these words
were written when David, when David, before he was actually
enthroned as king, although he was anointed by God as king,
some think these words were written when David was persecuted and
on the run. or about to run from his chief
persecutor. You remember who his chief persecutor
was? His own father-in-law, King Saul. King Saul. King Saul had
been told by God that the throne would be taken from him and given
to another. And when he found out it would
be David, he was very envious of David. He says, Here in our text, in
the Lord put I my trust. How say you to my soul, flee
as a bird to your mountain. Evidently some of David's acquaintance
advised him to flee for his safety like a terrified bird. David through all his persecutions,
and he had many, that he suffered, he suffered at the hands of these
enemies, and yet David was steadfast. David was unwavering in his resolve
to trust the Lord for all salvation, all of his safety. Turn over
here to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. He was steadfast, unwavering. in his resolve to trust the Lord. Psalm 27, look at verse 1, the
Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked,
even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumble and fail. Though a host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against
me, in this I will be confident. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble,
He will hide me. Now I want that kind of confidence,
I want that kind of faith, the faith of God's elect to trust
the Lord at all times, not just when things are going my way
seemingly, but at all times when things seem to be contrary and
going in a hard way and maybe what we would think, well it's
going the wrong way, it's not going my way, it's going God's
I guarantee you that. But to trust Him at all times.
May the Lord grant unto us. in the time of persecution, in
the time of trial, to remain steadfast in our resolve to trust
the Lord, to remain steadfast to contend for the gospel of
God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. May we not flee to the
mountain to hide from those who would persecute us over the gospel.
Rather, let us trust the Lord and let us continue to declare
His gospel. to all that will hear him. I'm reminded of the words of
the Apostle Paul while sitting in a dungeon in Rome, somehow
he got word from God to Paul back to Timothy concerning the
preaching of the gospel and he said, I charge you before God.
These are the last words of Paul, his last chapter of that second
epistle of Timothy. I charge you before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ. Preach the word. Preach Christ. Be instant, in season, out of
season. For the time will come when men
will not endure. They will not stand for the truth,
but keep preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
I don't know if you realize, maybe you have, But you know
the message of sovereign mercy in Christ Jesus and salvation
totally by the grace of God in Christ Jesus is not a popular
message. But we're not in the ministry
to be popular. God put us in the ministry to
declare the truth whether men like it or whether they hate
it. It doesn't change our message.
Whether you agree with it or whether you're in opposition
to it, it doesn't change our message. We don't preach to please
men. We're sent of God to declare
the gospel, to preach the truth. Therefore, he says in verse 1,
in the Lord, in the Lord, Jehovah, L-O-R-D, capital, in Jehovah
my Savior put I my trust. How would you say to me or why
would you say to me, to my soul, just flee away as a bird? Run
away and hide. Discompromise. Give in. How would you say that to me?
You see what's going on here? And the Lord put I my trust. This is the believer's desire,
is it not? To trust the Lord at all times. Turn back to Psalm
7 verse 1. to trust the Lord at all times.
Psalm 7, verse 1, O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust. Save me. Turn over here to Psalm
16, verse 1. It's all through the Psalms,
all through the Word of God. This is the believer's desire.
Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust in thee, in thee. It's
not said I have, it's not said I will, but rather I do trust
him at all times. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is always active, ongoing, and present. It's looking unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's coming unto Him. In my heart,
by faith, we continually come unto Him. It's looking to Him. It's trusting Him right now.
Indeed, do I put my trust. To whom else can we trust but
God who is God? Notice this, in Him, in the Lord
I trust, in Him I trust, not self, not my own heart, not my
righteousness, not my works, not my deed, not my doing, but
rather in Him, I look to Him to provide all things for us,
His providence to watch over us and His power to save us. This is what faith is, trusting
Him. Someone said faith stands for
this. You ever heard this? F-A-I-T-H. What does that stand for? Forsaking
all, I trust Him. That's it. The faith of God's
elect doesn't look in here. The faith of God's elect is objective,
not subjective. It looks to Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Finds all salvation in Him. It's
God who saved us. and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose
and grace, giving us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now as we read in verse 1, some advised David to flee like a
trembling, wandering, helpless bird who would wander from nest
to nest, from place to place, instead of trusting the Lord.
This must have disgusted David. As he says there, how do you
say to my soul, flee away? How would you say that? Why would
you say that? This must have disgusted David.
This must have disheartened him that someone would suggest that
he would melt away and not stand and fight. David would rather
dare the danger than to exhibit distrust in the Lord his God. Now listen to this, through the
life of a believer, some of you have been around longer than
I have, through the life of a believer and also in the life of a minister,
a public minister, one who stands for the gospel of God's grace,
there are times when it might have been easier to flee from
trouble rather than to stand and contend and fight for the
gospel. But we must not compromise the
truth in order to get along. Those who hate God and those
who are God-haters, we must not compromise God's Word, God's
truth. We must trust Him at all times
and contend for the gospel that was once delivered unto the saints. That's what it says in the book
of Jude. We're to contend for the gospel. There is no room
or reason for retreat. None at all. You remember on
the occasion when the Lord Jesus Christ was arrested right outside
the garden, or maybe in that garden in Gethsemane, and when
those who came from the chief priests and the captains of the
temple and all those soldiers came with swords and staves and
clubs to take the Lord Jesus by force? Remember what he said? He didn't run away and flee to
the mountain. This is the greater David. He stood right face to
face with the enemy and said, whom do you seek? And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. Remember what he said? I am. Remember what happened? They
fell flat. They fell out backwards. Oh,
I tell you, I want that kind of courage. I want that kind
of boldness. We need that in this day. If
there's ever a day when God's saints and God's elect need to
stand up for the gospel, it is today. There's so much compromise
going on. I don't think there is among
God's sheep, God's preachers, but there's so many who call
themselves, we've run into this recently, haven't we? There's
so many who call themselves grace preachers. who don't know anything
about preaching Christ, who is the sovereign King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. They're religious, they have
all their religious trimmings, all their religious activities,
but there's no gospel preaching. Sad, but it is true. Now, look at verse 2 of Psalm
11. Reasons are stated, given to
David, why maybe he should consider fleeing. from harm's way. He said in verse 2, it's recorded,
for lo, the wicked bend their bow. Now I'm sure that has direct
reference to King Saul, who was Israel's first king, and he was
not a good king, he was a wicked man. He was a wicked man, just
no doubt about it, and he died a horrible death. For lo, the
wicked bend their bow, they make ready the arrow upon the string,
that they may in a sneaky way, in a way of conniving, to privily
shoot at the upright in heart, to shoot him in the heart. The
wicked, the wicked, the wicked. As I said, I'm sure this has
reference to David's own family, King Saul, who hated him. And
he hunted him. He hunted him like a man would
go out and hunt a bird. As a matter of fact, it says
that in 1 Samuel 26, 20. David speaking to Saul said,
why do you come out after me like a flea? Why do you hunt
me like a partridge, like a bird? It's recorded in 1 Samuel 23,
9. David knew that Saul secretly
practiced mischief against him. the wicked plot and plan. They
devised mischief against those who were upright in heart. They
would shoot, they would, those who hate the gospel of God, grace. They would love to see a believer
stumble and fall. They would delight in the shortcomings
of a man who calls himself a believer. They would delight to see the
upright stumble. They would. the wicked plot and plan and
devise mischief against God's saints, against those who trust
the Lord alone for all of salvation. We've seen that all through,
you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Who are those who plotted
and planned to put the Lord Jesus Christ out of business, to end
his ministry? It wasn't those It wasn't the
harlots. It wasn't those bow-wicked sinners. It was the self-righteous, self-centered,
loving Pharisees who hated the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says
that they went out and held a council how they might destroy Him. They plot and plan. You read
through the book of Acts. And how this same self-righteous
crowd, these Judaizers, these old Jews who hated salvation
by grace, how they conspired against the apostles to end their
ministry, to put them out of business. In our day, we should
not expect less. Should we? You take a stand,
a public stand. I'm talking at work, I'm talking
at school, I'm talking among your family, in your neighborhood,
where you worship, you take a public stand, an uncompromising stand
for the gospel of God's grace, and the God-haters those who
are opposed to salvation in Christ Jesus alone. The God-haters will
always load their bow to shoot you in the heart to put you out
of business. Those who dare believe and preach
the gospel of God's grace expect trouble. Expect trouble. Our Lord said, this world hates
me, and they will hate you. Don't try to get along with them.
Don't try to compromise, or don't, I know you won't, but don't even
think about compromising. Oh, just trim the message a little
bit. Just tone it down a little bit, preacher. Don't be quite
so offensive. Don't tell sinners that they're,
you know, call them maybe depraved, but don't say they're totally
depraved and dead in sin. Just, you know, cut it back a
little bit. Compromise a little bit. Try to get along. Pat them
on the back. Pat them on the head. Say, you're
okay. I'm okay. No, we're not okay. We're going
to hell in a heartbeat unless God does something for us. Look at verse 3. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can we do? Thank God they're not destroyed,
they're established. But if the foundation be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Vital question here, isn't it?
If the foundation of God's gospel, God's word, God's truth and justice
be destroyed, be overturned, be overruled, what about the
Supreme Court? in our land, where they went
out and held a council and said, well, you know, we're just going
to overturn the gospel. We're just going to put an end
to it. My friend, the word of God and the foundations of God's
gospel stands forever. Nothing can overturn it. Nothing
can overrule it. What could the believer possibly
do? Where could he go? Who could he trust? It's the
foundations, if we have no foundation to stand upon. If the foundation
be destroyed, what could we do? Thank God they're not. Thank
God they cannot be. Thanks be unto God for the foundation
of God's decrees, his gospel, that eternal truth can never
be overturned, can never be altered. Look right across the page, Psalm
12, verse 6, the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver
tried in the furnace of earth. They're purified seven times.
God will keep His truth. He will keep His Word. Malachi 3, 6 declares, I am the
Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob, you're not consumed because God doesn't change. The
foundations of God's Word, His truth, His gospel does not change.
It cannot change. Our Lord said in Matthew 16,
I'll build my church in the gates of hell, shall not prevail against
my church. I like this scripture. I like
all of them, but this is a special one to me. Second Timothy 2.19,
nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, the Lord knows them that are his. No other name under heaven. given
among men, whereby we must be saved." Thank God His foundations
cannot be destroyed, therefore the righteous, they have that
foundation of Christ, the solid rock, the foundation that God
had laid in Zion to rest upon. Now in verses 4 down to verse
7, verses 4 down to verse 7, David declares the reasons of
his steadfast confidence and unflinching courage and strong
faith. In verses 4 down to verse 7. 4, 5, 6, and 7. Now here's the
first thing. The Lord. The Lord. That's our confidence. That's
our foundation. The Lord. 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 is in His holy temple. Not a temple made with hands.
God is eternal. God is everywhere. The heaven
of heavens cannot contain Him. God is not in the universe. Did
you know that? The universe is in Him. He inhabits
all eternity. He has neither beginning of days
nor end of life. He is in the heavenly sanctuary
ruling and reigning over all things. The Lord is in His holy
temple. He's on His throne. Turn over
here to Psalm 115. Remember the heathen came to
David on another occasion. Psalm 115. Verse 1, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, for
thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? Where's your God, David? Here's
the answer. Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Our God's in the heavens.
As such, he rules and reigns over all things. Here's another
reference that we've read a time or two, Psalm 135, turn over
there. Psalm 135, verse 5, I know that the Lord is great, that
our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleases,
that did He in heaven, in earth, in the sea, in all deep places. Whatsoever the Lord pleases,
that's what He does. We can trust Him. The Lord is
in His holy temple, as such He rules and reigns over all. The second thing, the Lord is
not only in His holy temple, but also reigning upon His holy
throne. The Lord's throne is in the heaven,
is in heaven. Nothing can be done in heaven
or on earth which He does not ordain, which He does not overrule. You remember that statement made
in Daniel 4, 35 by Nebuchadnezzar, when God taught him who God is,
He does according to His will among the He does according to His will
and among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth and none can stay His hand and none can say unto
Him, Lord God Almighty, what doest thou? He rules and reigns
in heaven and in earth over all things. Therefore, why should
we fear and flee? God is in charge. God rules. God reigns. Instead of flight,
instead of flight, And fleeing, let us stand and fight the good
fight of faith. God is on the throne. God is
in the heavens. He rules over all. Thirdly is
this, found also in verse 4, his eyes behold. He sees everything. He's not only omnipotent and all everywhere present, he
knows all things. He's omniscient. His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children
of men. He beholds all things. He searches
all things out. There's nothing hid from Him.
Turn over here to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. God knows all things. He knows
all. Psalm 139. O Lord, Thou hast
searched me and known me. Thou hast searched me and known
me, Psalm 139 verse 1. Thou knowest my down sittings,
my up rising. Thou understandest my thought
of far off. Thou compass my path, my lying
down, and art acquainted with all my way. For there is not
a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. You've set me behind and before.
You've laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high I cannot attain. Where
can I flee from its presence? I can't. He is everywhere. He
is everywhere. God sees each man as much as
perfectly as can be as if there were no other creature in the
universe but one. He sees each person fully and
truly. The eternal watcher never slumbers
nor sleeps. The Lord carefully watches over
his own much more than a loving father or a loving mother over
that small child. You always have an eye on that
child, don't you? A loving father and loving mother
always has an eye on that little child. How much more does your
heavenly father care for you? He always watches over his children. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try the children of man. Here's something else, look at
verse five. The Lord trieth the righteous, the Lord trieth the
righteous, but the wicked in him that loveth violence his
soul hateth. The Lord tries the righteous.
He does not hate them, but he does try them because they are
precious unto him. He had one son without sin, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has none without sorrow. He
was a man of sorrow acquainted with grief. The Lord tries the
righteous. He does try them because they're
precious unto Him. Therefore He refines them in
His furnace of affliction. Whom the Lord loves, He does
chastise." Think it not a strange thing, Peter writes, when these
fiery trials come upon you, but count it a joy. that you suffer
at the hand of God for the cause of God and His truth? I thought
about this. We studied this morning at home,
2 Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul talks about all the things
that he has suffered for the gospel. You remember? Beating
of the Jews, beating of the Romans, stoned, shipwrecked, all that
list that he gives, a very exhaustive list. And I thought about that.
How this man must have been loved of the Lord, because he was sent
chastisement after chastisement and trial after trial from the
hand of his loving Father. And you wonder why this man suffered
so, and then ended his life in a Roman dungeon, suffering two
years imprisonment, and then being executed on the count of
the gospel. How this man must have been loved
of God. I thought also about something
that Luther said years ago, when he was suffering so severely
for the gospel, And he made the statement, some of you may remember
reading this, I read it somewhere years ago. And he said, strike
on Lord, strike on. I know now that you love me.
Strike on. He suffered so at the hand of
his master. The Lord does try the righteous.
Therefore we trust him. He knows what we need in the
time that we need to be corrected. David said, it's good for me
to be afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Where is that? Psalm 119, didn't
it turn over there? Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I've got it written down here,
verse 71. I trust that it is. Yes, it is.
Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 71, and then also verse 75. It is good for me that I have
been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Notice verse
75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments
are right, and that thou in your faithfulness has afflicted me. We should not shun the trial,
for when doing so, We are seeking to avoid the blessing. Strike
on, Lord. Strike on. I remember when Pastor
Mahan's daughter, Becky, was stricken with cancer, same age
as my wife. And when she was about 42, 43
years old, she was stricken with severe cancer, lived just a short
time after that. But she would often use this
statement, Thou in thy faithfulness has afflicted me. I trust we
can say that by His grace. So we can trust Him. Now, here's
the fifth thing. Back to our text, Psalm 11. The
wicked, the wicked and the man that loves violence, it says
God's soul hates. The wicked and that man who loves
violence, violence against God, violence against the gospel.
His soul hates, hates. God hates all the workers of
iniquity. You remember that sermon that
Jonathan Edwards preached years ago? Get a copy of it. You know, sinners in the hands
of an angry God, Jonathan Edwards, get a hold of that sometime and
read it. It's on the internet, you can listen to it in the audio
form. Do you know I found that sermon
in my daughter's English book when she was in high school?
They used to teach that as a part of American literature. My soul, they wouldn't even think,
even consider putting something like that in a textbook in our
day. I'd be shocked if you could find it. Sinner's in the hands
of an angry God. Well, I thought God loved everybody. No, he doesn't. The love of God's
in Christ Jesus. I had a man tell me recently,
said, you know, this is a man who stayed with us there in Pikeville
for about eight or nine years, and finally didn't see anything
in the gospel, and he told me he had to have more, and he left.
He left the gospel, but he made this one statement. He said,
you know, when you consider those doctrines of grace, those five
points of grace, he said, you know, there's no love in them.
I said, oh, you're wrong. His electing love. He loved us
and gave himself for us. And he draws us with what? Everlasting
love. And we persevere because he loves
us. Oh, you see those truths of God's
word, and even in the fall of Adam, we see the love of God
manifested to sinners, don't we? So it's a flimsy argument,
but he was trying to make an argument and give me reasons
why he should leave. Well, you know, leave. You need
something else, you want something else, leave. Since God hates
those who hate the gospel, why should we fear them? Since their
judgment is certain and sure, why should we flee from them?
Notice their terrible end in verse 6. Upon the wicked he shall
reign snares, fire, brimstone, and a horrible tempest. What
a horrible end. What a horrible end to the wicked.
What a horrible end. This shall be the portion of
their cup. This is exactly what they've
got coming to them. The wages of sin is death. Not
a drop of mercy, but a cup full of God's holy anger and wrath
against their sin. Why should we fear the wicked?
Their doom is certain and sure. Look at verse 7. Here's the sixth
thing that he mentions here. The righteous Lord loveth the
righteous. Oh, he hates the wicked. But
the Lord, the righteous Lord, loveth the righteous. His countenance
doth behold the upright in heart. The righteous Lord loveth the
righteous, or those who are righteous in Christ. The Father is well
pleased with the Son, The Father loveth the Son, and giveth all
things into his hand. The Lord speaks from heaven and
says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He
is well pleased for his righteousness' sake, and well pleased with those
who are in his Son, by covenant mercy, by electing love. That
which is true of Christ is true of those who are in him. That
which is true of the head is true of the body. The Lord is
well pleased for his righteousness' sake, He will magnify the law
and make it honorable, Isaiah 42, 21. In Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ
believers stand complete. The Lord, the righteous Lord,
loveth the righteous. He loves righteousness. In closing,
His countenance doth behold the upright." The wicked, they want
to shoot at the upright. His countenance doth behold the
upright. What a difference. His countenance
is His face. He does behold His people. The
Lord takes delight in His people. He looks upon them with pleasure.
God does approve of His own. God does approve of His own.
What does it matter If men oppose, God does approve of His own.
These words we find in 1 Peter 3, For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
But the faith of the Lord is against them that do evil. What
an encouragement to the Lord's people, not to flee, but to remain
steadfast in the faith. As I said earlier, there is no
room or reason for retreat. It's onward. Onward. in God's name. Someone wrote these words. The
Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Onward. Steadfast in the faith. Earnestly contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. In the Lord put on my trust. How say you to my soul? Flee
away. Oh no. Let us stand and contend
for the gospel. God bless you. God bless His
Word.