WWUTT 949 In the Lord I Take Refuge?

Life is hard, and times get difficult, but God is good. We rely upon His Word day by day, for in this

Word we have the promises of God that He will deliver us when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the Psalms. Psalm chapter 11 is where I am today, if you want to open up your

Bible and join with me there. I said last week that I'll be picking up the pace a little bit as we go through the

Psalms, and we'll do that today, getting through a few of them here. I'll start in Psalm 11, beginning in verse 1.

To the Lord I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain?

For behold, the wicked bend the bow. They have fitted the arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple.

The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man.

The Lord tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let Him rain coals on the wicked. Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteous deeds. The upright shall behold

His face. Right at the start of the Psalm, David says, In the Lord I take refuge.

Our enemies will come upon us. The stresses of this life will weigh us down, but the

Lord is our safety. You might consider Him a harbor in the midst of the storm. The ships are safe there.

They'll still get rocked. They'll still get beat up a little bit, but they won't be dashed upon the rocks. They won't find themselves adrift at sea.

We are safe in the Lord. And so it is in Him that we take refuge, as though we were entering into a castle with high fortified walls.

The enemy would beat against the outside, and yet the fortress remains. He is our stronghold in the midst of trouble.

We can rest in His promises. We can be lifted up by His assurances, the hope that we have of the gospel.

What can man do to me? For in Christ there is no condemnation.

No one can take from us what has been promised to us in Christ by our

God, sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. Now life is still going to be difficult, and we're going to go through tough stuff.

I don't ever want to paint the picture leading anybody to believe that life is supposed to be easy, or even that relationships are supposed to be easy.

The relationships that you have with other people are with other sinners, so it's going to be hard.

There is going to be drama. But we must show grace to one another, as the

Lord our God has shown grace to us, even when it comes to showing grace to our enemies. Jesus said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Romans chapter 12, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. So we don't have any right to hold any kind of grudge against anyone, especially a brother or sister in the

Lord. For as we are instructed in Colossians chapter 3, forgive. If anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other.

As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

If you can't forgive, if you want to hold bitterness and grudges against other people, you are running the risk of realizing that you may have never had the grace of God in the first place.

If you're not giving grace, you don't have grace. Jesus even made such a statement in Matthew chapter 6 at the end of the

Lord's Prayer. If you will not forgive others their sins, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your sins.

And that plays into this, what we're reading here in Psalm chapter 11. We are being tested regularly.

The Lord God even tests the righteous, as David says in this Psalm. In the

Lord I take refuge. He is our security. Everything else in the world is going to be in constant disarray and disruption.

But the Lord is our steadfast strength. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain?

Now this question is being assumed, not actually being asked. So you don't have to ask me to flee to the mountain of God.

I am going to flee to the mountain of God because he's my refuge. This world is crazy. God is my refuge.

Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow. They have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

Now shoot in the dark is interesting because of course the wicked are in the dark. We have those constant contrasts between light and darkness all the way through the

Scriptures. The wicked are in the darkness. The righteous are in the light. But I think there's probably also a picture here of the wicked shooting blindly.

So it may not even be at a particular person, it's just the righteous in general are going to feel the sharpest effects of those who do wicked because the wicked are probably not even aware of their sin, where the righteous are going to feel the aftereffects of that regularly, day by day.

The wickedness, the sinfulness, the fallenness of this world that causes us to cry out,

Lord Jesus come quickly so I don't have to endure this fallen place anymore. So they have shot their arrow in the dark at the upright in heart.

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? But remember, the

Lord is our refuge. We don't need to fear the destruction of our foundation if we are in Christ.

The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven, meaning that it is way up above and beyond all the chaos that's going on here on earth.

His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

So his eyes see, eyelids test. So whenever you're looking intently at something, how you squint, right?

That's kind of the picture that I see in this. His eyes are always searching and his eyelids, like when his eyes get squinty and he's deliberately examining something.

Of course, this is personification. God doesn't literally have eyes and eyelids, but he is, he's looking at the children of man to test them.

The Lord tests the righteous. Verse five, we are being tested day by day. But this testing that we receive is to test whether or not our faith is genuine.

If your faith endures through this trial, you have a genuine faith. But if you are ready to fold and give up in the midst of this trial, you probably don't have faith.

You have a passing opinion. You've got a religion that serves a certain purpose for you for a period of time, but it certainly doesn't do anything for you in the midst of this trial.

So you're ready to give it up, throw it out. I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to follow my own way. I'm not going to keep the commandments of God because they're not satisfying to me.

They're just not enough for me. You know, going back to what we read yesterday in John 14, 15, Jesus saying to his disciples, if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

And if we refuse to follow the commands of God, it's because you don't love God. You must take that consideration very, very seriously that in the midst of a trial, in the midst of a circumstance, we would still be able to cry out

Abba Father in the midst of this. That's what this trial is meant to do for us, to draw us closer to God, to cling to him, to make us more like Christ.

The apostle Paul said in second Corinthians chapter one, that he and his missionary brethren had suffered so much when they were going through Asia, they thought that they had received the sentence of death.

But Paul said this was to make us rely more on God who raises the dead.

You feel like you're going through something and you're as good as dead in the midst of this circumstance, this thing that you're going through now, put your faith in Christ because this thing that you're going through is meant to draw you closer to God who raises the dead.

This thing is transient. It's passing away. It's not going to last. It will eventually be over.

You might be going through something so serious, you can't even see the end of it right now, but it will end. I promise you it will end.

It might end you, but it's still going to end. And what we have on the other side, if we cling steadfastly to Christ and we know that he is our deliverer and he is delivering us out of this sinful world, he is delivering us out of the judgment of God and he is delivering us into his perfect imperishable kingdom.

If we know that, then no matter what it is that we're going through in this life, it can't even hold a candle to the joy that awaits us if we endure to the end.

This trial is meant to draw you closer to Christ. And this is what the scriptures mean when it says that the

Lord even tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let him rain coals down on the wicked. I made a reference to Romans chapter 12, that vengeance is mine, saith the

Lord. Instead, if your enemy is hungry, give him food. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head.

This isn't just to make the guy feel guilty so that he's going, oh, well, see, I treated you mean, you're treating me so nice, well, then

I'm going to start treating you nice because I'm feeling guilty all of a sudden. That's not what that intends. Where Paul says that by doing kindness to your enemy, you're raining hot coals upon his head, you are bringing judgment upon him.

Because if he continues to persist in sin and rebellion against God, even though you have shown him the kindness of God, then the judgment of God will fall on him.

And this in the context of Paul having said in Romans 12, repeating the line from the

Old Testament, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. So the Lord rains coals on the wicked.

This is a metaphor, a symbol of judgment. Coals, hot coals raining from heaven on the wicked, fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup, the cup of God's wrath.

For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteous deeds. The upright shall behold his face.

In First Corinthians chapter 13, it says, Now we see as though through a glass darkly, but soon we will see face to face.

There are pictures, images of God that we see now through his holy word. But once we enter into glory, we will see him face to face and then we will see him as he is because we will be made to be like him.

As it says in First John three to Psalm 12, now save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart.

They speak. May the Lord cut off all the flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts.

Those who say with our tongue, we will prevail. Our lips are with us. Who is master over us?

Because the poor are plundered, because the needy grown, I will now arise, says the

Lord. I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side, the wicked prowl as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

So you see here that among the people of the world, wickedness is celebrated.

But those who fear the Lord desire his righteousness and will walk upright. Psalm 12, starting in verse one again, save,

O Lord, for the godly one is gone for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Now, this is somewhat hyperbole because the faithful have not vanished from the children of man.

David is the one who is writing, singing this psalm, and he's righteous.

He is one who is faithful from among the children of man. So it's not that there is no one.

It's hyperbolic. It's like the righteous are so few, it's hard to find them.

All you see all around is wickedness. You see unrighteousness. You don't see the righteous. So it's not quite a statement like Elijah made when he said,

Lord, I'm the only one left. There is no one left but me. I'm the only righteous guy left.

And then God said to Elijah, there are 7000 whom I have reserved for myself who have not bowed the knee to bail.

So David's statement here is not quite like that from Elijah, where Elijah was just so full of himself, having such a pity party that he said to God, there's no

I'm the only one left. There isn't anyone. David's not saying he's the only one, but he is saying that the righteous are so few to be found.

And we can say that is true of our world today. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor.

Verse two, with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. So a heart that that does one thing or intends one thing and then does something else because there's no integrity there.

It's not a person who is committed to what it is that they say. They just follow whatever heart's desire they have at any given moment.

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts. Those who say with our tongue, we will prevail.

Our lips are with us. Who is master over us? There are people that are saying all kinds of slanderous, awful things.

And may God's judgment even fall upon their lips because the poor are plundered, because the needy grown.

I will now arise, says the Lord. So he is looking out for those who are in in struggle, in pain.

He will remember his covenant with his people. So you think of the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt.

And when God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, he said to him, I have heard the groaning of my people in Egypt.

So this kind of comes back to to Exodus language when the Israelites were being oppressed by the

Egyptians and the Lord heard their groaning and he remembered them and he remembered his covenant with Abraham and he delivered his people out.

So that's the reference that's being made here. And God will remember his covenant with us sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

That the world will not overtake us and we might find ourselves spiritually poor in the midst of this wicked and crooked generation.

But the Lord will come to us and lift us out of of the wickedness that we are surrounded by.

I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words.

And this is where our safety is. It's in it's in God's word. This is our ultimate safety.

Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. This is not a reference to the

King James Bible. It's metaphorical talking about how the word of God is so pure about the best thing that David can know to to to compare it to is silver that has been refined in a furnace purified seven times.

It's been through the furnace seven times, which is the number of completion. It is the the perfect number of God.

So it's showing that that the word of God is complete. It is pure. It is our protection, even in the midst of the wickedness that we are surrounded by.

You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever on every side, the wicked prowl as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

To read that the Lord will guard us from this generation forever means that God will protect us from falling into the wickedness of this generation.

The Holy Spirit that is upon our hearts, sealing us for that day and protecting us from the wicked ways of this world.

Psalm 13 now, and we'll end with this one. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord, my

God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say

I have prevailed over him, lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love.

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.

That is a beautiful psalm and one of my favorites and one that I would highly recommend that you memorize since it's, you know, we're talking about only six verses here.

It's a short psalm and really becomes a wonderful piece to you when you enter into some of the most difficult trials that you may face in life.

Just like I said earlier, life is not easy. And and I never want to paint a picture of it being easy.

And David recognizes in this particular psalm that life is not easy.

Jesus said a portion of this going into the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples when he said, my soul is very sorrowful, even unto death.

And I had already mentioned to you Second Corinthians chapter one, where the apostle

Paul said, we thought that we had received the sentence of death, but this was to make us rely more on God who raises the dead.

So even in the midst of the difficulty that David is facing, we get to the end of this psalm, verses five and six.

And he says, but I have trusted in your steadfast love.

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the

Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. David, remembering the promises that God has made to him, remembering how the

Lord had delivered him out of the hands of his enemies in the past and knowing that the Lord would be faithful, though things are so bad right now, it might be difficult for David to see where God is and how he is moving in this situation.

But he he knows from the past that the Lord has spoken to him and has delivered him out of his trials.

And he knows once again, the steadfast love of the Lord will remain true.

And that's what he relies upon. Remember the scriptures in those times. You must store up scripture in your soul for times will get difficult.

Things will get hard. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter twelve, remember your

God in the days of your youth because the days of trouble are coming when it's going to be a lot more difficult to find just like an inherent hope in the day to day.

Our hope is only in Christ and it is only given to us through his word.

We know the promises of God because of what we read in the scriptures. So fall upon this and let this be your encouragement, your lifter and your shield.

For the times get tough, but the Lord will deliver. Amen. This has been

When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books and more, visit our website at www .utt

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