Trust In The Lord

Trust in the Lord and the Cry for Deliverance

Well, please open your Bibles with me to psalm number seven the seventh psalm. We are continuing our consideration of the Psalter and today brings us to psalm number seven. Psalm seven these are the words of God a Meditation of David which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite.

Oh Lord my God and you I put my trust. Save me from all those who persecute me and deliver me lest they tear me like a lion Rending me in pieces while there is none to deliver. Oh Lord my God if I have done this if there is iniquity in my hands if I have repaid evil to him Who was at peace with me or have plundered my enemy without cause?

Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me. Yes, let him trample my life to the earth and lay my honor in the dust.

Sela.

Arise Oh Lord and your anger lift yourself up because of the rage of my enemy. Rise up for me To the judgment you have commanded. So the congregation of the peoples shall surround you For their sakes therefore return on high.

The Lord shall judge the people's judge me. Oh Lord according to my righteousness and according to my integrity within me. Oh Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous.

God tests the hearts and minds. My defense is of God who saves the upright in heart. God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day if He does not turn back. He will sharpen his sword.

He bends his bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for himself instruments of death. He makes his arrows into fiery shafts. Behold the wicked brings forth iniquity. Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.

He made a pit and dug it out and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His troubles shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown. I Will praise the Lord according to his Righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord.

Most high. Let us pray merciful Lord the comforter and teacher of your faithful people increase in your church the desires which you have given and Confirm the hearts of those who hope in you by enabling us to understand the depth of your promises That all of your adopted sons and daughters May even now behold with the eyes of faith and patiently wait for the light which you have Revealed in your word and we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord who is the light of the world.

Amen.

The Psalms as God’s Instruction for Faith and Worship

Please be seated. Well, we are picking up again where we had left off some time ago in our consideration of the Psalms and at the beginning Of this a few years back we had mentioned there were some very good and Reasonable things why we would do this.

The the one I'm just going to mention is this from 2nd Timothy 3 16 all scripture is Given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness.

That the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped in every good work. The Psalms in many ways are uniquely equipped for this very thing. To teach us how we should act what we should think how we should respond.

How we should talk to God and so we come to this seventh Psalm. Ch Spurgeon wrote about this song. He called it the song of the slandered saint. There are times when the people of God will suffer injustice at the hands of wicked men.

The righteous should call upon God to prevail on behalf of his people the God who says Vengeance is mine. I will repay promises to right the wrongs. Done to his people. Here we have a psalm that describes a time when David suffered unjustly.

David suffered wrong at the hands of his enemies. David called upon God to execute judgment in his wrath and indignation. That God would defend his people and he will defend his people he will execute Perfect justice and that with equity.

We have many in our day clamoring about equity so much so that we may be sick of hearing it. But they will get equity just not in the way that they imagine. They will get equity in judgment when our God rises to judge the people he will do so with equity and God judge will judge those who persecute his people in this life or in the final judgment.

We see that this is a psalm of meditation. The Hebrew word is Shiggy on and We are informed that that means that this is a psalm of a tense Emotion and that it is a varied emotion. It's not just one kind of emotion.

But it's multiple kinds of emotion and we see this intensity with David stating the situation with his enemies. We see the intensity of David's plea plea rather to God to render justice and We see the intensity with David's response to a righteous God.

Notice what David had done though when he was moved in with intense emotion in this case caused by false Accusations and persecution about him. He broke out in song. We need to recover this aspect of our singing we can call to mind.

James 5 13 is Anyone among you suffering let him pray as anyone cheerful. Let him sing songs. David did both in song. We need to learn that we can turn the most disastrous event into an occasion for singing.

That would turn the tables on the enemy. Would it not? Martin Luther once said David made psalms and we also will make psalms and Sing them as well as we can to honor to the honor of our Lord and to the spite and mock the devil.

That's what we should do. We should always be willing to turn the song. This psalm we are told was written concerning the words of someone named Cush a Benjaminite. We do not know very much about this man.

He was possibly a henchman of King Saul who himself Was a Benjaminite. This would set the context of this persecution of David this false accusation Accusation rather at the time when Saul sought to kill David to take his life.

David was being unjustly persecuted by Saul and He took great comfort in the perfect justice of God. Lest we forget Saul was the magistrate he was the king and As we have been reminded in recent years of the study of Romans 13 one of the jobs That the civil magistrate has is to do justice as God defines it.

Saul Was an unjust man. But David knew that there was a just and righteous King God himself. Well, let us take a look closer at our psalm here today and look at verse 1. Oh Lord my God, and you I put my trust in.

Some ways we should stop right here. That's all we need to study, right? That in any time and in any place We could call out and say Oh Lord my God and you I put my trust. That I won't lean on my own understanding but we do need to be instructed to what that looks like and David continues Oh Lord my God and you I put my trust save me from all those who persecute me and Deliver me.

David was in trouble. He was in great trouble, but he knew where he could turn. God was his Refuge. God was his high tower his mighty fortress in him. David could trust just to pause for a moment. You may have noticed in our first hymn today and our psalm of the week contained some of these very themes.

We worship a great God who providentially worked all these things out so that the very themes which we would talk about here today We've sung about That God indeed is our fortress and we can like David turn to him.

What was his trouble? Well, we touched on it a little bit. He was being accused of something by these words of this kush and if these or indeed around the times of Saul's persecution of David unjustly that charge brought against him was one of treason.

Saul had accused David of trying to usurp him. To take the kingdom from Saul by fall force not only that he accused his own son Jonathan of being in league with David and overthrowing his kingship and this charge Saul made very public.

Everyone knew it. But David himself Brings this to Saul's attention as we have in 1st Samuel 2. 1st Samuel 24 9 where we read this and David said to Saul. Why do you listen to the words of men who say?

Indeed David seeks your harm. These may be the very words of this kush or something similar. We don't know if kush said these things or not, but we do know that David was being persecuted being Unjustly accused by the words of this kush maybe these words or maybe orders given by kush to pursue David nevertheless David was in severe distress and He cried out to the Lord deliver me that Hebrew word that is translated deliver means to pluck away to pull out the pot provide a means of.

Escape and.

What should we learn here as I mentioned that the Psalms are a great? Instruction to us as Paul indicated all scripture is on how we should act and respond. May we always Respond this way as our first line of defense.

Whatever our emergency may be. May we ever rely upon the Lord and seek his help to put our trust in him to cry out for salvation. And I don't mean our eternal salvation. Although if you are not in the Lord, you should cry out for your eternal salvation but those temporal salvations and Protection to seek deliverance from evil not to repay evil for evil.

We must remember that we worship a God who has said that if you Seek to harm his people You are like one touching the apple of his eye. We read this in Zechariah We says he touches you touches the apple of his eye.

We are his treasured possession. We are his purchased and redeemed people. We are those to whom his son our Savior Jesus Christ Shed his blood.

To redeem.

We must remember That we should at all times in all places put our trust in God. It is never right to distrust God and it is never in vain To fully trust him. But David continues Speaking of his enemies.

He says lest they tear me like a lion Rending me P in pieces while there is none to deliver. It's a very interesting way to describe the enemies and in some ways it's the words of a shepherd. A Shepherd would have predators following the flock bears lions wolves.

And when they catch an unsuspecting sheep, they rend it piece by piece. They tear it apart Devouring it and that's how David describes his enemies here. That there is cruelty in their actions that they are like animals.

That his enemies will tear and rend him like a lion. It's interesting that he would use that term. The lion is often used to specify one of great strength and courage. He may be referring to Saul. We must remember that many many times.

We think of Saul as a coward. But he was not. He was a valiant warrior and a giant of a man. One that may be befitting to call a lion. Nevertheless David feared that his enemies would cut him in pieces tear him limb from limb.

We might say That they would descend upon him.

And he knew.

That there were none to deliver him. There was nobody there that would deliver him but there was one he could turn to for deliverance. David knew very well and that's what he is teaching us here. That there is none to save but God alone.

There is none that can deliver.

But our.

Gracious God there is none that can save to the uttermost. There is no Savior no deliverer. There is none that can stay the hand of the enemy, but God Alone if it were not for him. The Saints would fall prey to their enemies.

This is what David knew and why he cried out to God and we may find ourselves in a similar situation. We may have our own cushions. You may have already experienced it those who would speak slanderously about us.

About our faith about our Lord. Friends family co-workers neighbors and others. That they would slander and accuse us of vile things. We shouldn't be surprised. God himself was slandered in Eden by the evil one half.

God really said God's afraid that if you eat you will become like him a slander. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was slandered by the religious elite of his day. He saved others. Himself he cannot save we will be slandered and sometimes you may even experience what I'll call friendly fire.

Slandered by those who should be your friends. Slander leaves a cut that may be even deeper than a sword and Even when it's wholly disproved that leaves a scar. We may find ourselves facing trials and tribulations for our faith.

We know this. It says anyone who tries to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Because we name the name of Christ and seek to obey him. We may find ourselves suffering under such tribulations.

And when we do We should turn to the Lord our refuge our mighty fortress. That we should cry out to God what David opened this psalm with. Oh Lord my God and you I put my trust. But let us continue and take a look at verses 3 through 5 here David says this.

Oh Lord my God if I have done this if There is iniquity in my hands. David is saying if those things which this cush are is saying about me. These things that he is saying if these be true. That I am guilty not only of thinking them, but actually have iniquity on my hands, and I've actually done something if This is true.

This specific charges if it's true. But then David continues and goes on to verse 4 and says if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me. So he moves from a very specific charge in verse 3 if I have done this.

To a moral general charge not only if I had done if I haven't done that if I have done evil. To those who are at peace with me. To those who were in my circle who through showing their love to me as their neighbor.

Gave me that feeling of peace that covenant bond of peace that's bound up in the words Shalom. If I have been at peace with my neighbor, but yet had done evil to them. So either if I am guilty of this charge that they could brought against me or I have mistreated my neighbor.

By doing evil to him though. I was at peace, but then he raises the bar a little bit more.

Or.

Have plundered my enemy without cause. Now we might think Plundering our enemy is good at any time. But God doesn't. God has instructed us to love our enemies. David is is calling this out. He said if all of these things be true if any one of these is true Then he says this Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me.

Yes, let him trample my life to the earth and lay my honor in the dust. David is saying that if I am guilty of These charges any of them. I am worthy of the judgment of God. I'm worthy to have my life be forfeit and my honor That I should have tied to my name.

Let it be lay in the dust. I would be worthless. No, this is not David admitting to anything. This is David pleading with God and the innocence of his charge. He is saying I am blameless in The charges being brought against me and I'm blameless of any vile act that they may even think of Against me.

He's not saying he's sinless, but he's saying in regards to these things the slander that is brought Against me. I am not guilty. What David is engaged in is something we should learn. He is engaged in a little self-examination.

He's had vile things brought against him. And when we have vile things brought against us We really ought to look at our lives and say are these things true? Have I done the things that they're accusing me of.

We asked the Holy Spirit to examine us as well to call to mind whether we intentionally or Unintentionally have done anything to deserve the slander. That is against us to determine if this was from God to drive us to repentance or From the accuser Satan are these accusations hell-born and hell-bound Originating from the father of lies who works to accuse the saints of sin.

We must examine ourselves. But if we find ourselves to be innocent, we must remember that no innocence Can shield us from the calumnies of the wicked? David had scrupulously avoiding any appearance of rebelling against Saul Who he referred to as the Lord's anointed.

Not once but twice He had Saul in.

His hand.

To do with what he wanted once in the cave of Addullam and once in the midst of the camp and both times. He didn't do anything. Not only could David say as he did hear that he was guilty of these charges and so so forth being blameless did not Keep him from being accused the good that he did to not protect him from lying tongues.

Nor will they protect us. Sinners have ill will against the Saints. So we must remember That we should be blameless that we should be innocent of the slander brought against us, but that will not protect us from the work of the wicked ones.

At the end of verse 5 we have a seal of Remembering what Charles Spurgeon said about that term. It's it's it's a point where we should pause and look back and look forward. When we look back in this psalm, we see the case that David has brought before the Lord.

Caused by this one named Cush these lying words this accusation. We see David's appeal to the God of heaven for deliverance. We see his protestation of his own.

Innocence.

But now let's take a look forward and see what David has for us in the remainder of the psalm. Looking at verse 6 arise. Oh Lord in your anger. Lift yourself up lift yourself up. Because of the rage of my enemies rise up for me to the judgment.

You have commanded look at the boldness notice the boldness of this statement. He's crying out to the Lord to arise. To lift himself up. That term in verse 6 rise up in older translations was awake. David was boldly calling upon God For his support in this manner remembering that God's Word that the Lord remembering in God's Word that the Lord and the Lord alone is the judge and the repair of sins.

In Deuteronomy 32 35 we have. Vengeance is mine and the recompense the repayment. Their foot their foot is the wicked ones their foot shall slip in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and The things to come hasten upon them.

Psalm 94 one says Oh Lord God. To whom vengeance belong. Oh God to whom vengeance belongs. Shine forth. David is crying out to God that his judgment and Justice on punishing evil and defending the good would be done now rise up for me to the judgment.

You have commanded. This is what David is calling for God to do. But David continues. So the congregation of the peoples shall surround you for their sakes therefore return on high. David is kind of drawing a picture here.

I think that is somewhat like a courtroom. We have the accusers David's enemies as one cush and others bringing accusations against David. We have David the defendant. Standing before the judge we have the Lord the just judge and it seems like we have around them the people and the gallery in the courtroom here so the Congregation of the people shall surround you to hear the judgment that would come from the Lord.

And David continues and he says this in verse 8 the Lord shall judge the peoples. David is including His enemies clearly in there judge my enemies who bring these false Accusation, but also the people some of those in that surrounding congregation with itching ears believed the lying charge against David they were duped by the Wiles of the wicked ones around them they too Were to be judged.

But David also included himself as we continue reading judge me. Oh Lord According to my righteousness and according to my integrity within me. Sometimes when we read this we may be fooled Into thinking that we have the ability to gin up within us some form of righteousness or some form of integrity.

But knowing David David knew very well that the Lord his God was his righteousness. That the Lord his God was his integrity. That any good that was in David came from God and God alone and That is our cry as well.

That is where our righteousness and our integrity come from.

The Lord.

David trusts that in the Lord the great judge of the nations that he will judge without Prejudice and that he will judge accurately That he will be able to to give a righteous judgment and That David was willing to trust in that judgment and to rest fully upon that.

But David continues and he writes this in verse 9. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just. For the righteous God tests the hearts in mind. What was the judgment that David was looking for?

This.

That the wickedness of the wicked would come to an end that the the wicked ways of the wicked that the evil deeds of evil men false accusations and the outcome of those false Accusations the enticing of the people the people themselves with itching ears to hear bad reports leveled against David and against the Saints that all of that would come to an end and That God would establish the just.

That they would all all the wicked deeds would fall away and the just would remain standing. And that's one of the ways that the just they're established all the wicked ways of the wicked will come to an end.

But David also called and says that the righteous God Tests the hearts and minds. This word translated tests means investigation.

Experimental.

Investigation trying out What is the thoughts and the works of the wicked ones to see where they end out. It is a thorough testing. It is a strict testing. It is an accurate testing. It is an intimate testing.

He tries the hearts Our inward affections What we really feel but also the minds What we think not just our actions But our thoughts and our inward affections. It is thorough and this really should be our trust to that we may be tempted in our day to look around and.

See.

The works of the wicked. It seems in our day that the wicked are having a field day. That their success is everywhere. And not only that but the wicked are even trying to entice those who should be our friends Against us.

And that would include fellow Christians those who profess the name of Christ. That they are enticed to be against us. We may Think that the wicked ways are everywhere. Like you know what. We may have a picture to our mind like Isaiah 59 19 when it says when the enemy comes in like a flood and we see the flood of the enemy coming in a Flood that is threatening to overwhelm us to sweep away Everything that the righteous stands for before them.

We see the flood coming into the church. We see the flood coming into our families and into our community the flood of immorality the flood of persecution the flood of accusation and the flood of temptation.

It all looks overwhelming and it cannot be stopped. That is if we were leaning on our own understanding That's what it would look like. But we like David Should turn to God in that Isaiah verse Says when the enemy of God comes in like a flood that the Spirit of the Lord would rise up a standard against them.

Just a brief aside a standard is a flag it's a banner. In ancient warfare it was a melee of violence.

And.

It was hard sometimes to distinguish friend from friend from fro in this combat. And when somebody wanted to rally the troops they would lift up the banner and The soldiers would see the banner and flock to it and like way we have a banner today.

This might call to mind that dime. And we read in numbers when the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord and he had sent against them a.

Snakes.

Poisonous snakes to kill them and Moses was Instructed to lift up a bronze serpent and that everybody that would look upon the serpent serpent would be saved our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And John's Gospel said just like They raised the serpent up in the desert.

So shall the Son of Man be raised up. The Lord Jesus Christ is our standard. When the enemies come in like a flood we should turn to Christ To focus on him to trust in him. He after all is the one that will come to judge the quick and the dead.

So when we are unjustly accused We do not take matters into our own hands. But rather we trust in him to turn to him for justice for he and he alone is able to just with judge with equity and Injustice.

God as Shield, Judge, and Avenger Against the Wicked

But we continue and we look here at verse 10. My defense is of God who saves the upright and heart. This may Call to mind a thinking of maybe continuing the courtroom scene after all we can give a defense and a poly GIA In Greek of our faith there, but this word that is translated defense means shield or Buckler so this is all the image of the battlefield.

A buckler is a shield about four feet high and was used as a defensive weapon against stones and arrows and Even sword blows up close. The Lord is a shield to us deflecting the fiery arrows of accusation against us and he saves the Upright in heart.

Well, that would be us his servants the Saints but he continues in verse 11 God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day as We've heard described already that God is a just judge. But he's also an active judge and we'll read more about that in just a moment.

But his nature is always the same. He is holy. Holy. Holy. He cannot abide sin. He has the same Opposition to sin today as he has in times past. There are many who will say and believe that God's law no longer is binding.

That his standard of justice and sin has passed away in the age of grace. Yet God is the same today as He was yesterday and as he will be tomorrow he still hates sin and He is angry with those who continue to indulge in it regardless of what the billboard out by the highway.

Might say.

God is angry with the wicked He is angry every day at with impenitence.

Sinners.

He may not make men examples of his wrath immediately. But even when he is silent He is still angry and in his own timing. He will stir up his wrath against him and rebuke them in there in his hot displeasure.

But we continue in verse 12 If he does not turn back if he that he this time is the wicked. If the wicked does not turn back He that is the Lord Will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready.

He also prepares for himself Instruments of death and makes his arrows into fiery shafts turning from the defensive. The Lord is prepared to take the offensive Against his enemies if the enemies of God do not turn back.

If they do not turn from their wicked ways. If they do not cease from pursuing sin the Lord of hosts will sharpen his sword. A Warrior does not sharpen his sword unless he intends to use it. Not only that he is bending his bow For those not familiar with archery when you bend your bow back and you place the shaft on it You're intending to let it go.

The Lord is preparing for battle. He is Preparing to work his judgment out against his enemies he is making ready his weapons of his warfare and preparing flaming arrows He is ready to make wage war against those who are his enemies and the enemies of his chosen possession and We must remember That God's arrows never missed the mark.

They are all instruments of death. Continuing on in verse 14 behold the wicked brings forth iniquity. Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth forth falsehood. David the master poet turns from an up to another image this time of a pregnant woman of a woman giving birth.

Sin is conceived in the in the heart and brought forth Sin is when it brings forth sin is iniquity. Sin is conceived by the father of lies.

Satan and.

When it is brought forth it is falsehood now. We may think that this is what David is saying about the accusations of kush. But I want to remind you that all sin is falsehood. All of it gives an untrue picture of the true nature of things.

All sin Gives an inaccurate picture of the things of God. They do not reflect what God Wants and who God is. All sin is falsehood and It is deceptive. David says here in verse 15 he that is the wicked has made a pit and dug it out.

The workers of iniquity turn to deception. They can't face the righteous face to face. They must set a trap, but when they do They don't catch what they think they're going to catch for. David continues and Has fallen that he made that is the wicked made a pit dug it out and has fallen Into the ditch which he made his trouble shall return upon his own head and His violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.

Despite their attempts to undermine the righteous the pits dug by the wicked they themselves fall into. This is part of the judgment of God. He frustrates the plans of the wicked and Returns them upon their own head.

The traps that they have set for others they themselves are ensnared in and it comes upon their own head and upon their own crown. It's interesting that use of the word crown now. We know that it means the top of our head.

But there was one pursuing David at this time who had a crown Saul. So perhaps Saul is in mind here. I Wouldn't go to the stake on it, but it's possible that he was referring. Regardless what David is trying to say what the wicked have prepared for others.

They are really preparing for themselves. And he trusts in the Lord that they he would deliver. That the Lord would deliver his judgment and his justice with equity. That he would be our shield and our buckler.

He would be our Avenger he would be our mighty fortress. And how does David respond? Well verse 17 I Will praise the Lord? According to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

I Think there are two ways to look at this. One way is where David has made his case before the Lord He has brought before them my enemies are out to get me. They are cruel and inhuman. But I am innocent of these charges.

I call upon the Lord to execute judgment and the Lord has done so. Well, he that the word David is actually delivered in that right now in the context of history. We know that he was delivered. But I believe the other way to look at this may be more accurate.

That David brought the case before him. These people are charging me falsely. That I am innocent of the charges and I know that you will judge and then he praises God. Because he trusts in the Lord He doesn't need to wait to see if God would actually render judgment that he could see.

He knows.

Even if he doesn't see it God will do it and that's what I think he means by bound up Oh Lord my God and You I put my trust. And when we put our trust in Almighty God and notice what he says here the Lord Most High Oftentimes we read these words and we are so familiar to us.

We don't even think twice about it. But what God is what David is saying here or what? The Holy Spirit said through David here is Lord l-o-r-d all capitals. We all know that that's the covenant name of God.

Yahweh Most high is the word Elian Which Underscores the sovereignty of God over his creation. Basically, he's saying that he's going to praise the name of the covenant-keeping God who is sovereign over everything and Can be trusted to work all things for good for those who are called according to his purpose and that is a fit subject for our praise and That we should emulate our brother David in.

This.

When the enemies come in like a flood and we turn our eyes upon Jesus that then right then and there we can praise him for what he will do.

And.

We should do so with singing. For David himself says here and I will sing praise. Remember that verse. We looked at it from James 5. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs. I don't know if James had this particular song in mind.

But if he did we would agree that this is a fit song to sing in the praise of God. For the one who will defend his people. Amen, well, let us pray our gracious God and Father. We thank you. Oh Lord that you have given us your word.

That it is exactly what your servant Paul said that is sufficient. For equipping the man of God to give him all that he needs to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the godly example of your servants in times past like David.

Who not only tells us what we should do but gives us a demonstration of it. And father if we in examining ourselves We would have to admit That we may not always respond the way that David does. That we often lean on our own understanding more than we put our trust fully in you.

And therefore we ask for the grace to do that. We ask for the grace to put our trust fully in you. That you would help us to see the glory of Putting our trust in you knowing that you are.

Our.

Mighty fortress our Redeemer our friend our God and our King that you are indeed.