Arise, O LORD

Psalm 9 as a Song of Praise and Judgment

Well, please open your Bibles with me and turn to Psalm number 9. We are taking up our consideration again of the Psalms, and today we will be looking at the 9th Psalm, Psalm number 9. Psalm 9, these are the words of God.

To the chief musician, to the tune of Death of the Son, a Psalm of David. I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence, for you have maintained my right and my cause. You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked.

You have blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities. Even their memory has perished. But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

He shall judge the world in righteousness. He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people. When he avenges blood, he remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me, who lift me up from the you lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of your praises in the gates of the daughter.

Of Zion.

I will rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made. In the net that they hid, their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

Meditation.

Selah.

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord. Do not let man prevail.

Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

Selah.

Well, 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 depths 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 as yet you do not openly manifest. And we ask this in Christ's name, amen.

You may be seated. Well, as we turn our consideration back to the Psalms, you may be calling to mind some of those things which we've talked about from time to time, why we would even consider.

The Psalms.

And one of the reasons why is that it helps us know how to talk to God and also to know the character of God better. In this psalm, we sort of have both. This borders on an imprecatory psalm, although David is not calling upon the judgment of.

People.

He's stating it, but the judgment of the wicked is certain. So as we take a look at this psalm closer, we will see what David has to teach us through this psalm. First, we're going to take a look at the inspired title.

Oftentimes, the inspired title, and I use that term, there is some doubt among commentators whether these titles actually were in the original or were added sometime later by an editor like Ezra. Regardless, they're in our text, and we will take a look at them from time to time as being inspired.

And normally, they contain information and direction on how to sing, or they give a description of the background of the psalm. Today, we have, to the chief musician. And then we see, to the tune of, and you'll notice that the tune of are in italics.

When you read a good and faithful translation, like the New King James, any words that the translator adds to add sense to something are in italics. So, the translator thinks, to the tune of, Death of the Son.

And that may be true. That may be the tune that was sung back then. But C .H. Spurgeon threw in another idea, that this is to call to mind our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he said, perhaps, the death of the Son.

But he favored another interpretation. He said another interpretation of the word, Son, is champion. To the death of the champion. And Spurgeon said that the backdrop for this psalm was David's encounter with Goliath.

And as we read through this psalm, I want you to have that in the back of your minds. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment. Well, the psalm opens in verse one with this, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart.

I will tell of your marvelous works. The psalm opens with praise. Praise is another word that has fallen on hard times in our day. It means something today akin to a love song to God. But that's not what the Old Testament saints would have thought.

And that's not what we should think either. Praise to God is simply ascribing honor and glory and laud to our Father and our Redeemer, King. And David opens this psalm with praise. And if the background is his encounter with Goliath, he is offering praise in advance of his encounter with the enemies of God.

And this is something important for us to remember. I think the Old Testament saints knew it better than we do. That when we come into difficult times, that's when we praise the Lord. And David, the great songster of Israel, probably knew it best of all.

He almost starts with a joyful expectation that God will give him victory. Think back to that encounter with Goliath, when all Israel cowered in line of battle in the presence of Goliath for 40 days. David comes onto the scene, and when he hears what Goliath is saying, and he hears what the men relate to him on what will be done for the man that slays the giant, he is given an audience with King Saul.

And he expresses his confidence that this praise conveys. This is recounted for us in 1 Samuel 17, and this is David's encounter with Saul. Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, that is, Goliath.

Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or bear came and took a lamb of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth.

And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.

Moreover, David said, the Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, go, and the Lord be with you. This is a great and glorious example of the type of praising that David is writing for us in the face of his enemy here in Psalm 9.

The overthrow of the enemy as seen as being already accomplished, as already completed. And we have to remember that it is our duty to always praise the Lord, and not just praise him when we receive some sort of blessing, although we should do that, but rather to praise him at all times.

And let it be that we would praise the Lord at all times. And David's praise is given fully to the Lord. Only the Lord deserves praise. Remember what David said, he killed the lion and the bear, right?

Whatever means God had given him to kill the lion and bear, we don't know if he used his bare hands, a knife, a stick, I don't know what he used. And we may be thankful to the means to which God gives us a deliverance or a blessing, but God is always the agent that operates behind that.

As David said, God delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear. And notice David gives praise with his whole heart. Half-hearted measures will never do. And with his whole heart, he says what kind of praise he will give.

He will tell of God's marvelous works. That is true praise. The thankful relating of the work that God has done for us. At this theme, we should be anxious to speak to one another about, at all times, what God has done for us in our lives.

That we should relate to one another the marvelous works that God has done. But not only with fellow believers, but we should be anxious to talk about the works of God before unbelievers.

It may be the only way they ever hear it.

And it'll never be casting your pearls before a swine. The talk of the great deeds of our great God. One man once said, gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousand others. And when we consider the works of God as he has done for us, think about that for just.

A moment.

If we thought about the work he has done in our salvation, in the preservation of our lives, from the beginning of our lives to this day, the blessings to which he has bestowed upon us, the sanctification that we have, the victory we have over sins that so easily entangle us, and his care in many, many ways, we would have sufficient things to talk about for a very, very long time.

But here, David is talking about the marvelous works shown by God to his people. It's like those old commercials used to say, but wait, there's more. If we talk about, if we think about rather, the marvelous works that God had done for the Old Testament people of God.

One miraculous deliverance after another, from Exodus, to the period of the judges, to the kingdom, to the exile, and the return from the exile. Or if we consider the New Testament church over the past 2 ,000 years, from Pentecost to Nicaea, throughout all of Christendom, even to today.

Sometimes I think we are tempted to think that God has abandoned us, that he's no longer in the business of helping his people. If you think that way, we need to be reminded by David that we have marvelous works to speak of even in our own day.

Well, David continues in the second verse, he said, I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Gladness and joy are the natural emotions that should follow praising our Lord.

But especially more when we recount his marvelous works. Joy, true joy, is something that only a Christian can have. Joy transcends our most difficult circumstances. It is supernaturally deep. It is abundantly supplied.

And it is freely given by God to all believers. Happiness is something a little bit different. Happiness depends upon what is happening around us. Circumstances. If the circumstances are good, you'll be happy.

If the circumstances go bad, your happiness goes away. It is conditional. It is temporal. It is uncertain. But not so with joy. Joy is spiritual. It comes from a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is based on contentment in the Lord. It is rooted and grounded in the unchangeable nature of our relationship with Christ. How else could we consider it all joy when we meet various kinds of trials?

It is supernatural. It is a gift of God. Remember what we read in Galatians 5 .22, that famous chapter in the fruits of the spirit. You may even now be calling it to mind. And the fruits of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and et cetera.

Joy is known only to believers. It is in the Lord. It is lasting and it endures. Joy remains in all difficult situations. It is not dependent upon what is around us. But what does David say? He says that we're not just going to have joy.

We're going to have gladness, happiness, and joy. Our circumstances will be good and will cause us to praise God. But our relationship with God through Christ is the grounding for our joy. That is something truly to praise.

And notice that he will give praise to your name. Have you ever noticed how some Psalms seem to be linked together? Our last Psalm that we considered, Psalm 8. If you have your Bible still open, if you turn back maybe one page to the end of Psalm 8.

He said, I am going to sing praise to your name, O Lord most high. How does Psalm 8 end? O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Well, David continues. In verse 3 he writes, When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence.

Notice David's bold expectation that his enemies, who are God's enemies, will be defeated. It isn't if my enemies will be turned back. It's when my enemies are turned back. But also notice the complete ruin that will come upon them.

This is not a defeat of our enemies where we win this one battle and they will come back another day to fight us. No, David is talking about their complete and total ruin. Their complete and total defeat.

They fall and perish before his, that is God's, glorious presence. Proverbs 28 .1 says, The wicked flee when no man pursues. Why? Because of the presence of the Lord. That is who they are fleeing from.

And this should give us great hope when we think of the enemies that face us today. Internal enemies and external enemies. Think of that hymn that we sing from time to time. The church is one foundation.

In it, it says, In toil and tribulation and tumult of her war. The church is at war. And then another line says, By schisms rent asunder and by heresies distressed. We have internal enemies. Heresies, schisms, false leaders, false theologies.

But we are also facing external enemies.

The state.

The unbelieving world. We should be of good cheer.

Why?

Well, the very next verse tells us why. In verse 4, David writes this, For you have maintained my right and my cause. Who is maintaining your right and your cause? Who is maintaining our right and our cause?

It is God himself. It is the Lord of hosts. The God of battles. The King of glory. That is who is on your side.

And he is on his throne.

Now, we live in a country that doesn't have a king. But if we did, when the king is on his throne, things happen. And those things that happen are judging. Decisions are rendered. God is even now on his throne.

Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns. And he is on his throne and he is judging in righteousness. He is not like a man whose judgments may change from day to day. Depending on what he eats or how much he slept or whatever.

No.

He is judging with righteousness. Righteousness is justice and with equity. But here we must be careful. We must have a caution. God will only defend our right and our cause if it is his right and his cause that we are about.

If we are going about leaning on our own understanding, we cannot expect God's help. We cannot expect his support. But if our wills are conformed to his will, and our causes and our rights are his causes and rights, then we can truly turn to God and say, Thy will be done, then he will support us.

But David continues to verse 5. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. God rebukes nations. We think too much of individualism in our day.

We are always thinking of the individual. In the church or anywhere we go, everywhere we look, we think of individuals. But the Lord here is rebuking nations. And yes, of course, they are made up of individuals.

But it's important that our enemies of God are being judged together, not individually. Those who have aligned themselves against the Lord and against his anointed. That's who the Lord is judging. We see something of this in Psalm 2.

You may remember, now it's been some time, but when we considered Psalm 2 in which we read this. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision, and he shall speak rebuke to them in his wrath and distress them in his hot displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

The nations have risen against the Lord. The people plot in vain. The Lord's enemies have arrayed themselves, but our Lord laughs and rebukes them. But David continues in verse 5, he says, And you have destroyed the wicked.

Do not forget this. There is a great temptation for us to forget it. We see the enemies of God seeming to be successful today. They seem to be having a field day, doing whatever they want. The saints of God are persecuted.

The church is impotent. We think the wicked will win. We have some theologies that talk about the wicked winning, at least to a point. But God destroys the wicked. And not only that, their written name will be remembered no more.

Notice the contrast here with verse 2, where David says, I will praise your name. God's name will be praised. God's name will last. The names of his enemies will be forgotten. And if they are remembered at all, it will be to give glory to God.

Well, this can be said that these first six verses pointed to God's past dealing with his enemies. There's past tense language all through this, that in the days gone by, God has done these things. Think back to David in his conversation with Saul.

Why did he have great confidence that he could destroy the Philistine? Because God had acted before. That's important for us to remember. If David is writing this psalm about that event, this would surely be the case.

Not only was David delivered from the lion and the bear, but God time and time and time again delivered his people from their enemies. Well now, David continues. And we pick up in verse 7. But the Lord shall endure forever.

He has prepared his throne for judgment. The Lord is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be tomorrow. Our Lord never changes. Not only that, there's no shadow of turning with him. He shall endure forever and ever.

And so will his judgments. Are you concerned about justice? Do you think the wicked will get away with it? Do you think that real justice will never be done? And maybe you comfort yourself and say, well yeah, one of these days, God will judge them.

But for this whole life now, they will have success. And just a side note. We hear a lot about justice these days, don't we? One group chanting, we need justice for these people. Or we need justice for those people.

Or they'll say, no justice, no peace. But they are looking at man's justice. They're attempting to establish another standard. Mostly their own, but not limited to that. It's sort of today's unbelievers version of saying, we will not have this man rule over us.

We will not have God's standard applied to us. Remember what the serpent said to Eve in the garden? You shall be like God. You will be able to determine right from wrong. You'll be able to define what justice is.

We hear that all the time. And it gives us despair that there will ever be real justice. But remember, he who sits in the heavens shall laugh. He has established his king on his holy hill. And he has prepared his throne for judgment.

And it is coming in this life and at the end of the age. Well, David continues in verse 8. He shall judge the world in righteousness. And he shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. There's another cry we hear a lot today.

Equity. And they're not talking about financial equity. They're talking about equality of outcome. We need equity.

It's coming.

I don't know if they'll be happy when they get it.

But it is coming.

He will judge, it says, in righteousness. In our call to worship, we read Psalm 98 .9. For he is coming to judge the earth with righteousness. He shall judge the world and the peoples with equity. Well, there's judgment that is coming.

But there's also comfort. Have you ever thought about when judgment comes about yourself? We know judgment is coming. It says all people will be judged. What will it be like for us on that day? We sang one of my favorite hymns today.

And can it be? The last line. No condemnation. Now I dread. I can't even say it without singing it. So I'm not going to sing for you. No condemnation. The next verse. Verse 9. The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed.

And a refuge in times of trouble. Our Lord is a refuge for his people. When that day of judgment comes, we will have a refuge in our God. A friend of mine once put it this way. When the books of judgment are open against you.

And they are about to read the charges against you. The Lord Jesus will say, I cannot read this. It is covered in blood. The blood of the Lamb. He will be a refuge for the meek of the earth. That's us.

He will be a shelter for his people. David continues in verse 10. And for those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. There it is again. The name of God.

It's important for us to remember that name. You may remember when we considered Ephesians 1. That's the name that we bear. When he adopted us, our given name was removed. That given name was Adamson.

And now we have a new name.

Yahweh's son.

That's what's on our now rebirth certificate. Or perhaps better, new birth certificate. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. Seek the Lord while he may be found, he says.

So we are to trust in the Lord. We should seek him. And all who seek him, he will not turn away. He is ever ready to receive you. He never changes. That's why we can trust him. Remember what's written in Psalm 37, verses 5 and 6.

Commit your ways to the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light. And your justice as the noonday. We can trust in the Lord. We can seek him in our times of trouble.

And this should motivate us. And what does it motivate us to do? What David notes in the very next verse. Verse 11. Sing praises to the Lord who dwell in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people. Again, praise.

Tied to declaring the deeds which God has done in your life. And in the lives of his people. But just like in verse 1. We have the deeds of the past. But we were looking at the deeds of the future. Just a moment.

So what God has done in the past, he will do in the future. He will not forget his promises. To protect his people and destroy his enemies. In verse 12 he writes. When he avenges blood, he remembers them.

He does not forget the cry of the humble. No matter how desperate our times look. And depending on what podcasts you listen to. Or what blog posts you read. Or what you watch on the news. It looks pretty bad.

You may think again we might be tempted that God has forgotten us. But he remembers. And does not forget the cry of the humble. Well now, David continues. David writes in verse 13. Have mercy on me, oh Lord.

Consider my trouble. David here in some ways has looked to the past. Then he has looked to the future in this psalm. Again in his encounter with Goliath. He had confidence in God. That God would act in the future.

Because he has acted in the past. But yet David needed to act in the then present. Have mercy on me, oh Lord. Consider my trouble. That is great confidence. Or should give us great confidence. In the present.

We cannot think, well yes God has done it before. Oh yes and God will do it again. But somehow he is powerless to do it now. Many are tempted to think that way. Many are tempted to think that we are on our own.

That we have to lean on our own understanding. If you think that way. Or if we are thinking that way. Let us cry out with David. Have mercy on me, oh Lord. Consider my troubles. Well what troubles are you facing today?

Are you concerned about your health? Your finances? Your job? Your family? Our crumbling culture that crumbles down around us? The large tasks that stand before you. That may be overwhelming. Are those your troubles?

Cry out to God. Have mercy on me, oh Lord. And consider my troubles. But it is not just the troubles and challenges we face in daily life. Although it includes those. But he will also deal with us. Deal for us, rather.

With our enemies. Verse 13 again. Have mercy on me, oh Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me. This is sometimes forgotten today in America. That we have enemies. After all, we worship in safety.

We worship in comfort. The air conditioning is on. We have no concern that somebody is going to bust through and interrupt our service. We can talk about the things of God every day on the street. With no fear of reprisal.

Maybe rejection. But no fear of reprisal. We think that if we use winsome and friendly, soft-spoken tones. That we will win a favorable impression from our enemies. This may lull us into a dullness. Thinking that our enemies don't exist.

And they're not out there. But rest assured, brethren. Our enemies are out there. And they hate us. Jesus said in John 15, 18. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you. The world hates Christ.

And they will hate us. Who are called by his name. The enemies of God are all about us. And we must cry out to God for them too. And he will lift us up from the gates of death. Our enemies at the moment are only using speech against us.

But we know that the Lord has raised the bar. You can't say, I hate you. And think that it's just mere words. What does he say when you say that you hate somebody? That you commit murder in your heart?

We just heard read in our public reading of the first murder. Hatred in the heart. It started with, we don't know about words, but certainly feelings. And what is the outcome when we cry to our Lord? Verse 14.

That I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. And I will rejoice in your salvation. When we cry out to the Lord, asking him to consider our troubles. And to save us from our enemies.

The very next verse, David says, I'm going to praise you. I'm going to praise you again. As certainly you are going to save me. He expects God to act. After all, he has acted in the past. He has acted in the future.

There's no reason to David to think that he would not act in the present as well. And he will rejoice in the God of his salvation. Well, David continues. What does the judgment of God look like? You may be thinking that.

Well, David gives us in verse 15 and 16. A description of what that looks like. The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made. In the net which they hid. Their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes.

The wicked is snared in the works of his own hands. What does judgment look like? The wicked being caught in their own devices. The pit that they dug for us, they will fall into. The snare that they set for us, they will be caught up in it.

Remember, Goliath was killed by his own sword. The very instrument that he was going to use against the enemies of God. And when we think sometimes that the wicked will prosper. I know I talked about this all to an extent.

And we do think that they prosper. And we think because of their prosperity, I can use their tactics for myself. I can use their strategies for me. The wicked are caught in their devices. I think this might have been a little bit about behind what Jesus said to Peter.

You remember in the garden, Peter drew the sword and was ready to fight. That may be a long shot, but it may be what the Lord had in mind there. Our works are not the wicked's works. Our works are God's works.

We should put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We should remember our elder brother and imitate his works. Well, David, now kind of gives us a pause. I don't know how many Psalms have meditation right in the middle of it.

But this one surely does. So let us meditate. It's like David is crying out, meditate on these things. Meditate on the judgments of God. There is a seriousness about this. This is no light subject. And we often talk about the judgment of God very lightly, don't we?

We must be humble when we think of the judgments of God. There's a seriousness to the subject. The very character of God requires punishment for sin. The wages of sin are death. We're so used to death that it doesn't even surprise us.

It's not arbitrary. God hates iniquity. He hates sin. Despite what that billboard says, he is angry with the wicked every day. And his anger is displayed in his judgment and punishment for it. In verse 17, it says here, the wicked shall be turned into hell.

Well, that word is actually sheol, the grave. But I think the translators did the right thing in saying hell. Hell is before those who are judged by God. The lake of fire, eternal punishment. This is no light thing.

Your neighbors, your friends, your relatives may have that before them. But we who are redeemed by the blood of Christ should take special note, too, that God's hatred for sin required punishment for it.

God cannot spare the guilty. He cannot just wink at sin and have it go away. No, it requires punishment. And he spared not his only son, but offered him as a propitiation for our sins. And when we read these verses that David wrote, we should meditate on that seriousness of that judgment, because if not by the grace of God, that would be us.

And this should move us to even more praise. Praise in the gates. And it should deepen the gladness and joy in our hearts. But even more so when we read the next verse, verse 18. The truth is the needy, those who need salvation, are not forgotten.

Sometimes we think the needy are forgotten. Well, sometimes they think that. They think that they are forgotten. It may only appear that way. The Lord never forgets the cause of his people. Remember, the armies of Israel had thought that God had forgotten about them.

When Goliath challenged him all those days, it required probably a teenager to remind him of that. God never forgets the poor. And we think of poor here. We shouldn't be thinking of the financially burdened or those people who have less money than others.

And we shouldn't think of the needy as those who are in want of any material goods. No, rather the poor and needy are those who are hard-pressed and afflicted by adversity. That could be us and various things and needy souls.

Often fear that they are forgotten. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt forgotten or forsaken by the Lord? Satan will tempt you to. But we must remember the words of our Lord in Hebrews 13 .5.

For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says substantially the same thing at the end of the Great Commission. And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And then it is confirmed right after that with an amen.

An amen, as you know, means whatever was just said, so be it. Let it happen. For those who wait on the Lord, and I think this is the hardest thing in the Christian life, to wait on the Lord. We live in an immediacy culture.

If it doesn't happen right away, it must not be true, right? Even in the church, we think that way. Can you imagine if the pilgrims felt that way? Half of them died on the voyage over. They get here, and it's terrible.

If they were the modern Christian, they'd say, well, I guess we ought to pack up and go. The Lord must not be in it. No, they waited on the Lord. And for those who wait on the Lord, they will find that they never waited in vain.

He has not forgotten us, and he will not forget you. What should be the result of all this that David has reviewed for us? How should we respond to these things? When we consider the past works of God, when we think of the future works that God is having, we think and consider our present troubles and trials, which God is alleviating day by day.

Or what should we think as we seek to take dominion in this world and establish a new Christendom and take Longwood for Christ? Well, as we are doing these activities, there's one thing that we know that's going to happen.