When My Foot Slips

Amen. Well, church, if you can turn to Psalm chapter 94 and we're going to do a reading from verses 1 through 19.

So as soon as you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word. Hear ye this afternoon the

Word of the Lord. O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth, rise up,

O judge of the earth. Repay to the proud what they deserve. O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?

They pour out their arrogant words, all the evildoers boast. They crush your people,

O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and the murder, and murder the fatherless.

And they say the Lord does not see, the God of Jacob does not perceive. Understand, O doerless of the people, fools, when will you be wise?

He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplined the nations, does he not rebuke?

He who teaches man knowledge, the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.

Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from the days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

For the Lord will not forsake his people, he would not abandon his heritage. For justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?

If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would not have lived in the land of silence.

When I thought, my foot slips, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.

When the cares of my heart are many, your consolation, cheer my soul.

You may be seated. Well, Heavenly Father, we do come in this time calling on the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that our consolation is near, that comfort has been bought and purchased by the blood of Jesus, so that we can approach you this afternoon with all boldness, with all hindrance, knowing,

Lord, that the price for our sins have been paid, knowing, God, that you are a righteous God, a

God even of vengeance. We pray, God, that your will be done in this place, and we ask it in Christ's name.

Amen. Well, today's message is, it's called,

When My Foot Slips. Here in this psalm, in Psalm 94, you begin to see with the psalmist, with his outpouring of his heart, and we don't know exactly who this psalmist was, but we know that whatever it is, who he is, we know that he went through a tremendous amount of grief and pain and sorrow, so much so that the psalmist cries out to Yahweh the

Lord, and he calls upon him as the God of vengeance, a

God of vengeance. Beloved, I would submit to you this afternoon that sometimes we forget exactly who

God is, and at times it is appropriate to remind ourselves that the

God that we know, the God that we serve, the one whom we've drawn near to through the blood of Jesus, is indeed a

God of vengeance. It is still true, even in the New Testament, for even the book of Hebrew says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. It is a fearful thing, because our God is one of vengeance, and here the psalmist says in verse 1 again,

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth, shine forth.

We begin to see why he's calling for this vengeance of God to shine forth.

He says in verse 2, Rise up, O judge of the earth, repay to the proud what they deserve.

He says in verse 3, O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?

You see the double emphasis from the psalmist here? He's repeating himself. This is a something that is common within Judaism and Jewish circles.

You would give that double emphasis. He says, how long, how long shall the wicked exult?

They pour out their arrogant words, all the evildoers boast. And then

I think we get to the heart of the offense that the psalmist is calling for God's vengeance to come upon.

He says in verse 5, They crush your people,

O Lord, and afflict your heritage. The psalmist is calling on God, the

God of vengeance, to come forth and to defend his people, to defend his people.

You see, in ancient times, God's people Israel went through many great difficulties, even while they were in the wilderness, even as they inherited the land and throughout the generations of kings that came.

They oftentimes had much persecution, much difficulty, many trials. And God's word to us this afternoon reminds us that God is not unaware of the hurt, the pain, and the trials of his people.

And it is appropriate even to call upon the God, the God of vengeance, to execute justice to the wicked, to the proud, to those who would harm his heritage.

Obviously, clearly the immediate context of this text, the heritage is a reference to to the people of Israel, and yet today we stand here, brothers and sisters,

Jew and Gentiles, members of the one body that God has reconciled through Jesus Christ. We are indeed his heritage.

You, beloved, are the heritage of Almighty God. He has placed his name on you through Jesus Christ.

He knows your affliction. He knows your trials. He knows those who cursed you. He knows those who have maligned you, those who have persecuted you.

He is not unaware of all the trials that you've gone through.

Thus, we see this continuation in verse 6. He says they kill the widow and the sojourner and murder the fatherless.

Great injustices here. Great injustices. Does it anger you?

Does it rile you up? Does it stir your spirit when you see injustices in this world?

And even more so when you see injustice against God's people.

You see, in this country we were so blessed, even though we are in a divided country, in a divided time, in unprecedented times in this nation's history.

We do not have to contend nearly with the amount of persecution as brothers and sisters around the world, where you have oppressive governments, political parties, religious opposition that rises against the saints to cause them to be oppressed, to cause the widow to be murdered, and the sojourner and the fatherless.

And notice the response from the wicked and from the proud in verse 7. And they say, the Lord does not see.

That is to say that the one of the responses that the world will give you when you are in the midst of trial, in the midst of tribulation, in the midst of persecution, is they say, ha, you see,

God doesn't care about you. God doesn't see. He doesn't care about your pain.

He's not worried about you. He doesn't see. He doesn't hear you when you cry out.

That's so often the go -to to those who persecute God's people, is they go to a position of doubt and faithlessness.

And they say, the God of Jacob doesn't hear you. He doesn't see. He doesn't perceive. And yet notice the response that the psalmist gives in verse 8.

He says, understand all dullest of the people. Think of what that means to be dull.

Think of a dull knife. Is a dull knife good to cut something of significance like a big juicy steak or cut through a chicken thigh?

Not at all. A dull knife isn't able to cut, isn't able to perceive.

And God says of those who would claim that God, the God of Jacob, does not listen, that he does not see, that he does not perceive.

He calls them the dullest of people. Calls them fools. He says, fools, when will you be wise?

When, in other words, will you comprehend? When will you get it that the God of Jacob, that the

God of Scripture, indeed is not dumb or blind? He is not the one who is unaware of the sufferings of his people.

And you need to know that today and be assured of this, dear saint. God is not unaware of your trials.

He's not unaware of your tribulations. He's not unaware of your circumstance. And he's not unaware of your sin.

Which is why the response continues in verse 9. He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see? Clearly a rebuttal to this nonsensical response from the wicked.

To say that God doesn't hear, that God doesn't see. One of the things that we also see in this psalm, again to bring your attention back to verse 3 again, it says the righteous cry out and say, oh

Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? There's a very similar cry that we see in Revelation chapter 6.

With the souls underneath the altar of those who've been martyred for the witness and testimony of Jesus.

And they too cry out, oh sovereign Lord, until when? Holy and true.

Will you not judge and avenge our blood? The plea of the New Testament saints, the martyrs.

Very similar to the cry of the psalmist. Oh Lord, oh

Lord, how long? How long before the wicked are no more?

How long before you execute judgment? How long before you bring justice to your people?

And we see in the response of the psalmist when he says he who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see? That is to say that God again is not unaware and in fact he is actively working out his justice as the

God of vengeance, as the God of peace for his people. It goes on to say in verse 10, he who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?

Does he not rebuke? If you know anything about redemptive history and you look at the overarching narrative of the

Bible, you see that God is constantly at work, not only with Israel, his people, but also with the

Gentile power nations across all the world. And the nations, though they have not perceived or known or come to fully know that Yahweh is

God, that Yahweh is the true and proper sovereign Lord of history and of the nations, all things are still under the dominion of God.

And God rules even in the midst of the wicked. Even the unbelieving nations are being disciplined by the

Lord. And so when we see things happening to unbelieving nations, where they have conflict, a war, crippled economies, that is indeed, in fact, a judgment from the living

God onto an unbelieving people and nation. If God is at work amongst his people, he's also at work amongst the heathen, and if he's at work amongst the heathen, how much more at work is he amongst his own people?

Surely the Lord has eyes to see, he has ears to hear, and the

Lord God of Israel even disciplines the nations. He who teaches man's knowledge, the

Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. Understand who and what you are.

As a son and daughter of Adam, our life is but a vapor, the

Bible says in James. You're like a mist that's here one moment and then gone the next.

You're like the flower of the field that quickly sprouts and then quickly withers away.

What is your life, oh man? What is your life? Indeed, the

Lord, the one who teaches man knowledge, the one who edifies, the one who conducts holiness and righteousness in his people, this

God, this Yahweh, is the one who formed you and he knows your thoughts.

Now that could be either a scary thing or a welcoming thing. There's a phrase that the world uses often to avoid judgment, to avoid criticism, and it goes a little like this, maybe you heard it in a rap song or one or two times, and it goes kind of like this, only

God can judge me. You ever heard that one before? Right? And usually it's in the context of someone saying, well you can't judge me.

You can't cast, you know, your judgment on me because you're not God. Only God can judge me.

And while that is true, ultimately God is the judge, that should not be a cover for us to run and continue to sin.

Instead, that should send a shiver down the spine of every single person, knowing that yes, indeed, it is the

Lord who will judge. And he is the one who has eyes to see and he sees everything.

He indeed has ears and he hears everything. And there is no one or nothing that will escape his judgment, his vengeance, his power.

And so for that reason, we understand that yes, God is the judge, but you, oh man, are but a breath.

You are but a vapor. Here one moment and then gone the next. Now in verse 12, we see what could be a form of comfort or judgment depending on your circumstance and situation.

It says, blessed is the man whom you discipline, oh

Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. Notice how it starts after we receive this rebuke of the wicked, saying that God indeed does hear,

God indeed does hear and see and provide discipline and judgment.

But it says, blessed is the man whom you discipline, oh

Lord. Most people don't view discipline as a form of blessing.

Most people don't think that to be disciplined is a form of love, especially in the culture, in the world that we live in today, where instead of being rebuked, we only want to be affirmed, right?

Which is why we have such nonsense in our culture today, where people can be whatever they want to be.

You know, if they want to be the opposite gender, they can be. If they want to be, you know, role play as a cat, they can be that too.

It's whatever they want to be and whoever they want to be, whenever they want to be. And the job of the culture is not to rebuke, it's not to correct, but instead just to affirm.

It's to affirm. There was a wonderful documentary I saw over the weekend called,

What is a Woman? by conservative commentator Matt Walsh. And in that documentary, he interviewed lots of people on the streets, the streets of New York, LA, Hollywood, and just with his very simple question, what is a woman?

And most people could not answer that. And they say, well, a woman is whatever, whatever people want it to be, whatever it means to you.

It's so, everything is so subjective and jelly -like in our culture. Truth has been trampled on in the public square.

No longer do we want to be told the truth, instead we want to be comforted with a lie.

And that's the world that we live in. God will bring judgment upon this nation and upon this culture for such godlessness, for such error, for such proud haughtiness to think that they can rewrite what

God has ordained in nature and in Holy Scripture. But for you,

O man of God, for you, O woman of God, blessed is the man whom you discipline,

O Lord. You see, as Christians, our aim is not always to be affirmed, our aim is not always to be coddled, but our aim is to be reproved and rebuked and even disciplined for the sake of your holiness, for the sake of your holiness.

Discipline, as we see elsewhere in Scripture, does not always feel good. It's not meant to.

In fact, instead it's more like a refining fire. And a refining fire, if you were to be a piece of clay inside of that hot furnace where that clay is being formed, if the clay had a mind, if the clay had a mouth, it would probably say, oh it hurts, it burns, this is not comfortable.

And yet, the potter is at work, and the potter is making a masterpiece out of that which is in the fire, that which is being refined.

And so, brothers and sisters, know this, that if you are disciplined by the Lord, it is indeed a loving act, and it is a display of his mercy and kindness towards you.

He doesn't discipline those whom he does not love. He disciplines those whom he does love, and he demonstrates his love through his discipline.

Now, his discipline is not like that of an abusive father. It's not like that of a dictator who will discipline his underlings who do not listen to him.

But instead, this is the discipline of a tender, loving, affectionate father who knows your trials, who knows what you're going through.

He has ears to hear, and he has eyes to see. He knows your circumstance.

And yet, he loves you. And in his love, he will reprove you, and discipline you, and make you into the man and woman that he has predestined you to be through faith in Jesus Christ.

It says in verse 13 to give him rest from the days of trouble. You see, discipline produces in us a teaching, learning, and application of the law.

And it also gives rest from the days of trouble. This is a type of rest that we all ought to know, cherish, and receive.

It's this rest not just in the absence of work, but it's in the enjoyment of the work that he is doing in us.

And discipline is indeed one of the works that God is working out in his people and through us. For though we are in Christ Jesus, yet we have a flesh that we fall short, we sin.

Sometimes our foot slips, and we do not go about the way that we ought to. But there's an assurance here that is given to us in Scripture and in God's Word.

Again, verse 13 says to give him rest from the days of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked. That is to say, that God is going to be at work in you, comforting you, bringing you peace, until judgment is brought upon the wicked, and that they shall surely come.

Sometimes when we look at the world, we may think, why is God delaying? Why is there judgment?

Why don't we see God act now, and he will act in his own due time.

He shall act, he shall bring judgment upon the nations. But vengeance is not ours.

Vengeance is God's vengeance. Vengeance is his, saith the Lord. And so we do not take vengeance into our own hands, instead we patiently wait for God to administer justice.

Verse 14 says, for the Lord will not forsake his people. Here's what you need to know this morning, or this afternoon.

God will not forsake you, his people. He shall not forsake you.

He will not abandon his heritage. You are indeed his heritage, because the Bible says in the

New Testament in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 that you were bought with a price. You are his holy, treasured, prized possession.

So much so that he sent his son Jesus Christ in the fullness of time, born of the Virgin, to die the death that we deserve, and was raised again on the third day, so that you and I can one day be raised with him in glory.

You are indeed the heritage of the Lord, and he will not forsake his people. He won't turn his back on you.

And it says in verse 15, for the righteous will return, for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Now here's where I want to, it's like we can close this portion soon.

It says in verse 16, who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?

If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

Again, this is a plea to the God of vengeance, that if God had not been my help, if God has not been my shelter, my high and strong tower, surely, the psalmist said,

I would have found myself, my soul in the depths of silence. That is likely a reference to Sheol, the grave.

And he goes on to say in verse 18, when I thought my foot slips, your steadfast love,

O Lord, held me up. Beloved, in this life, in this fallen nature, in this flesh that we live and contend with, there will be times when your foot will slip.

Your foot will slip off the right and righteous path. Your foot may slide backwards and you may find yourselves wayward.

Your foot may slip in such a way that it can even be detrimental to your spiritual growth and sanctification.

But brothers and sisters, know this, the steadfast love of the

Lord will hold you up. He will hold you, even when there's nothing else holding you, when you feel like you've come to the end of yourself, when you feel like you have sinned so greatly that there's no way

I can come back from this, that there's no grace, there's no forgiveness. Understand this, that God's love,

God's grace is bigger than your sins. He's bigger than your mind,

He's bigger than your heart, and He's bigger than any one of you, because God's love for you is steadfast.

Understand what that word means. To be steadfast means to be sure, means to be unmovable, unshakable.

It is steadfast, cannot be shaken out of place. Though our sins may want to shake us out of our place, though our foot may slip,

God's steadfast love will hold you till the end. This is indeed not a a word to say that, oh well, if we sin, grace may abound.

It's not what we're saying at all. This is not a grace may abound scenario, in that we can just continue to sin.

But we understand this, we have this sure hope in Scripture, that when we do sin, we have an advocate.

And this advocate will love you, shelter you, be with you, and he'll plead your case.

Not to bring this in, you know, too much to the forefront, but we just all witnessed something in our culture with this

Johnny Depp courtroom case. Yeah, you didn't think you'd hear the preacher mentioned his name, did you?

But you have this incredible scenario with this court case, and what was interesting is,

I didn't pay too much attention to it, except for the little clips on social media, but what was interesting was when

I saw the relationship that Johnny Depp had with his lawyers, and how his lawyers were just being so determined to make, to defend him, to make his case, and then they would embrace each other.

And you saw this trust between the client and his attorney, his defender, his advocate.

And I want you to know that even greater, even more so, is the love of the advocate towards you, that Jesus Christ will plead your case.

And though in our flesh we have no case to plead, we thank God for the gospel.

Because in the gospel, our case is this, I have no righteousness to bring,

I have nothing intrinsically in me that is any good, for the scripture says, in my flesh there is nothing good in me, but I plead only the blood of Jesus.

And the blood of Jesus is sufficient, and it's sufficient for you, and for me, and for any and every sin that we could possibly commit.

His grace, his blood is sufficient unto us. And I'll leave you with this final text, and may these words from the psalmist ring true with us as we go out to pray together, where it says in verse 19, when the cares of my heart are many.

I don't know where you are this afternoon, maybe there's something weighing you down, maybe there's a sin in your life, maybe there's a conflict in your life, maybe there's unresolved business in your life, and you feel weighed down by the concerns and anxiety of this life.

Know this, that when the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

May you receive the consolation and cheer of Almighty God, even the God of vengeance, who will plead your case.

Let me pray. Benevolent, sovereign

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are indeed our High Priest, our Advocate with the

Father, the one who pleads our case before the throne of mercy and grace. God, I pray that you would enable in us an opportunity to come and pray, to come humble ourselves before your mighty hand, to declare with our lips that though you be the

God of vengeance, you're also the God of steadfast love and grace. May we not receive the vengeance or wrath that is fully and duly due to us, but instead,

Lord, may you meet us with steadfast love and consolation, even consolation for our soul, that if our foot slips, your steadfast love will hold us up.