God’s Wisdom Always Prevails

Transcript

GRM 1234
01/12/2020
God's Wisdom Always Prevails
Psalm 36
Gil Rugh

We've been out of a regular study for a little bit, when we finished Ecclesiastes we looked into some psalms and then some matters related to Christmas, the coming of Christ. We're going to Psalm 36, why Psalm 36? Because the last time we did Psalm 35. So we're just taking some time to work through, we've jumped into a little later but earlier middle part of Psalms, just following through on some of these psalms.

We studied the book of Ecclesiastes, and it is categorized as wisdom literature because it gives the wisdom to live in a fallen world with God's insight, with God's direction, understanding God's work and having a proper perspective on the world and our position in the world. And in many ways these psalms sometimes are categorized, some of them, as wisdom literature. And Psalm 36 has similarities to what we studied in Ecclesiastes, for Ecclesiastes reminded us we live in a fallen world, we live in a world characterized by sin, the consequences of sin with all the difficulties that brings and ultimately death. And really we have a similar pattern in Psalm 36, it is reminding us that we live in a fallen world, reminding us of God's covenant love and the blessings and provisions He makes for us to live wisely and confidently in this world, and encourages us to seek His continued blessing and be reminded that He cares for us.

So there are three sections in this psalm, they are broken down, the three stanza. The first four verses will talk about the rebellious corruption of the wicked. We ought to take this seriously to heart, how often God brings the attention of His people back to the sinful condition of man and the world in which we live, not only that mankind come to recognize their sin and turn to the salvation God has provided, but so that we who have come into that salvation through faith in the provision of Christ will not forget the true condition of the world in which we find ourselves. So the problem that comes into the church comes from a diminishing understanding of the reality of sin and its seriousness and what that means for us. It means life will be more difficult, have more obstacles because of the opposition to our God and to us because we belong to the God they oppose. He'll remind us of God's character and that's the beauty of it and our confidence is He will continue to care for us.

This is a psalm of David, a servant of the Lord, and he is serving the Lord by being king but he puts himself in the right position. You'll also note it's for the choir director, and that's a reminder to us that this is truth given to David by God, that will be stated very clearly we'll see in a moment. But he uses David and his experiences and his life, but it's not just for David. Then the Spirit of God is directing David to record this, and then it is given to the choir director, that would be the one in charge of the music at the tabernacle, because this is to be truth that is to be conveyed to God's people. Remember they did not have their copies of the Torah or the Old Testament in any of its parts to take with them, but when they went these truths were conveyed to them in song. Just like our songs, they get implanted in our mind and its truth we end up going over. So that's how this was used, it is something not just for David or a record of David's experience, this is God's truth to enable us to live wisely in a fallen world.

We pick up with verse 1, and the first line of verse 1, let me just make some observations. It says, “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart.” And that's one way to translate what is said here and it is true biblically. The unbeliever is a transgressor in his heart because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. In Mark 7 Jesus said during His earthly ministry that it is out of the heart that all kinds of sin manifests itself. But I think perhaps a better translation, that word speaks, the second word if you are using the New American Standard Bible, is the word oracle, usually translated oracle. It is usually connected to God -- an oracle or word of Jehovah, of the Lord. And so I think perhaps what is a better translation here is that this is an oracle about transgression of the ungodly, in my heart David says. You'll note in the margin, you have a #1 before “his,” then the margin says it could be my heart. So what I think David is saying here is God has given him a word regarding the transgression of the ungodly and it has been put into David's heart. Remember Peter writes in the New Testament how we got the Old Testament, holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So this is a word from God about the transgressions of the ungodly that God put in David's heart. And David now is moved to write it so that it can be given out to God's people, first Israel at the tabernacle as people came to worship, and down to us today. So a reminder this is God's word.

And he starts with sin. We've been studying the book of Romans together on Sunday night and where does God start Paul? With the doctrine of sin. I know we as believers say, “I know about sin” and I don't think people want to hear anymore about sin. But God says what we need to know. If we are to live wisely in this fallen world, we need to remember and constantly have in mind the condition of the world and the people in this world that we rub shoulders with, that we work with, that we are involved with, what kind of world we are in. So these first four verses talk about the rebellious corruption of the unbeliever.

This transgression, that's a strong word, it can be used in a military context and often is. It is aggressive rebellion, it is just not like we might say transgression, I crossed the line here, I pulled back. No, this is something more violent, more aggressive, it's like a military conflict where an attack takes place. This is the transgression of the ungodly, the unbeliever, his aggressive rebellion against God, this is the situation in which we live. We are reminded from analogies in Old and New Testament alike about the warfare and the battle we are in, we are in a battle where unbelievers are in aggressive rebellion against God. That's what the second line reminds us of, here is the foundation of the problem, “There is no fear of God before their eyes,” they are in aggressive rebellion against God because they have no respect for Him.

This word fear, it's not the normal word used for fear, it carries us beyond just reverence and respect, they have no dread of Him. It's like an army, they view the enemy as not worthy of consideration, we'll squash them, we'll just run over them. And they have an attitude of aggressive rebellion against God because they have no fear of Him. They don't want to hear about hell, they don't want to hear about sin and judgment on sin, there is no fear there. One person who is running as a presidential candidate (I usually don't get into politics but he has made it public) claims to be married to another man, he says if you have a problem with my relationship, you have a problem with my God because He made me this way. A kind of aggressive rebellion against the true and living God, they have no respect for Him, I don't honor Him, in fact I take Him on, as we would say, if I can say this and you understand, head on. That's their aggressive rebellion; I'm open about it, I have no regard for what He says, I have no fear of what He might do. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, remember, we have mentioned this verse often, don't fear those who kill the body but have no power to destroy the soul, but you better fear Him, for after He has killed the body is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” But they have no dread of God, they don't have fear of hell. I don't believe in hell, I don't believe in a God who would send people to hell. And when they do allow reference to God, it is always in the context of what they have decided and they call on the name God to support the position they have.

“There is no fear of God before his eyes,” that's the condition of the ungodly, that's the root sin. Remember Isaiah14 and Ezekiel 28 record the rebellion of Satan, I will exalt my throne, I will, I will, I will. It's all about me, that's the root of sin, I'm in charge, I make my decisions, everything is seen as it's about me, it's about me. So they have no fear, no respect, no dread, no terror of God and the awfulness of hell. This is the basic issue of sin. Now we'll develop how it comes out from here. We understand what the root problem is, this is the problem. It's not if they were in a different environment, if they had better conditions, if we did this, if we fed them, if we clothed . . . But that's not their problem, their problem is inside here. They do not fear God.

So then we come out from there and you'll see there will be an orderly progression, if you will. He'll start what they do personally, then he'll move out to where it becomes more public, until it becomes they are the promoters of the evil. When you have no respect for God, you have no fear of Him, where do you stop? You don't, and that is the point. That's why when the church gets confused and thinks if we do this, it will change, they will think differently. You don't understand, we are denying what God says, that keeps us from living with wisdom in this world. Then we begin to do what we accuse the unbeliever of, we come up with ideas and we begin to reinterpret Scripture to fit what we think the world wants. The world has no fear of God and the description goes on. I was interested in what one commentator said -- the world is morally crazy, they are insane, really, because they are not functioning with wisdom, they are not functioning in light of the truth that God has revealed.

So here is where they go if they have no fear of God. “For it flatters him in his own eyes,” I like the way it is put here, it flatters him. We read something like that and we wonder what that means -- it flatters him in his own eyes. The word flatter gives the idea, but the word means to smooth something over and so he smooths over his sin, he doesn't confront it, it is nothing serious. Because if you have no fear of God, where do you go for an evaluation of life, of conduct, of decisions, thoughts? So this smooths it over. Flatters himself gives an idea that he is covering it over, he does not want to see his sin. Now inside there is an awareness, we've seen this in Romans, but that is stifled, continually suppressed, until it doesn't seem to even impact him at all. It flatters him, he smooths it over in his own eyes.

“Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.” He's not open to see his sin because if he saw it as God saw it, he would hate it and he doesn't want to see that. So that's why we try to come up with ways of sharing the gospel that don't start with sin, because I don't believe that, I don't see myself as a sinner, I don't think that's sin. That's what this man I mentioned, the Presidential candidate, was indicating, I don't see it as sin, you shouldn't see it as sin, my God made me this way. You see, we create our own God as Romans 1 says, we refuse to bow before the living God. But we become the center of our lives, it's all about me, all about what I want, and then I want life to be constructed around me. So it's hard to start with sin. You want to share the gospel and you say we have to begin with what God says the problem is, the problem is sin. Well, sin is not popular. We have one person who supposedly has the largest church in the country, he says you don't talk about sin, people have enough problems and trouble in their lives. Well, they do, that's why they need the Savior. They think the trouble comes to them from other things and other people and circumstances. The trouble starts on the inside, but they have smoothed it over. And when those who profess to be Christians begin to smooth it over, then they are unwilling to face it. So that's what they do concerning the discovery of iniquity. He smooths it over so he doesn't see it, doesn't want to see it, doesn't want to hear about it, doesn't want to talk about it. And the hatred of it, because sin is hateful. We still have certain sins that are considered hateful, to be hated and they are disgusting and vile. But you know that keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking because sinners join together in smoothing over. I agree, I don't think that is sin either. We smooth over and the end of Romans says we condone what they are doing and then they'll condone what we are doing and we are all smoothing over. So that's what is going on in his own mind and eyes. He has no fear of God, he smoothed it over in his thinking, in his eyes. So it's not discovered, not revealed to be sin. So it is not something to be hated.

Then “the words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit.” You know, sin doesn't remain private, it moves out. Now his words promote evil and he becomes a deceiver, you can't trust what he says, they tell lies. So we have moved out now, this is not just what is going on in his thinking and what he is doing personally, now the words of his mouth are wickedness, he is a promoter of wickedness, he is defending it, it's not really sin, it's not really wrong. He's a liar.

We see this going on, the world recognizes . . . Nobody knows who is telling the truth and who is not, and everything just gets thrown out there. I was reading something, this is not poor me, but I was just reading something that was written particularly about me. I don't know where some of that came from, I never was there, I never talked to that person. But there it is, it goes on, we see the world doing it, that's the way the world functions. You say how are they ever going to make any decisions? This person saying this, this person saying this, nobody agrees, this is where it is.

“The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit,” note, “He has ceased to be wise and to do good.” You cannot refuse to fear God and live a life of wisdom. You reject God who is the Creator, who is the Sovereign. You reject Him, don't fear Him. Like Jeremiah said they have rejected Your word, what kind of wisdom do they have? Paul starts out the Corinthians, the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, they are fools, they have no wisdom. That's why I say if we as God's people are going to live like the world, we are going to live as fools. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 9. We went back to that, it's in Proverbs 1, it's in Proverbs 9, several times when we were in Ecclesiastes, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. They have no fear of the Lord, but you don't have God's wisdom then. We don't want to go to the world for its wisdom. I'm not talking about general, God in His common grace, so to speak, has given men the ability to function, and that's fine. I used a toothbrush, I don't know whether it was made by a believer or unbeliever, I'm glad they made the toothbrush and the toothpaste. I'm glad somebody planted the food and harvested it, and they may not have been a believer. God gives obviously basic certain abilities.

But the wisdom to live life wisely as the Creator intends and guides. “He has ceased to be wise and to do good,” he just can't do it. We are back to the original problem -- there is no fear of God before his eyes. Education doesn't do it, some of those most open in having no fear of God have the most education. I'm not attacking education per se, but it's not the solution. So they have ceased to be wise, to do good. So the words of his mouth, he has no longer . . . It has moved out from just his opinion, his thinking, it has moved out now to what he does, what he says. The words of his mouth, he is not wise, he doesn't do good and righteous things.

And then the third, verse 4, “He plans wickedness upon his bed.” Now it's not only what is in his heart, it's not only what he talks about and the deceit he does, he's planning for it to be carried out. Now this becomes a spreading objective. “He plans wickedness upon his bed.” You know, Psalm 1 started out where the believer, the godly man, meditates upon God and His Word in the night. The wicked are doing their scheming, how can I do this, how can I do that, so he is now an aggressor himself. “He sets himself on a path that is not good, he does not despise evil.” You cannot put the two together. The person who has no fear of God does not despise evil; I realize certain things, oh, that is terrible, but that's just because they are not practicing it yet. Look at the change that has occurred, some of you have white hair, the change that has occurred in your life. Certain things that were viewed by the whole country as unacceptable, despicable, worthy of punishment, are now promoted as right and good, and anybody who speaks against it is a bad person. So it is all subjective and relative. The world, they have no secure foundation like you have when you are anchored in God and His truth.

So that's the condition of the world. Now the challenge is, this is the world we live in, and if we don't stay firmly clear in our understanding of sin, it permeates. There are only two kinds of people in the world, Jesus used it in Matthew 13, the wheat and the tares. If you are not with Me you are against Me, Jesus said. It's constant. We like to blur things. There are only two kinds—the children of God and the children of the devil. Now we live in this fallen world that lives under the control, keep it in the context, of the god of this world, the devil. He has been given authority by God because of sin and Jesus said in John 8 his people, the devil's people, do the will of the devil, he is their father, they manifest his character. That's why this aggressive rebellion against God and it can come disguised as something nice, it can come disguised as a believer. The New Testament deals with this, Israel had the problem, God's people get interspersed with unbelievers and now there is going to be friction, there is going to be conflict, just has to happen. We have to come back to what does the Scripture say.

So that's the condition of the people of the world, the people around us. They are self-centered, they see everything in light of themselves and you can never do enough for them. So it's not that the church doesn't do this, the church doesn't do that, I knew a Christian and he didn't do this. Of course, you are always looking at me. That's the world, because God is not in their thinking. That's what he said.

Now he is going to contrast, and you might think, let's draw a contrast with the ungodly person and the godly person, the unrighteous person and the righteous person. But he doesn't, he draws a contrast between the ungodly and the character of God because that is the issue. This is the God they do not fear, this is the God they are in aggressive rebellion against, they are fighting against Him and the manifestation of His character.

So verse 5 begins, “Your lovingkindness, oh, Lord.” And that word lovingkindness, before I say more about it, is a key word. The word in verse 5, lovingkindness; down in verse 7, “how precious is your lovingkindness, oh God,” come down to verse 10, “Oh continue your lovingkindness.” Now that becomes the key word here as we talk about God's character, God's attributes. Here it is His covenant love. Lovingkindness is a normal translation of it in our Bible, it's the Hebrew word hesed. Some of you take Hebrew, studying Hebrew, h-e-s-e-d is how we bring it over. My Hebrew professor, I can still hear him trying to help us. When you learn a language and you learn it later in life, it is often harder. Certain sounds, it is hard for you to get right. He was always trying to tell us you have to roll that in your throat, it's not an English “h,” hesed it's hesed. I never did get it but I still passed his class, just by grace. Has nothing to do with that, I always thing of it when I think of the word hesed, his struggling with us. You guys get it right, you have to learn to do the Hebrew “h.”

At any rate it really is a word that means covenant love, sometimes loyal love. It is particularly God's love for His people and here His attributes and characteristics become fully displayed. And all that we enjoy is based on this love that God enters into relationship with us, it is a love relationship initiated by Him. We love because He first loved us. So you are going to see four attributes of God here—lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, judgments. In my Bible they are right under one another, probably in your translation as well. And they are all Your lovingkindness, Your faithfulness, Your righteousness, Your judgments. It's God's love for His people that rescued them from the condition of verses 1-4 to now be part of God's family, be God's people in a covenant love relationship. “And your lovingkindness, oh Lord, extends to the heavens,” in line 2, “Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” The point is it is limitless, it can't be measured. The wickedness in verse 4 can only be overcome by the lovingkindness, the covenant love, of God. We sing a song grace, grace, grace greater than our sin. That's true with love, His love, love greater than our sin. It's the loyal love, the covenant love of God, it extends to the heavens. “Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” You put those two together because God's attributes interlock with one another because they are His, because He is God, they cannot be broken off or removed. So He is a faithful, covenant loving God, He is the God who keeps His word, keeps His promises. How do I know I am going to heaven when I die? God promised. Yes, but people change their minds. But God doesn't, not in that sense, He keeps His promise. That's why there is a future for Israel. Doesn't matter, everything else might change but God says My promises to Israel will not change, His promises to us will not change. He is the God who cannot lie, His very character is defined by faithfulness, He keeps His word, He is the God who is true. So He is the faithful covenant loving God, if you will.

In verse 6, “Your righteousness is like the mountains.” Righteousness, God always acts consistently with His character. Remember Abraham when God appeared, the angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “I'm going down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.” And righteous Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham asked God, “You won't destroy the righteous with the wicked, will you?” Do you know why he talks to God that way? Not to remind God of something He has forgotten, not to challenge God, but God, You keep Your word and You wouldn't destroy the righteous with the wicked, so You won't destroy it if there are . . . And he keeps working down until he thinks he has a small enough number but he didn't realize how bad it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. But God doesn't destroy the righteous with the wicked, He rescues Lot. Why? He's a righteous God. Abraham said, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” And you'll note the connection here of righteousness and judgments.

These attributes he pins together—lovingkindness, covenant love and faithfulness, it is ongoing; righteousness and judgments, decisions, they go together because God's decisions are always righteous. Not because there is an external standard that He must meet, but because He is the standard. That's what Abraham brought before Him -- You are the judge of all the earth, You make the decisions. What would the world be if He didn't make right decisions, just decisions? So keep coming in prayer to God, but he's coming in prayer not to tell God, but again to ask God to act consistently with His attributes, which God always does. So there are righteous decisions. Keep that in mind, there is no fear of God before their eyes, verse 1, but He is the God who makes righteous judgments, His decision will be right. The Great White Throne will happen and there will be a judgment, men and women will be sentenced to an eternal hell. Why? Because God is righteous in His judgments, He is faithful, He will do what He promised.

So there is His character. “Oh, Lord, You preserve man and beast.” We are here today, the unbeliever has an idea the world is going to end. We have twelve years, it will be climate control; we have ten years, it will be this; the asteroids are coming. There is an element of truth, disaster is on its way, we've studied the book of Revelation, we know that's true because God said it. Doesn't have anything to do with their foolishness, and they can't do anything about it. God preserves man and beast, He is in charge. We saw this in Ecclesiastes, remember, God is in charge of the time and the events that take place within the time. So he is preserved. Here we are, David wrote this 1000 years before Christ, we're 2000 years later. Three thousand years, nothing changed. The character of the unbeliever, verses 1-4, is the same; the character of God is the same. And He has preserved man and beast, here we are. There would have been times when plagues came across the world and you wonder would anybody survive. The days of Noah, only eight people made it and the animals. Maybe that's in the back of David's mind, He preserved man and beast. And there He did, He preserved Noah and his family and the beasts through the flood, they didn't drown. Why? Because it operates on God's timetable and the events for that time. So You preserve man and beast. Man doesn't recognize it, doesn't acknowledge it. Your next breath is because of the grace of God. Why isn't this world destroyed? Why isn't there a nuclear holocaust that envelops the world and it is over? God preserves man and beast.

Now he comes back to that lovingkindness, he has mentioned it here, but you have to bring it down personally. “How precious is Your lovingkindness, oh God, and the children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Those who have Your covenant love are gathered by You to Yourself and You provide their protection, You provide their security. So this is the balance to verses 1-4, this is the world we live in. It's not we're going to fix the world, we live with wisdom because we know the God who rules in this world. And we belong to Him, and we are in a covenant love relationship with Him, the new covenant, the aspect that we as children of men can take refuge. This is where the sinner needs to come. Come, recognize, stop the rebellion against God, stop the refusal to fear God, recognize He is God, you can't fight against Him and win. You will go to hell, you are lost no matter what you think. You have to think what God has said, realize it is true, you can take refuge. That's where those who are in relationship with God, we fear what's going on in the world. Maybe the climate is going to get worse, maybe that's going to be part of the judgments of the tribulation because the rapture is going to happen next week and the tribulation will be underway. I don't know. Then there will be climate change, and there will be mass starvation, and there will be wars, and there will be plagues, and the animals will be going crazy. Some day, they keep saying it, they used to make fun of us as Christians because we would say the world is going to end. Now they are the ones saying it. The world is upside down. We know what is true, but I know it won't happen until it is God's time for it to happen. And they are not able to take control. We do this, we do this, we'll prevent it from happening. You will not prevent the seven years that are coming. Have your meetings, but . . .

We take refuge in our God. What would He do? Aren't you afraid? What if a nuclear weapon goes off? What if the climate changes and the United States becomes a starvation country? What if? Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? Don't worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of its own. God takes care of the flowers of the field, Solomon didn't have that kind of beauty. The birds of the air, they don't do planting and harvesting, they eat what You plant and harvest. God takes care of them. So why should I worry, why should I fret? Take your shelter. If you are outside of that, then you ought to be afraid, you are on your way to hell. You could drive out of here and a drunk who had been out on an all-night binge could run into you and kill you and you would be in eternity and there would be no coming back.

“They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.” In other words, God abundantly provides for His people, His children, that's the point. “They drink their fill of the abundance of Your houseand You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.” Now with His wisdom we function in the world. But as the world gets crazier and crazier, we need to be careful we don't get caught up in the craziness. You get bombarded, it's on the news all the time, the programs are promoting it, and the church and believers become more and more openly under attack. You think, “I don't want to be thought of as narrow, I don't want to be thought of as unloving, I don't want people to think we don't care.” I can't change them. The best advice, the line I've never forgotten from one of my professors in seminary who was teaching us homiletics, preaching, he says, “Gentlemen, never forget, you are not the Holy Spirit.” We forget that easily. I'm not the Holy Spirit, I can't change someone else's life, I can't change their hearts. I can just bring them the truth, beg them to come to Christ, but I can't make their decision, you can't make their decision. Well, I'll fix things, then they will want to come. That doesn't mean I won’t be helpful, my neighbor's car breaks down, maybe I can help, you help, that's fine. But to think this is going to get them to heaven . . . I may be building a relationship talking to them, that's fine. But we have to get to the root problem, they have no fear of God, they have to come into covenant relationship with Him to experience His covenant love through faith in Jesus Christ who made possible that relationship.

And then He meets my need. I don't know, like we sing, I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future. But it is easy to forget that as a believer and begin to worry about the future. If God holds it, if He appoints the time and the events of the time and He has everything under control, what do I have to fear? He'll give you what you need, so trust Him.

“For with you,” God, and so you see the prayer of David as he goes “Oh, Lord, you preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, oh God! For with you is the fountain of life,” verse 9, “In Your light we see light.” You see these concepts? They get brought out and expanded in the New Testament. John is a favorite in dealing with life and light. In John 1:4, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” Light and life go together. Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. We are part of the deceiving group in the first four verses because believers have been brought out of darkness into light. Light is the knowledge of God and His truth and His working, that's why we can walk with wisdom. Without Him you live in darkness, spiritual darkness. You need the light of the glory of Christ to shine into your darkened heart. No longer does life revolve around you and your thinking and your ideas and your desires. It revolves around Him, the beauty of His person, the wonder of who He is and what He has done for you.

And then the prayer, “Oh continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You.” He will, but it's like Abraham asking God. In prayer you come and ask God to do what He said He would do, and He will. “Continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.” Again see he has brought lovingkindness, covenant love and righteousness back together again. He is the God who does righteousness, His decisions will be right because He is faithful, because we are in His covenant love. “Your righteousness to the upright of heart,” He continues to do what He has promised to us and for us, that's His work.

“Let not the foot of pride come upon me, let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.” The first four verses, remember Jesus said and it's easy to forget, if they have hated Me they will hate you. He didn't say if they have hated Me they may hate you, He said they will hate you. Now we take God at His word. That means we should not be crushed and taken back and overwhelmed when we realize unbelievers don't like us. And being a professing believer doesn't cover it. Unbelievers can infiltrate the church and still hate the believers in the church. We want to be careful because if we are not we begin to get influenced where we shouldn't get influenced, and then we get steered off track. This is true, this is what happens in Israel. That's why you have the prophetic books, and the prophetic books can become a burden because they are always talking about sin. Do you know why? The nation Israel had become populated with unbelievers, just like happens to churches. As time goes on more unbelievers find their way to fit in and so less of the truth of God is clearly taught lest they become uncomfortable. Now they don't say I'm uncomfortable with the Word of God, they just want the church's emphasis to change somewhat. And pretty soon the unbelief spreads and the believer thinks they are friends, we surely don't want to have a division, and we surely don't want . . . and on and on and then we're going to smooth things over. We want to be careful and take the Word of God seriously. Don't go out and say Gil was attacking people who left Indian Hills or ever said anything critical about him. No, we just have to be careful. In little ways, the devil doesn't just barge through here. Our biggest issues as a church haven't come from the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the cults, for somehow it comes from within. Now God will have to sort out who is who and what is what. But you know part of what is a concern, and it's a concern to every pastor and teacher, that we not lose our grasp and hold tight to the Word of God. In conflict we get irritated with the Word. One person said don't talk to me anymore about forgiveness. You don't tell the Lord to be quiet, so we will talk about what the Lord says. Don't talk to me anymore about sin, I have enough problems in my life. Yes, you do, the number one problem is you, sin.

We go through these and we don't want to go through these passages and say that was a nice psalm, that was good. What are we going to do now, what do we put into practice? I've shared with you before, one pastor that many of you know, not personally but you have benefited from his ministry, he and I were talking and he said Gil, “Do you ever want to quit?” “Not me, I'm too spiritual.” He said, “Sometimes I just want to quit, I don't want to do this anymore. Sometimes I think nobody is learning anything. We get into a conflict and people act like they never learned anything and they do just the opposite of what I've tried to teach.” We don't want to be those kinds of people, we don't want to be one of those people.

So God's lovingkindness is faithfulness, that is always sure and secure, that's why we want to run to His Word, take hold of it. I don't care what my friends do, I don't even care what my family does. Number one, I care what God would have me do and I have to go to His Word and that's what it says. “Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.” They may oppose, their aggressive opposition may discourage me, sometimes I think I'm going to lose. Lord, sometimes I pray, “Lord, only You can keep Your church from being destroyed.” We go through that. That's what he is talking about, those in verses 1-4, their aggressive rebellion against God manifests itself by their aggressive rebellion against God's people. They are not just sitting in their backyard, raising their fist against God, that's not how the devil works. Even among Christ's disciples there was Judas and he ended up being an unbeliever. And then Peter stumbled and God has to say, “You are letting Satan control your mouth.” We don't want to get into that position. He is asking here don't let the ungodly, the foot of pride. Remember, some of you have done the Bible and the studies and in those Old Testament times sometimes when a king conquered another king they would bring that defeated king and he would have to bow down before him and that victorious king would put his foot on the neck and head of that defeated king. It was to humiliate him and show his victory, that's what he is praying, “Let not the foot of pride come upon me.” That's the foot of these unbelievers who are acting in pride because remember it is all about them. They don't fear God, it's all about me, what I think, how I want it to be, how I see things.

“Let not the hand of the wicked drive me away,” we're not going to be turned into cowards. Remember Paul told Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of cowardice. Doesn't mean Timothy was a coward but we all have to be reminded, God has not given us a spirit of cowardice. I have noted in many years of ministry, certain battles a person can stand strong, in certain battles they wilt. I want to be careful, I want to be strong in every battle, I don't want to say I was strong in most of the battles, but I was a coward in this one. “Let not the hand of the wicked drive me away,” I want to stand firm and be faithful.

And a reminder as we close it out. “There the doers of iniquity have fallen; they have been thrust down and cannot rise.” You'll note verse 12 is in a perfect tense, sometimes we call it the prophetic past. Verses 1-4 are realities to this day. Verse 12, there have been examples of this down through history as God rescues His people, but the ultimate deliverance is yet future. So what he says David can testify to because he has experienced that. And some of his enemies have been defeated and fallen and they are gone. But the battle goes on and the ultimate victory is yet future because 3000 years have passed since David wrote this and God has defeated enemies so that we are still here today. The people of God have not been annihilated, Israel has been put under judgment but the lovingkindness and the covenant love of God continues through the finished work of Christ where it seems there was a defeat, but it was the greatest victory. A Savior has come and been provided.

So as the prophets often do, the ultimate victory is yet and the defeat of the enemy, but it is spoken in the past because remember God is faithful and He cannot lie. When God tells you there is going to be a Great White Throne judgment and people will be sentenced to hell it is as good as done. So the Bible often speaks of prophecies in the past tense, here in this perfect tense it has happened and it continues to happen and it will ultimately culminate.

So you and I are here, we have to deal with verses 1-4, this is the world in which we live. Don't forget that, don't forget that the unbeliever can have a different veneer but the unbeliever is the unbeliever. Now we can care for them, we are concerned for them, we remember we were just like them. We don't want to become like them again. Our attention is on God, His grace, His love for us, His attributes secure us and the provision He makes for us. And then we come and talk to Him and what do I ask God? I ask for You to continue to do for me what You have done, I ask that because that is what You have promised to do. I come acknowledging that You have done more than I have asked and when I am in situations I say, “Lord, You have promised to care for me and I ask again that Your care will be sufficient for me. And don't let me waiver and don't let me be weak.” This is the way we live with wisdom in the world and we want to live that way day by day.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, no matter how long we have experienced Your saving grace, Your love provided to us in Christ, yet we need to be reminded that You know our frame, we are but dust. You know every situation seems to present to us a new challenge. Sometimes we act like we are starting fresh over. Lord, we need to be reminded that You have been faithful again and again and again, and You will again and again and again. Lord, may we not be discouraged or disheartened as we live in a world that becomes more open and blatant in its aggressive rebellion against You. May we be proud to be identified with Christ, to have the opposition that comes because of a hatred of You. Lord, may we rejoice in Your abundant provision. As always You are a good God and You meet our every need and ultimately we will share in the ultimate victory and rule and reign with Christ. Bless this day and the truth of Your Word in our lives. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.