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Please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 11 as we continue to go through the Psalter, the Psalms of David. Psalm 11, I'll begin reading in verse 1. To the chief musician, a psalm of David. In the Lord I put my trust. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain?

For look, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain coals. Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your glory manifested, revealed to us in the created order. We thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for that glory revealed in the redemptive order in that empty tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. the reality that He sits enthroned now at your right hand, and that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We bless you for these truths.

Help us to live in light of these truths. For any and all here dead in their trespasses and sins, you would awaken them by these truths according to the power of the Holy Spirit and bring them forth. to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And for your people, for all of us, God, would you encourage our hearts, would you build us up in our most holy faith, and may you help us to learn the lesson of what we find here in Psalm 11. Forgive us now, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, as we have seen in these first 10 Psalms, and the 11th is like unto them, there is a clear and recurring theme. We see the righteous God will bring judgment upon lawless and wicked men. In fact, Christopher Ashe, in his commentary on the Psalms, says at this Psalm, the Lord who sees, rules, and judges the wicked in Psalm 10, verses 14 to 18, sees, judges, and rules them also in Psalm 11. The language of punishment by fire and sulfur in 11.6 is echoed in the book of Revelation in the wider context of judgment on those who oppose the Lamb and His people. Now, I would gather that it's not usually the case for churches, and I think it should be, to sing psalms like Psalm 11 at the outset of worship, calling down God's wrath upon His enemies. But brethren, that's what we see here in these first 11 psalms. This is to encourage the people of God, and in this particular psalm, it is to give courage and strength to the one who prays this particular psalm.

As we look at Psalm 11, I think it breaks down into two major sections. First, the temptation of the psalmist in verses 1 to 3, and then secondly, the fortification of the psalmist in verses 4 to 7. And the temptation is simple. It is a temptation to abdicate. It is a temptation to stop following. It is a temptation to stop trusting in the Lord. And in verses 4 to 7, he speaks to his soul and gives himself the reasons not to do that, not to succumb to that particular temptation.

So let's look first at this temptation of the psalmist in verses one to three, and notice after the superscription to the chief musician, a psalm of David, which is verse one in the Hebrew text, and if we are troubled singing Psalm 11, note that this particular psalm was written and it was presented to the chief musician. It was in fact a psalm of David to be sung in corporate worship, to be sung amongst the people of God. When David says in Psalm 122, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord, he had confident expectation that the chief musician would lead them to Zion's gates with reference to the written word of the living God as it has come through the Psalms.

So notice the declaration with which he starts off with in verse 1a, in the Lord I put my trust. In the Lord I put my trust. We see this in Psalm 2, verse 12. Blessed are all those who put their trust in the Lord. We see that rehearsed throughout the Psalter where the psalmist says, it is the Lord in whom I trust.

And I would suggest here at verse 1a, based on what follows in verses 1b to 3, this is foundational for the psalmist. This is axiomatic. This is a settled principle. This is a non-negotiable with reference to his place before a holy God in an unholy world. Notice, in the Lord I put my trust. He lives his life based on this fundamental principle no matter what the circumstances are.

No matter in the good times, no matter in the bad times, no matter in the times of oppression, or the times of persecution, or the times of hardship, or the times of attack, or the times of difficulty and despair, nevertheless, this is His principle, in the Lord I put my trust. Now that brings then the particular temptation as it is stated in verses 1B to 3. So after making this axiomatic claim, in the Lord I put my trust, notice in verse 1, how can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? How can you say, based on the fact that my heart or my soul is firmly trusting in God, how is it that you rise up and say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? In other words, escape. In other words, retreat. In other words, abdicate. In other words, go from these trials and difficulties and hardships and circumstances and find safe haven in a mountain.

Now, it's difficult to know whether these are timid friends of the psalmist or sworn enemies that are in view. I would suggest it's likely both. With reference to David in 1 Samuel chapters 24 and 26, he's getting pressure from timid friends, most likely, to flee from Saul's persecution. But as well, David is writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and as we see David in this psalm, we ought to see David's greater son, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And with reference to our Lord Jesus, his enemies tempted him to abdicate.

In the book of Luke, in chapter 13, about 31 and 32, some of the Pharisees came and said, you know, you ought to leave the city of Jerusalem because Herod wants to try and kill you. So Jesus says, go and tell that fox that I must go into the city of Jerusalem. Or you remember Jesus' timid friends when he announces that he must go to Jerusalem, he must be tried at the hands of godless men, he must be crucified. What does Peter say?

May it never be, Lord. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. So again, it's difficult to know with certainty whether these are timid friends or sworn enemies, but as I said, likely a combination of both. But the nature of the temptation. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain?

Give it up. It's too hard. Saul or Absalom, if we move into 2 Samuel, the Sanhedrin, the Roman civil state and the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, whatever the particular challenges are, there'll always be those on your side saying, we'll just abandon post. Just walk away. Go buy an island. Go move to an island. Go seek refuge somewhere else.

Fly as a bird into the very mountains. In fact, in Psalm 55, we see that the turmoil and the suffering and the hardship is so much upon the psalmist that he actually says, oh that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. And if you're troubled with the thought of application of Psalm 11 to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus, you shouldn't be, because the author in the book of Hebrews tells us that we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Was Jesus tempted to abdicate? Was Jesus tempted to fall away? Was Jesus tempted to not pursue the cross that was set before him? Of course he was, the Pharisees. Of course he was, his own disciples. As Plummer says concerning the nature of this temptation, he says, if they were friends, they were very much like Job's wife. Cowardice is always dangerous. Nothing is so rash. It is commonly criminal, proceeding from unbelief. Any advice to desert a post of duty is unwise and wicked. Matthew Henry's comments are very perceptive as well. Listen to what he says.

He says, that which grieved David in this matter, this how can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain. He says, that which grieved David in this matter was not that to flee would savor of cowardice and ill become a soldier, but that it would savor of unbelief and would ill become a saint who had so often said, the Lord, or in the Lord I put my trust. So based on the axiomatic declaration of verse 1a, in the Lord I put my trust, that's settled. It's non-negotiable, it's immovable, it's unchangeable, which I would say is predicated ultimately of our Lord Jesus Christ.

David did flee, 1 Samuel 24 and 26. 2 Samuel chapter 15, David did flee. Jesus never fled. In fact, in 1 Samuel 26, 20, when Saul comes upon David, David says to Saul, so now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek me, to seek a flee, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains. David fled.

What do we read of our Lord in Luke 9.51?

Now it came to pass when the time had come for Him to be received up that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. He would not be sidetracked. He would not be derailed. He would not be moved from the path of serving the Father and saving His people. The Lord Jesus Christ steadfastly went.

In fact, when there was opposition from timid friends, he says, get behind me, Satan. I must do what the Father has sent me to do. So the emphasis in terms of the particular temptation is to abdicate. And now, whether timid friends or sworn enemies, they want to make it even more of a temptation by describing the situation that he faces in verses two and three. So notice, flee as a bird to your mountain, that's their initial press, abdicate, run, flee, hide, exercise cowardice and unbelief. Why? For look, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? It's the opposition of the wicked argues for abdication from that particular danger. I mean, it makes sense, right? It makes sense if you're going to, you know, put your hand into the fire, somebody says, don't do that.

I want to as well notice that in verses 2 and 3, this did apply obviously to David in his situation, but it certainly applied to Jesus in his situation. Who were the secret shooters of the upright at the time of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ? The Sanhedrin, who bought off Judas for 30 pieces of silver, who incited the multitudes to get to that point where they would cry, away with him, away with him, crucify him. The secret shooters of the upright was the Sanhedrin when they said to Pontius Pilate, if you let Jesus go, you're no friend of Caesar.

Political blackmail. And I want to just make the observation that Jesus knows our struggles. I already read 415 from the book of Hebrews. Let me just read that again. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. That sympathy means a fellow feeling with or to suffer with another. The author in Hebrews says our Lord Jesus is that. Our Lord Jesus knows the world in which we live. In fact, I would argue that he knew the depths of depravity even more than you and I do. Imagine complaining to the author of the psalm, oh, yeah, you know, there's this guy at work who raises his eyebrow at me when I bow my head to pray for my sandwich or over my sandwich.

I don't face secret shooters of the upright in my life. I don't fear people behind bushes. Maybe I should, maybe I'm a bit ignorant, but I just don't fear that. It would be akin to going to visit our brethren in Eldorad, in the outskirts, saying, you know what, I went to Costco last week and they didn't have my favorite chocolate bars. What? We don't have water in our village. We don't have food in our village.

When the author of Hebrews says he was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin, and he says that he's able to sympathize with us, you learn from the Psalter that that truly is in fact the case. He faced that kind of opposition. He faced that kind of hostility. He faced that kind of persecution and oppression as a regular course of his life. The Lord Jesus sympathizes with us. Whatever you're going through, whatever hardship, whatever difficulty, whatever agonizing, you might come to me and I might say, I just don't know what that's like. But Jesus knows what that is like.

And so the timid friends of the sworn enemies are saying, you should flee as a bird to your mountain. Why? Because the wicked bend their bow. They make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. This has already been stated back in Psalm 10 at verses 8 to 10.

Notice, he sits in the lurking places of the villages. In the secret places he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor. He catches the poor when he draws them into his net. So he crouches. He lies low that the helpless may fall by his strength. He is set in his heart. God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see. It's his practical atheism that is foundational to his expression of wickedness and lawlessness in trying secretly to dispatch the righteous.

And then note this reference in verse 3. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? What does that mean? If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? I would suggest it refers to God's justice and law. The moral order of creation is summarized in the Decalogue, the undermining of the entirety of the moral structure of a society. Or as Poole says, piety, justice, fidelity, mercy, which are the pillars or foundations of a state or kingdom. I quite like this as well.

Living in a situation like we live in, Doesn't it feel like the foundations are being destroyed? Did you ever think that society would actually believe that men can get pregnant? Seems like a, you know, a dig at the foundations. That a people group could be so barbaric as to murder babies in their mother's wombs. that a people group could be so barbaric as to dole out pills to end the lives of elderly folk, or mentally ill folk, or just any old folk whatsoever. It seems at times as if the foundations are not being eroded, but have been eroded. And in David's lifetime, and certainly in Christ's earthly ministry, it could seem that way.

As our brother read, he came to his own and his own did not receive him. It was announced from Genesis to Malachi, the coming of this one. They should have welcomed Him with open arms. They should have bowed the knee to Him. They should have kissed the Son. They should have confessed Him as Lord and Savior. But they don't do that. His own did not receive Him. They mocked Him. They spat on Him. They abused Him. And they ultimately deliver Him up to the civil state to be crucified as a criminal.

It seems at times, you're all looking blankly at me. Doesn't it seem at times as if the foundations are being destroyed? I feel like it is at times. And then, not just out in the world, but you move into the church. The horrors and thoughts of singing a Psalm 11 in church worship? What about Jesus gentle, meek, and mild? Yeah, but Jesus raining fire and brimstone upon the enemies of the Most High. What do they cry out in Revelation chapter six to the mountains and the rocks? To fall upon them and hide them from what?

The wrath of the lamb. The wrath of the lamb? I see lamb, I don't think anything threatening. I see lamb, I think I can win. I don't think that with a big bull that's got big horns. I never think I can win. Maybe I should have more confidence. But when you see a lamb, you don't think wrath. I can't even imagine a wrathful lamb baring its teeth at me, shimmying against me with this wool to try to hurt me.

What is the author John saying in the book of Revelation? that this Lamb who comes into the world to save His people from their sins, those who continue in impenitence, those who continue in unbelief, they're gonna prefer having the rocks and the mountains and the hills fall upon them than to face the wrath of the Lamb. The foundations are destroyed.

Here's the question. What can the righteous do? It sometimes feels hopeless, doesn't it? We can write our members of parliament. We can, you know, picket. We can, and I'm not suggesting you can't or you shouldn't, but at times it can feel like it's a bit of an overwhelming task.

When he says, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Their condition becomes desperate. And that's the nature of the temptation for the psalmist to abdicate. You've got these murderous snipers sitting in bushes, readying their bows, trying to take out the upright in heart. You've got a society that not only doesn't punish them, but congratulates them, such that societal decay is all over the place. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

So they come in with that temptation. It's without hope. It's useless, it's futile. Wing up and fly to the mountains and hide. That's the temptation of the psalmist. Now look then, secondly, at the fortification of the psalmist. In other words, how does the psalmist refute this? How does the psalmist resist this? How does the psalmist say no to this?

He's made the axiomatic declaration in verse 1a, in the Lord I put my trust. So it shouldn't surprise us that in verses 4 to 7 he finds his refuge in the Lord. The purpose of his contemplation here, notice back in Psalm 8 at verse 2, out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength, because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. He trusts in God to silence the enemy and the avenger. But he's also learned from God how to silence his own enemies and avengers. And he does that in verses four to seven.

So the question concerning flight as a bird to the mountain, when people question him, the psalmist comforts himself in God. The destructive tendencies and murderous rage of the enemies, according to verse two, that are hiding in bushes with their arrows, poised at the upright and hard, how does he comfort himself?

In the contemplation of God. When the very foundations of society, structure, and moral order look like they're all but gone, how does he comfort himself? In God. Verses 4 to 7 shouldn't surprise us from the lips of David or the lips of David's greater son. And notice the particulars of his contemplation. It's the perfections of God. You've heard a lot about the perfections of God and the attributes of God over the last several years.

There's a reason for that. Not just so you can beat up passable lists on the street and best them in argumentation. But go ahead and do that. I don't mean physically. Not just so you can win Facebook debates with those people that don't understand divine sovereignty. Do it. Just don't be obnoxious about it. It's to comfort the soul. What do you do when the tempter comes and whispers in your ear? Give up. You're no good at this Christian thing. In fact, you're pretty bad at it. Just give up. Go back to your old life. It was so easy. No resistance, no trials, no difficulties. Everything went your way.

Consider the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. I would imagine as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he had a pretty cush life up until the road to Damascus. Or consider David, shepherd in the fields. Yeah, he had to deal with the occasional lion and bear, which is no walk in the park. But do you know when life got hard for him?

When the Spirit of God came upon him. Same with our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Spirit comes upon him, and not, you know, firstly, but in that public declaration at the baptism of our Lord, where does the Spirit drive him? He doesn't just lead him. He drives him out into the wilderness. Why?

To be tempted by the devil. So when the tempter comes and says to you, just give it up. You're not really good at it. Don't be so fastidious on doctrine. It's not that important. You know, you're too strict. You're too, the tempter, whether it be the devil, whether it be a timid friend, or whether it be a sworn enemy, how do you repel them?

The perfections and the beauty and the excellencies of our great God, that's how. Learn that from the psalmist here. Note first the sovereignty of God. Verse 4a, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. That being the case, I'm not gonna make wings like a bird and fly to the mountain. I'm gonna stand and fight. I'm gonna go forward manfully. I'm going to do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16. I'm going to quit ye like men. I'm going to be brave like a man. I'm not going to back down or kowtow.

Why? Because God Most High is in His Holy Temple. God Most High is upon His throne. But then notice as well, he speaks of God's omniscience. That means he sees everything, he knows everything. Verse 4b, his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men.

See these murder intention people, these persons that hide in their cowardice, that ready their bow to shoot at the upright in heart, They're doing it stealthily. They're doing it cowardly. They're doing it in secret. Is anything done before the Most High in secret? Is anything or does anything escape his gaze?

I've always thought it intriguing that Adam and Eve, they sew fig leaves together to hide themselves, and they hide amongst the trees. The trees that God put there. The trees that God built. The creation that God spoke into being. In other words, you can't hide from God.

You can't escape his gaze. So again, the doctrine of divine omniscience, the fact that God knows all things. Yeah, that's great in an argument with somebody who thinks of open theism or they've got some other bad theology in their mind, but it's a comfort to the people of God. Though there are lurkers out there with their arrows poised against the upright, they're not doing it apart from the gaze of the Most High. He comforts himself in that blessed reality.

But then notice thirdly, the justice of God. First, the trial of the righteous in verse 5a. The Lord tests the righteous but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. There's a movement here too in verses 4 to 6. and Ash captures it well. The crescendo moves from where the Lord is, verses 4a and b, through what and how the Lord sees, in verses 4c and 5, to what the Lord does in verse 6.

Good things for us to contemplate, good things for us to consider, good things when the tempter, whether it be a timid friend or a sworn enemy, comes and whispers in our ear, why don't you just mount up like a bird and fly? Go be a partridge in the mountains, go relax, go sit back, get out of the battle, get out of the fury, get out of the warfare, and just chill out. How do we get through that?

God's sovereignty, God's omniscience, God's justice. Notice again, verse 5, the Lord tests the righteous. So the Lord examines and proves them, I think is the meaning here, through afflictions and through hardships. If you haven't figured it out yet, God's method, God's strategy, God's sort of plan was not the incarnation of an entire battalion of highly armed and highly skilled soldiers. It wasn't, you know, M60 machine guns pointed down out of heaven to force compliance with the divine commands.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The Word, who had no form or no comeliness, we hid as it were our faces from Him. How does God operate and work? Like the mustard seed in the parable. God didn't just peel heaven open and drop down the kingdom of God as a great big plant. It starts off imperceptible. It starts off tiny. It starts off, you know, tough for the naked eye to see. But what happens? It grows, it expands, it is blessed of God, such that the birds of the air find their nest therein.

The Lord God Most High operates in a way that we wouldn't expect or that we wouldn't have ordered. He works through afflictions in our lives. He works through hardships in our lives. He works through the difficulties in our lives. He works through those things to test, to prove, to examine, to further conform us unto the image of his beloved son. Paul says, he examines them and knows them to be righteous and consequently approveth and loveth and will preserve and bless them.

See, I suppose that if we were given the option, in terms of conformity to Jesus, do you want A, living on a beach with everything you could ever dream of, or B, suffering, affliction, hardship, turmoil, and persecution? Now, be honest. You don't need to raise your head. Who's choosing B? Well, I'm just so holy, I know that that, I'm choosing A, brethren, given the opportunity. Oh, you're a vile sinner. Yeah, I'm not, I'm never hiding that. I never told you otherwise. The Lord works in a way that perhaps we don't always appreciate.

Why does it seem like the foundations are destroyed? Why does it seem like everybody has lost their collective minds in this day and age? We were driving home yesterday and saw furries walking down the road. I don't even want to know what a furry is, that I know what a furry is and I've actually seen them in my city walking down the street. What is one to conclude? If the foundations aren't destroyed, we are rapidly approaching that catastrophe.

God uses these things. And I would suggest that as we look at this Psalm, yeah, there's application to David. I mentioned that Psalm 10, the puzzle isn't, is Jesus in Psalm 10? The puzzle is, is David in Psalm 10? I would suggest that Psalm 11 is Jesus focused. It's Jesus centered. Certainly David had his own persecution at the time of Saul, at the time of Absalom and his rebellion.

But Jesus is the righteous in this psalm. The Lord tests the righteous. In fact, Samuel Pierce who first mentions that all of us are righteous, not all of us, but all of us believers are righteous in Christ because of the imputed righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone, what we call the doctrine of justification. We're forgiven of our sins, we receive that righteousness such that we can stand in the presence of holy God. Samuel Pierce describes that, he discusses that, he acknowledges that, and he sees that true of David. But with reference to this section, he says, it is Christ himself.

He is the righteous one. He was tried by his father's law and justice, and he was completely perfect and equal. Everything commensurate to law and justice was found in him. Neither earth or hell, devil or men, could find any just matter of condemnation against him. The glorious mediator glories in this, whilst he knows the righteous displeasure against those who sought his life.

So what we have in this particular Psalm, again, some of David, but all of Christ. So notice the justice of God is seen in the trial of the righteous, but as well the verdict on the wicked in verse 5b and six. So the Lord tests the righteous to prove them, to show them faithful, to set his approbation upon them. But notice he doesn't stop there. But the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain coals. Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

You know, as I think about this and the singing of a psalm like Psalm 11, where do we get to Psalm 58? Psalm 109. This is not a confined theme to one little section of the Psalter. As I think about it, why is the church so hesitant and reticent to sing the praises of God for the very judgment of God? I don't know. I don't have the answer, but it seems to me at times we don't appreciate God's holiness quite like we should. And we do not despise the wickedness and transgression against his holiness like we ought. Not so with Jesus, the holy, harmless, and undefiled one, the one separate from sinners ethically.

He saw, he understands, and he prays Psalm 11. And in Psalm 11, he speaks very clearly, unequivocally, without any reservation or hesitation about the end of the wicked. But the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain coals, fire and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. Repetition of Psalm 5, verse 5, God hates all the workers of iniquity. Again, a settled principle in Scripture. Notice in terms of this judgment in verse 6, upon the wicked he will rain coals, fire and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. What image does that evoke?

Hopefully Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis chapter 19, God opens heaven and rains down hell to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain. Jude refers to it in Jude 1, 5-7. God tells Old Covenant Israel if they do likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah type stuff, they will reap that whirlwind as well. This language is picked up, as Ash points out in that introductory statement that I read, in the book of Revelation, in the New Testament as a whole.

You've got the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. You've got the eternal destruction of the wicked. 2 Thessalonians 1, when the Lord Jesus comes in the glory of His Father with all of His holy angels, taking vengeance on those who know not God, on those who do not obey the gospel.

Sounds like David could have written that, Paul. or 1 Corinthians 16.22, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, let him be damned to hell. Sounds like David could have written that, Paul. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm, may the Lord repay him." Sounds like David could have written that, Paul.

What about the seer on the island of Patmos, by the Spirit, when he tells us that the judgment of the great whore and the false prophet is going to be fire and brimstone. When he tells us in Revelation chapter 21.8 that all those wicked, all those ungodly, all those sexually immoral, all those liars, all those cowards and murderers, they're going to be cast into the lake of fire. This is what the scripture says and this is what the scripture teaches.

And notice as well at the end of verse six, shall be the portion of their cup. For long time attenders of our church, we've seen that cup before. We've seen that cup in Gethsemane. We see that cup when Jesus says in John chapter 18 verse 11, shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?

The cup is metaphorical or symbolical of God's wrath, God's fury, God's curse, God's judgment, God's fire and brimstone that comes justly upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain for their godless and perverse lusts. It comes justly on the finely impenitent when God is taking vengeance on them who knew not God and those who do not obey the Lord Jesus Christ or the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the portion of God's wrath, this cup of fury, cursing and trembling, John Gill says, it's the cup in the garden when Jesus says, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. What's the psalmist say? That cup is filled with God's wrath, with God's brimstone, with God's fire, with God's fury and punishment and judgment for all those who continue to live the way the psalmist describes.

Just by way of an aside, bless God for new covenant religion. Bless God that Jesus drank the cup. Bless God that he says, shall I not drink it? Bless God that he says it is finished. What does that mean? It means the wrath and the fury and the judgment and the punishment and the retribution that was yours and mine, Christ took it. Christ paid it all. Christ drank the cup of God's wrath down to the dregs. Christ exhausted the wrath of his father for us men and for our salvation. That is a beautiful, wonderful attribute of our new covenant religion.

And I would say, if this troubles us, you should be more troubled at verse two, that there's actually people out there that are stealthily trying to murder upright individuals. I gotta say, when I see in the news that some child is taken, or some child is brutalized, or some child is hurt, or some child is killed, and I'm watching the news six months, 12 months, 10 years later, and I find out the judge says, well, you know, I just wanna forgive you. I would be outraged. I would be so upset. and half bet, but if the judge said execution is appropriate for you, you should be punished for what you've done. You should reap the whirlwind for your actions committed against that innocent child.

What do we do then? Praise God, from whom all justice flows. Why do we struggle with verse six? Because we don't appreciate the gravity of verse two. The gravity of verse five. His soul hates the one that loves violence. He hates the soul that loves violence.

Brethren, this is not unjust, this is not illegitimate, this isn't overkill. The cities of the plain along with Sodom and Gomorrah deserved exactly what God poured out on them. Every single one of us deserve God's wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come. That's why we ought to praise God that Jesus took the cup and drank it for us men and for our salvation. Verse six is not illegitimate. It is the response to the illegitimacy and perversity of verse two and verse three. You're destroying the foundations. You're making the world uninhabitable for the righteous.

How dare you? Have you ever been in a public place and there's some loud mouth obnoxious person that ruins it for everybody? Oh, I just love that. Isn't that wonderful? No, we can't stand it. What do we mutter under our breath? Somebody arrest him. Somebody call the cops. There's a desire for retributive justice. At that level, in a white spot? But the cosmic uproar and rage against the Most High and the purpose of the Most High to rain fire and brimstone upon their heads, that offends us? Well, we don't wanna sing that. Well, we don't wanna think about that.

Again, brethren, we've seen the mind of Christ in 11 Psalms thus far. He sure seemed to think a lot about it. He sure seemed to see life in black and white. He sure seemed to appreciate the fact that the father that he loved, that he served, that he obeyed, had a purpose and plan, not only for him, but also for those who would secretly lie and wait to shoot the upright in heart.

Don't falter over God's justice. Don't falter over God's judgment. The Bible makes much of it. The people of God sing of it. When the whore falls in Revelation 18, heaven rejoices fourfold. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. The souls under the altar in Revelation chapter six, they cry out, How long, O Lord, till you avenge our blood on the earth?

These are not unbiblical concepts. Unbiblical concepts are to never emphasize the reality of the coming judgment of the Most High God. We're not doing anybody any favors by peering off those rough edges. We're not doing anyone any favors by not telling them that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. That's not Psalm 151. That's Romans chapter 1. Paul starts with wrath. Paul starts with the revelation of God's wrath before the but now of 321.

But now the righteousness of God is revealed. See, if we just go right to the righteousness of God, we go right to the better life and happier condition, if we bypass the very sin, depravity, lawlessness, and wretchedness that captivates our hearers, Yeah, you may sell Jesus to them as a better protection plan for the future, but when they don't see him as that altogether lovely, that chief among 10,000 that brings forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with God, you're not preaching the truth. And then notice how the psalm ends, a celebration of the righteousness of God. Notice the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness.

His countenance beholds the upright. So notice the Lord sees the wicked according to verses 4b and 5 and he sees the righteous. And the new King James following the King James is pretty unique here at the end of verse 7. His countenance beholds the upright. The new King James in the margin says the upright beholds his countenance. I would imagine most of your English versions render it that way. So the emphasis is on the upright beholding the countenance of God. In the King James tradition, it's the countenance of God beholding the upright.

Both are true. Both are absolutely, positively, gloriously, and wondrously true. The righteous beholds God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. But I think in terms of this psalm, not but and, I think in terms of this psalm, this makes really good sense. His countenance beholds the upright. He beholds the violent and wicked and rains fire and brimstone upon their heads. He beholds the righteous and he communes with them. He walks with them. He blesses them and prospers them.

So the psalmist, facing the temptation to flee as a bird to the mountain, comforts himself in his God. He comforts himself in the perfections of God, and thus sets forth for us a beautiful example of doing likewise. Just want to conclude. First, the prevalence of this temptation. Flee like a bird. Maybe when you first got converted, people said, oh, you know, this will wear off. This is just so much religious fervor now, but you know, just come back with us to whatever it is we used to do. Or you've been in the way for some time, and perhaps your way has been thorny. What's the word? Bramble? Brambley? Thicketly? Difficult? Never the tempter rises and says, you know what? This, again, just ain't working out for you. Go get your old life back. Go be happy.

You deserve it. The prevalence of this temptation is seen keenly in David's life. Saul's coming to get you, David. Flee like a bird to the mountain. OK. Absalom has usurped your kingdom. He's won the hearts of all Israel. There's a huge divide. You should run, David. Okay. The prevalence of the temptation is seen in David. The prevalence of the temptation is seen in David's greater son.

You should leave. Herod's trying to kill you. May it never be that you go to Jerusalem because they're trying to kill you. This temptation is real. It's a temptation to abdicate. It's a temptation to wave the white flag. It's a temptation to give up. And brethren, you need to settle it in your hearts that giving up is never an option. Never. It's just not. You can take rest. I'm not suggesting that we are 24 hours, seven days a week engaged in the battle. We get the broom tree, God's good that way. Elijah's overwhelmed. Elijah says, Lord, take me home. Elijah, go under that broom tree, get some rest and eat some food. Our God is good that way. This idea of giving up.

Well, if it doesn't work out, no, no, and no. In all my time in the military, and it may be different now, because just about everything is, you didn't wake up on Thursday after having gotten there on Monday to airmen saying, you know what, training instructor, I just don't like, this ain't for me. I'm going back to work at Taco Bell. It didn't happen. You couldn't do that.

Why do soldiers in the service of the Master Jesus think that somehow it's okay to give up? It's somehow okay to abdicate? It's somehow okay to flee as a bird to a mountain and say, I just don't want to deal with it. No, sorry, don't mean to be the mean father today, but get back in there and fight.

The only reason, the only thing, the only rationale for fleeing as a bird to the mountain is your sin. Flee from it. The assaults of the devil, flee from it. The temptation to worldliness or worldly thought, flee from that. We should be like birds flying to the mountains against the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But when it comes to the Holy Trinity, no abdication, no flight like a bird to the mountain.

I would suggest, secondly, there's an exhortation to the church of Christ here. We need to recognize the nature of the temptation. It's cowardice. It's unbelief. It's exactly opposite to what God commands through Paul in 1 Corinthians 16. Act like men.

Henry again, I quoted it, it bears repeating, that which grieved David in this matter was not that to flee would savor of cowardice and ill become a soldier, but that it would savor of unbelief and would ill become a saint who had so often said, in the Lord I put my trust. The resistance to this temptation is necessary, it's constant. and it must be earnest. Ash says, although there will be times when disciples of Jesus will escape to fight another day, Acts 14, Paul fleeing over the wall in Damascus, we too are to follow our King and not fearing those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. It's a matter of allegiance, it's a matter of commitment, it's a matter of, yeah, I wanna follow the lamb wherever he goes.

Athanasius to Marcellinus, when you see the boundless pride of many, an evil passing great, so that among men, so it seems, no holy thing remains, take refuge with the Lord and say Psalm 11. Brethren, put this in your heart and mind. I honestly think it's pretty important You know, the tempter doesn't come and say, deny the deity of Jesus. Deny the triunity of God.

He may, he can, he does, he has. But it oftentimes just comes up like, you know what, you've been too strict. You don't really need to go to church twice. Really, your Bible every day? Come on. I'm not scolding you now as the mother hen. I'm just suggesting that this is what the devil will do. In the Garden of Eden, it wasn't, oh, you can't trust God. He's horrible. All he wants is your destruction. He doesn't start that way. Has God really said? Just introduce enough doubt in the mind of the hearer, and he's got them.

You don't got to get the whole thing in the fish. You just got to get a little bit, and then you can pull it out of the water. Look at that. I'm just abounding in fishing metaphors now and illustrations, because it's starting to get warm. And guess what? We're going to be doing this week. We need to resist this temptation.

And the requirement with reference to the temptation, Ephesians 6.16, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. There is an inextricable connection between faith and courage. When a man is not courageous, we can conclude he is not faithful. When a man is not courageous, we can conclude he is not believing the truth of verses 4-7. We ought to bless God with reference to the determination of our Lord Jesus Christ, the determination to do what we couldn't do, the resolve to bring many sons to glory.

How does he do that? Through the path of sufferings, through the path of hardship, through the path of trial, difficulty, a crown of thorns, and ultimately crucifixion on a Roman cross. And I just want to end on this note, for anybody that might be an unbeliever here, I don't know your hearts, God knows your hearts. In fact, if you look with me again at the Psalm, it tells us that very clearly. Verse 4, be his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men.

But just a raw unbeliever found your way into Free Grace Baptist Church this morning, or a professed believer who knows that they're a hypocrite. A professed believer that is faking it. a professed believer that has a heart saturated with sinful wickedness and no desire or thought of God. I just want to remind you that the problem for the wicked is very clear. Verse 6 doesn't need a lot of, you know, Hebrew skill to interpret.

Upon the wicked he will rain coals, fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. As mentioned, that language is picked up in the book of Revelation and promised to those who reject Jesus, who reject the Lamb. I would suggest as well that the remedy for you is found in the Psalms as well. If you look back at Psalm 2, specifically at verse 12. Psalm 2, 12, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. I just want to end the unbeliever telling you this as clearly as I can. You are in danger this morning. Believers are. We got those pesky shooters behind bushes that wanna shoot the upright. We're looking at a society in utter decay and collapse and the foundations are destroyed. We feel disenfranchised. We feel destabilized. We're in danger. But the God of verses four to seven is ours. And come what may, he's always going to be ours. Your danger is sin. and the judgment of God promised against sinners. In other words, your danger is verse six.

You continue in your sin? You continue to resist and reject the Lord Jesus? You continue to deafen your ears to gospel preaching, to motherly pleadings, to fatherly exhortations? You continue to live as if there is no God in this world? What's your end?

It's verse six. I would take the metaphor used by the timid friends or sworn enemies, hopefully in a positive way, to tell you to flee as a bird to the mountain of the Lord. That means to come to Jesus. That means to believe on Him. That means to look and live, and you will be saved. The only hope for sinners to avoid the inevitability of Psalm 11, verse six, is to come to Christ, believing on Him.

May God open the heart and may God grant the graces necessary so that you may close with the Savior and be able to stand with Him in singing Psalm 11 with a whole different mindset than what you did before you were converted. And people of God, let us go forward persevering, trusting and feeding our souls and contemplating on the God of absolute glory revealed in verses four to seven. Let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Psalms that show us so much of Jesus, show us of his earthly ministry, show us of his mind and thought life with reference to his place in this world at that time. And we thank you that he is able to sympathize with us. We thank you that he is both God and man in that one glorious person. And we pray that you would open hearts and save sinners here and wherever your gospel is preached. We pray that many would come out of darkness into marvelous light, confessing faith in him. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.