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So you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 9. We looked at the first half of Psalm 9 last week. We'll take up the latter half this morning. Psalm 9, I'll read the psalm, we'll pray, and then we'll look at it in some detail. Psalm 9, beginning in verse 1, to the chief musician, to the tune of Death of the Son, a Psalm of David.

I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence, for you have maintained my right and my cause. You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. Oh, enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities. Even their memory has perished. But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

He shall judge the world in righteousness, and he shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people.

When he avenges blood, he remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me. You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in your salvation.

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made, in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation, say law. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this Lord's Day. We thank you for your mercy and grace to us and the gospel of our salvation. We pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us as we consider this psalm. We pray that you would forgive us for all of our sin and all unclean things that keep us from understanding and embracing truth. And friend, any and all here that are dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray that you would awaken them.

That voice of the Lord that is able to crush the cedars of Lebanon, we trust is able to crush the hardened hearts of rebel sinners and bring them to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, to confess Him as Lord, as Savior, and to know the joy of the Lord as their strength. We ask again that you would be glorified in this glad hour and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Well, as we've seen many times, as we've looked at the Psalms thus far, they are written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so they are God-wrought, God-breathed, and they certainly affect David. They're part of David's sort of life and situation, but David functions typically, and he points forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. So the true subject and the true object of the Psalter is our Lord Jesus. But by virtue of our union with Him, what we have as well are the psalms for the church. And so when we look at a psalm like this, and the psalmist cries out for God's justice, David certainly does that, the Lord Jesus Christ does that, and hopefully the church of the Lord Jesus Christ does that as well.

As Christopher Ashe says, Christ is both the supplicant king foreshadowed by David, crying for vindication for himself, and precisely by virtue of his atoning death and resurrection, the man whom God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness.

So last week we looked at the first half, verses 1 to 12, and we saw that as the psalmist's confidence in God. In other words, the psalmist is reflecting upon what he has under his God. He realizes there is stability. He realizes there is blessing. He realizes specifically the justice and the mercy of God. Notice, specifically he speaks concerning the judgment of God's enemies in verses 3 to 8, and then he speaks concerning the refuge of God for the afflicted in verses 9 to 12. Now that is the basis or the foundation upon which he then prays. And that's what we see in verses 13 to 20. So just an encouragement here.

We need to know our God. We need to understand truth concerning our God. We need to know specifically His justice and judgment toward the wicked. We also need to know specifically, is mercy and grace toward the righteous? Because when we know that, then we'll pray in light of that, and that is exactly what we find the psalmist doing here.

So what he speaks concerning God's justice or judgment in the first half of the psalm and God's mercy, or the fact that he's a refuge for the oppressed in the first half of the psalm becomes the foundation upon which he cries out for mercy and he cries out for the vengeance of God upon the enemies of God. So let's look then at the psalmist's prayer to God in verses 13 to 20 and there's two petitions. Two things that he asks for, and again, it shouldn't surprise us. First, he makes a petition for mercy in verses 13 and 14, and then secondly, the petition for judgment in verses 15 to 20. But note first, with reference to his petition in 13a, have mercy on me, O Lord. Again, what he has said concerning God is the foundation for this. Look back in verses 9 and 10. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

We believe that in our minds and in our hearts. We confess that with our lips. And we bring that into the prayer closet before the Most High so that in 13a we cry out, have mercy on me, O Lord. In other words, we pray as those who've tried and proven their God, who have demonstrated His veracity, who has demonstrated His faithfulness to His people, and that is precisely what He is doing here. Verses 1 to 12 is the foundation for the prayer of verses 13 to 20. We need to know our God.

We need to know His being, His perfections, His works. In fact, that is precisely how the psalmist starts the psalm in verse 1. Notice he says, I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of all Your marvelous works. We can't tell what we don't know. We can't confess that which we are ignorant of. And so the psalmist wants to tell of the marvelous works of God, and he does so vis-a-vis his justice and his mercy. And here this is foundational for him in his praying.

Have mercy on me, O Lord. And then note the reason that he gives in verse 13. Consider my trouble from those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death. Again, the prayer of Christ. That man of sorrow is acquainted with grief. He's opposed by men. We just heard the scripture reading in Luke's gospel. The crowd is crying out, away with him, away with him, crucify him.

The Lord of hosts, the blessed one, the altogether lovely, is in this world of man, and man rejects him, man resists him, man despises him, and man wants to deliver him up to the cross. And so this prayer of Christ is revealed to us in a passage like this. Notice something else about prayer in this particular verse.

Consider my trouble from those who hate me. It implies there are those who hated David. We know that because Saul persecuted him, you know, tracked him like a dog, and then the Philistines were a perennial problem for King David of Israel. But as well, our Lord Jesus Christ, consider my trouble from those who hate me.

The crowd, away with him, away with him, crucify him. The Sanhedrin, as they mocked him, as they spat upon him, as they slapped him, as they treated him with absolute contempt and disdain, as they despised him, as they handed him over to Pontius Pilate, because they themselves didn't possess the requisite authority to put him to death. They hand him over to Pilate, so Pilate will put him to death. There were those who despised our blessed Savior in the days of His earthly ministry.

But note this connection. Consider my trouble from those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death. There's an argument there from the greater to the lesser. Paul does this in Romans chapter 8 in verse 32. He tells us that He, God, who did not spare His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? In other words, if God has delivered up His Son to the cross and He has made you a partaker in that blessed reality by faith, you believed, you are forgiven, you have that righteousness imputed to you and received by faith alone.

If God has done the greater, isn't He going to help you on a Thursday? Isn't He going to help you on a Friday? Isn't He going to help you on a Monday? If He's done the greater delivering up the Son of His love to that cross, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

I think that's connection here, or that is a connection here. Consider my trouble from those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death. In other words, you have lifted me up from the gates of death. You have blessed me with the greater, and in light of that reality, consider my trouble from those who hate me. In other words, when we see what God has done for us in terms of the cross, when we understand the implications of justification by faith alone, it then helps us to pray, since you've done the greater, you can help me in this lesser than. Since you have done the most blessed, certainly you can come to my aid in this current trouble or difficulty or present hardship that I am facing. Again, he prays as one who's tried and proven as God.

And then notice the result of this or the purpose of this in verse 14, that I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation. So God lifts him from the gates of death. God deposits him into the gates of the daughters of Zion. I take that as a reference to the church, the people of God. You go from the gates of death into the house of God, and that progression means you were guilty, you've been given grace, and now you express that gratitude in the public assembling of God's people together.

That I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 where you see a similar sort of a progression in Peter's first epistle. 1 Peter chapter 2. Notice specifically in verse 9.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that. Here's the purpose. You've been saved. You were dead, miserable, wretched, undone. Just a complete, you know, abomination before the Most High, but by God's grace, the effectual call of the Holy Spirit, you've been brought nigh, you now believe the gospel, you've confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior, you've received the benefits because of what Christ has done, you're forgiven, you have a righteousness by which you can now stand in the presence of God, accepted in the Beloved.

So you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Many times in the time that I've been in the pastoral ministry, people say, how can I serve in the church? And by the way, that's a good sentiment. How can I serve in the context of the church? I don't want this to be known as the church of the low bar, but my gut level response is show up and sing. Be faithful to the brothers and the sisters. Listen to the word of God. Sometimes I get references from the Christian schools around town. When parents put their kids into school, they need a pastor's reference. And the question, how do they serve in church? I have no shame in saying they show up and they sing. You mean they're not out doing the parking lot ministry? They're not out servicing people's cars during the church service? No, they show up. Show up is greatly underrated in our own generation. Churchmanship is greatly underrated in our own generation. Faithful, steadfast, plotting every single day until the day you die is greatly underrated.

When we see the psalmist having been delivered from the gates of death, ushered into the very gates of Zion, he says, that I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in your salvation. Corporate worship is a time to proclaim the marvelous deeds of God. Corporate worship is a time to rejoice in his salvation.

You know, we have this attitude, what do I get from the church? A better attitude is, what do I bring to the church? It's not so much, what are you going to do for me, but what is it that I can do for God? Again, God's first, not horizontally, the vertical aspect in terms of presence, in terms of proclamation, in terms of lifting up our voices, heralding the good news, testifying by our lives that Christ has saved us by His grace and for His glory so that we may tell of that praise and rejoice in His salvation.

So when he petitions God for mercy, it's very simple, it's very clear. Verse 13, have mercy on me, O Lord. Notice then he moves into judgment, verses 15 to 20. Again, the pattern in the psalm. He praises God for his justice, praises God for his mercy, petitions God for his mercy, and petitions God for his justice.

Close connection with reference to the psalmist prayer closet. Notice in terms of his petition for judgment, verse 15, he highlights the experience of the nations that have sinned against the Most High and against His people. Notice in verse 15, the nations have sunk down in the pit which they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. So in this, he remembers the power of God. In this, he invokes the justice of God, and he does so by rehearsing what God has done in the past. You see a similar thing in Psalm 7. You can turn back there. Psalm 7, verses 14 to 16.

Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity. Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown."

The psalmist is convinced that what God has done in the past, God is able to do in the present. What God is able to do in the present, God is able to do in the future. And when he comes to ask God for judgment or justice upon the nations that are opposed to God and His Christ, he does so by remembering what's happened to nations in the past that have risen up against the Most High.

Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. We find specifically given in the first section, Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 1 to 5, the policy for holy war. Old Covenant Israel is told to go into the land that God promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When they go into the land, they're to dispossess the land of all the Canaanites. They're not to enter into political alliances, social alliances, or certainly not religious alliances with the people of the land. They're to go break their stuff and kill them and get them out of the land so that Israel can inherit what God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And then when we get further down into chapter 7, and we looked at this a few weeks ago in our Wednesday night study, if you notice specifically at verses 23 and 24, Look at verse 23 again. But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you and will inflict defeat upon them." That little phrase, inflict defeat upon them. The New American Standard translates it well in this way, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

You read the book of Joshua, chapter 10. What does God do to vanquish the enemies of Joshua and the children of Israel? He sends hailstones out of heaven. It brings confusion to the warring factions and obviously massive hailstones bring death. It's not just confusion, it's death as well.

I mentioned when we looked at Psalm 7, that incident in Judges chapter 7, we think of the 300 valiant men of Gideon and how Gideon was bidden to whittle down the troops. I wanna show that I'm not dependent on thousands and thousands of soldiers to gain victory over Midianites. Whittle them down, take the 300, and when you get there, the particular plan, Didn't seem too militaristic, but it was. Blessed under God such that the Midianites were brought into a state of confusion and Midianites started killing each other.

I think that's what the psalmist is getting at when he rehearses God's goodness in his judgment and justice executed upon his enemies. Verse 15 again. They didn't make the pit for themselves to sink down in. They made the pit for Israel to sink down in. In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. They make pits for the Israelites. They make nets to catch the Israelites. And lo and behold, God reverses. the fortune of Israel and the fate of the nations that hate and oppose.

So when he comes to pray for judgment, he reflects upon what God has done and then notice he then moves in to verse 16 to show that what God has done in terms of judgment and justice reveals who God is. What God does reveals who God is. Verse 16, the Lord is known by the judgment He executes.

The wicked is snared in the work of His own hands. And then the psalmist says, meditation, selah, it's a good time to pause, a good time to reflect, a good time to rehearse, a good time to contemplate, a good time to consider, a good time to fetch for our own hearts encouragement the great judgment of God upon the enemies of God. The psalmist is so far from denouncing what God does in justice and judgment, but rather embraces it as the very foundation of his prayer life as he calls upon God to sort out this lower evil world. And when it comes to these nations which oppose, when it comes to the enemies of the church today, again, the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, verse 16.

Verse 15, the nations have sunk down into the pit which they made, in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. David Dixon says, ordinarily, the delivery of persecuted people, I'm sorry, the delivery of persecuted people of God is joined with the overthrow of their oppressors. I've said this before and I don't, you know, it's probably going to sound mean. Sorry.

Brethren, church today needs to capture the emphasis on the justice and the judgment of God as so openly proclaimed in the Psalter. The Psalms aren't so many slogans for our busy lives. The Psalms aren't just a few different choice words to put on our greeting cards. The Psalms are the stuff of the Christian soul. And much of the stuff of the Christian soul we've seen in Psalms 1 to 9 thus far is arise, O Lord, deal with your enemies, cut off the transgressors. Put to shame, men. Exalt yourself.

So he says ordinarily the delivery of the persecuted people of God is joined with the overthrow of their oppressors. And certainly the wicked cannot take a readier way to ruin themselves than to seek the overthrow of the Lord's church and people. Let me just read that again. Certainly the wicked cannot take a readier way to ruin themselves than to seek the overthrow of the Lord's church and people. That's exactly right. Psalm 136, you're probably familiar with the psalm.

The constant refrain is, for the mercy of the Lord endures forever. For the mercy of the Lord endures forever. A very popular theme in the church today. And well it should be. Do you know that between those for the mercy of the Lord endures forever is a rehearsal of the great works, the power, the glory, the majesty, and the excellence of God. Yes, in the deliverance of his people, but also in the judgment of the wicked. In fact, the psalmist rehearses how God overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. What's the refrain? for the mercy of the Lord endures forever.

Not if you're an Egyptian. It's a matter of perspective. When you're in the covenant children of Israel, when you're in the blood-bought church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you see the overthrow of the wicked, you sing and praise for the mercy of the Lord endures forever. That's the connection that you find so often woven together in the Christian's altar.

Notice then, he speaks specifically concerning the execution of judgment in verses 16 to 18. Again, verse 16, God is known by the judgment He executes. The wisdom of God is seen in the fact that the wicked is snared in the work of His own hands. And then note the judgment of God in verse 17, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God.

This reference, turned into hell, further explains the wicked is snared in the work of His own hands. It's a further explanation of the nations have sunk down into the pit which they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. So the wicked will be turned into hell.

They're on one particular course of exaltation, one particular course of putting themselves above the living and true God and His church. But what does God do? He turns them into hell and all the nations that forget God. Now this turning into hell, it can mean go down to Sheol. In other words, die. That's the lot of all men. Everybody dies. Some suggest that to interpret this as, you know, they're gonna go to everlasting conscious punishment and torment is sort of a later Christian interpretation of this psalm. Exactly.

Who's the best interpreter of the Psalms? The Holy Spirit speaking in the New Testament. Of course we use New Testament revelation. Of course we use Christian doctrine to help us understand the Psalms. We saw that in Psalm 8. When it comes to Psalm 8, Jesus applies it to himself at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew's Gospel. When it comes to explaining the significance of the Psalm 8 man, the apostle points to that psalm in Hebrews chapter 2. Of course we look at verse 17 and we understand all that the Bible says concerning this reality.

The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. This forgetting God concept is horrible. We're not supposed to forget God. It's a place in the prophet Jeremiah where God upbraids the children of Israel for this reason. I mean, for a multitude of reasons. What didn't the children of Israel do in offense to God and transgression of God?

There's one instance where he says, you turn to me the back and not the face. You turn to me the back and not the face. It's a sign of disrespect, isn't it? It is a sign of contempt. What do you mean? Parents. You're trying to lecture your children. You're trying to exhort your children. You're trying to keep the attention of your children and they turn the back and not the face. How do you respond to that? Hopefully with grace, tact, love, compassion, and firmness.

There's a New Testament sort of explanation of this as well when Paul upbraids the Gentiles for their rejection of the Most High. In Romans chapter 1, what does he say? They don't even like to retain God in their thoughts. Isn't that symptomatic of man in sin and rebellion? They don't even want to retain the thought of God. Earlier in Romans 1, what does Paul say?

They know God. They know Him by the created order, the effect leads us to the effector, God most high, the creator. What do they do with that knowledge? They suppress that truth in unrighteousness. They hold it down, they dig holes, they throw the truth in there and then they cover it up with the dirt and pretend like it's just not there. The nations that forget God, what are they?

They may look prestigious, they may look successful, they may look temporally advantaged, but they will be turned into hell according to the psalmist. You see, we don't like to think about that much either today, but there is a real hell. There is a real conscious punishment. There is a real cutting off from the good presence of God most high. Notice I said good presence, not the presence, God is what makes hell, hell.

And that for the cutting off of all those who didn't want to retain the knowledge of God in their thoughts. For all of those who turned the back and not the face to God. For all of those who take the Ten Commandments and stomp on them and trample them and disregard them and transgress them and lack conformity unto them. This is the end of the sinner. This is why Solomon says the way of the transgressor is hard. That's why Jesus speaks concerning those two ways in Matthew's Gospel. This is why the New Testament tells us that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or evil.

You know the answer? You know the hope? You know the refuge? The way of escape? If it's true of you today that hell is your future, Don't forget what the psalmist has said in verse 10. Verse 10, those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you Lord have not forsaken those who seek you.

For those identified as believers or as Christians or they might say I'm saved, it's not because they cleaned up their act in such a way that God now receives that. It's not that they've reformed their lives in such a careful way that from here on out, they're only ever going to do that which is awesome.

And therefore, I've got heaven as my future. No, it's those who trust in the Lord. It's those who believe in Jesus. It's those who come to the one who says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me. The one who says, all you who are weary and heavy laden, come to me and I will give you rest. That Jesus is the one alone that saves us from that well-deserved hell.

See, no sinner ought to ever say, well that seems a bit unfair. It seems a bit harsh. It seems a bit unjust. Really? Do you say that when the pedophile is convicted and caught and tried and sentenced to death? I hope not. I hope you say, that's right. That's just. That's judgment. That ought to be the case. Because if we don't show people what crime gets, then criminals will go do everything. I'd argue that's what's happening today because the sentence against a criminal isn't executed justly. Men are given wholly over to do evil.

Solomon said that in Ecclesiastes 8.11. It is just with God. It is righteous with God. It is good with God to cut off his enemies and cast them away. The psalmist didn't have a moral quandary with this.

Oh, I know the doctrine of everlasting punishment. It's really harsh. I better not incorporate that in holy scriptures because I might lose some followers. I might offend some people. He just says it matter-of-factly. He says it in petition to God. He says it with reference to the current situation that he is facing. I mentioned this last week in the first half of the psalm.

The psalms do not treat the world in this idyllic sort of way. Everybody always does exactly what they're supposed to. Everybody only ever loves his wife as Christ loved the church. Every woman only ever submits to her husband and honors him and respects him. It treats the world as it is. It treats the world in rebellion.

This is why in Psalm 2 verses 1 to 3, why do the nations rage and the people plot of vain things? The rulers take counsel together, the kings set themselves against Yahweh and against His anointed. The Psalms reflect upon reality and the particular remedy that is given in this Psalm, God's mercy to His people and God's judgment to His enemies. He doesn't shrink back from saying, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Notice. built into this petition for justice is the recognition that the justice of God yields mercy to the people of God.

Verse 18. Here's the argument. For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Another instance where the Bible, the psalmist especially, the rest of the Bible, the Bible never lies to us about what life on earth is like. It tells us what life on earth is like. But in this instance, the needy shall not always be forgotten. It appears that they are, though, at times, doesn't it? It appears though at times that the needy are forgotten. It does appear at times that the expectation of the poor shall perish.

It does appear at times that we're looking through that Asaphian lens of Psalm 73 and seeing the flourishing of the wicked and the destruction of the righteous and we scratch our heads and we say, why? This doesn't seem right. Well, the psalm expects that. The psalm calls us to consider that. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Why?

For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. You know how the needy are not going to be forgotten? You know how the expectation of the poor shall not perish? because God will cut off His enemies. God will destroy His despisers. God will reject those who rejected Yahweh and His Christ and have brought disdain upon or problems upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then notice how the psalm ends. It ends on the exaltation of God and the corresponding humiliation of man. Verses 19 and 20, arise, O Lord. Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be, but men say law. The sinful chaos, lawlessness, wretchedness, and wickedness of man evokes from the godly heart prayers like verses 19 and 20.

He expects God's judgment. He knows it is a revelation of God's being. He understands that the nations that forget God will be cast or turned into hell, literally. He knows there is a day coming where the needy are gonna be blessed, where the poor are not gonna perish, and then notice how he prays in light of that.

Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. The sinful, wretched chaos of man evokes prayer from the godly for the revelation of the glory of God.

That's exactly how the psalm ends. It begins with the manifestation of the telling of all of his marvelous works, and it ends on this high note of a particular petition for God to do what he's done in the past, what God has promised to do throughout his word, and what we are sure God will do presently, whether in our lifetime or not, and in the future in terms of ushering in a new heavens and a new earth. But in verse 20, he says, put them in fear, O Lord. Why? Because it's that absence of fear that leads to the exaltation of self. It is the absence of the fear of God that leads to the exaltation of self. It's just that simple.

They did not like to retain the knowledge of God. What does Paul sort of say or what does he say specifically is the problem in chapter 1 of Romans in verse 21, who although they knew God, they did not glorify God as God, nor were their hearts thankful. They knew God was there. They worked hard to suppress that truth and unrighteousness. but they did not glorify God as God. We might say they did not fear God as God, nor were their hearts thankful.

I mean, God blesses you daily. If you're an unbeliever here, you're here because of God. I don't mean directly at FGBC because of God. I mean, providentially, yes, but you eat, you drink water, you get that beautiful oxygen that you so desperately need each and every day. But do you glorify God as God? Are your hearts thankful? I'm going to ask that of all the believers here. Do we glorify God as God? Are our hearts thankful to God?

This lack or absence of the fear of God is often because we have such an elevated position in our own minds. So he says, arise, O Lord. Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

Now in Psalm 8, he deals with the glory of the God-man, the incarnation, the suffering, the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, very successfully or powerfully explained by the apostle in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2, Christ is the one who leads many sons to glory. He says in Psalm 8, man is dignified, man is over the created order. On the creation week, when you get to Genesis chapters 1 to 3, man is the pinnacle of God's created handiwork in this world.

We have more value than the ravens or the crows. Been on a bit of a raven and crow kick. I didn't know they were so smart. Ravens and crows can have the mindset or the mentality of a seven-year-old child. It's pretty amazing. That's not an insult to seven-year-old children, by the way, but it's just kind of a fun fact. We have more value than the crow or the raven.

I know this drives people nuts, especially those people that are called PETA, but Jesus uses this argument in Matthew's gospel to calm his people in the providential dealings of their God. Are you of not much more value than the sparrow who falls? If God orders, God is over, God governs when a sparrow falls out of the earth, He's not going to look at you, look after you. Aren't you of much more value than they?

So man has a dignified position under God. God gave it to him. Exercise dominion. Multiply your image throughout the earth. Testify to the glory, the power, and the grandeur of God. Subdue the earth. This was the original Edenic command given to Adam, Adam the first. Well, Psalm 8 essentially tells us Adam first failed, so we look to Adam the last, the incarnate Lord, who through his sufferings and death and resurrection and exaltation will lead many sons to glory. So I'm not denigrating man's position, but I think the emphasis here in verse 20, put them in fear of the Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men. They're not God. They're not sovereign. They're not the ones who are in control. Nebuchadnezzar learned this lesson, didn't he?

Remember when he was musing on the kingdom that he had built? Look at what I've done, look at how I've constructed, look at how I've administered, look at my success. What does God do? God does what the psalmist prays here. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. With Nebuchadnezzar it was drive him out so that he lived like a beast for several years. His nails grew, his hair grew, he looked mangy and gross. But what happened? He comes to himself and confesses that it's the Most High who builds kingdoms. It's the Most High who governs government. It's the Most High who is sovereign in the affairs of man. And that's what the psalmist is saying.

Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Thus far in the Psalms, we've seen the temporariness of man in Psalm 1, verses 4 and 5, the rebelliousness of man in Psalm 2, verses 1 to 3, the troublesomeness of man in Psalm 3, verses 1 and 2, the worthlessness of man in Psalm 4, verse 2, the boastfulness of man in Psalm 5, verse 5, the faithlessness of man in Psalm 5, verse 9, the lawlessness of man in Psalm 6, verse 8, and the ferociousness of man in Psalm 7, verses 1 and 2. So now the psalmist is praying, bring that shamefulness to bear upon them. Let them know that they are but men, that when they rise up against the Most High, when they rise up against the church of the Most High, they're on a fool's errand.

As Dixon says, there's no sooner way for you to ruin yourself than to launch an attack upon Christ's bride. There is no better way to bring on that judgment of hell than to oppose Yahweh and His Christ. That's the essence of his petition in this sense. I want your justice and your judgment. I want your glory manifested and made known. I want your church protected and defended. I want your church progressing and advancing. I want your church to continue to shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation and to have the boldness and the courage to hold forth the word of truth. The psalmist calls upon God for His mercy and His justice. In conclusion, we see the suffering of the psalmist. The singular is used in verses 3 and 4, and then the oppressed in verses 9 to 10.

David suffered. No doubt about it, David had a hard life. In the latter part of his life, much of it was brought on by himself. In the former part of his life, yeah, it was just a tough gig. You're gonna be the king. But what about this present king? No, he doesn't like that idea very much. Saul was not sort of open and welcoming the whole David as king motif that God had put into place. As I mentioned earlier, Philistines to the right of him, to the left of him, battling Philistines.

But the psalm envisages our Lord Jesus Christ, the sufferings that are described in the Gospels, the life of the man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. These psalms, as it were, let us inside the mind of the Savior in His earthly ministry. Again, brethren, that ought not to be a stretch. From the cross, he prays, Psalm 22. Psalm 88 describes suffering, torment, death, and destruction beyond anything imaginable save in the history of the Son of Man. The Psalms are about Jesus.

The Psalms let us in on what, in the mind of Jesus, was important during His earthly ministry. God's justice to the wicked, God's mercy for the oppressed, And when you look at the pattern of our Lord's ministry, isn't that how it worked itself out? Isn't that how he dealt and trafficked when he was among men? The Samaritan woman gets mercy. The tax collectors and the harlots, they enter the kingdom of heaven. The prodigal gets to come home. The woman finds her coin. The lost sheep is recovered.

What does Jesus do in the gospel narratives but demonstrate for us what he prays in Psalm 9? His mercy to the oppressed. His refuge for the afflicted. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. I'm a refuge for the likes of you.

What about his justice? Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. What about when he's before Pontius Pilate? He says, those who delivered me up have greater guilt. What about when the disciples leave the temple and they say, wow, isn't this a beautiful building? And he says, I'll tell you, every single stone will be brought down. What do you mean, Lord? He then teaches the Olivet Discourse, which was judgment against old covenant, unbelieving, represented by the religious leaders, Israel. They received him not, and he prophesies their destruction in AD 70.

And if you ever get the chance, read some of Josephus and what he writes concerning that particular time. It was wretched. When the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem, when the Roman armies desecrated the temple, when the Roman armies brought to bear the plague of God upon covenant unfaithfulness, it was a mess. But you see, that wasn't the first time.

Deuteronomy 28 tells us. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the curses for disobedience. And it says specifically that mothers will eat their babies. Again, not probably a happy topic as we enter into a luncheon, but that's what Deuteronomy says. It happened. Northern Kingdom, 722 B.C. It happened. Southern Kingdom, 586 B.C. In fact, in the lamentations of Jeremiah, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586, doesn't Jeremiah lament that very thing as well? Compassionate women, all together, should have been a compassionate people, eating their children. Why? Because of the famine. Because of the siege. When the foreign armies circle your city, they don't bring in food. They don't allow you to keep drinking water. Yeah, we're gonna bring more gasoline to the pump so you guys can continue. No, no, they're trying to kill you and stop you.

The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates in his earthly ministry that he's a refuge for the afflicted and he's a judge of the wicked. And I would suggest, secondly, in terms of the prayer of the psalmist, we've seen the punishment of the wicked, the preservation of the righteous, but I also want to mention the prospect of the psalmist. The prospect. I just wanted to alliterate. That's why I got punishment, preservation, and prospect. You might say the vision of. The hope of? As I said, the scripture tells us what is. Enemies, opposition, persecution, haters of God, haters of his Christ, haters of his church, despisers, as it were.

But the psalmist also prays in light of what he expects. in light of what He hopes, in light of what has been promised. In other words, when the psalmist prays here, it is with reflection upon the opposition and what God has done and will do, but he prays in light of a restored heavens and earth. He prays as the last Adam who is successful. He prays as the one who expects to see the wicked cut off and the righteous flourish.

David says in our psalm, from gates of death to the gates of the daughter of Zion. Jesus, when he's identified as the son of David in Matthew chapter 16, says that I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. We're delivered from the gates of Hades, we're brought in to the gates of Zion by the power of our blessed Savior.

He envisages what is going to happen, what is happening and what is going to happen. I think Paul has this motif in his mind in Acts 17 at the Areopagus in verse 31. He says, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. The vision or the prospect or the hope of the psalmist, the expectation presented to us in the Bible never promises a delivery date.

Are you all getting really spoiled with Amazon? Man, they said it'd be here this afternoon and it was tomorrow morning. I can't believe it. I've got to write a nasty email to them. Some of us remember the old mail service where, you know, you just threw it in the box and you hoped it got there. Which I guess does describe Canada Post, but we have this mindset that everything must be now.

The Bible doesn't give us a delivery date. A due date, rather. It says it's gonna happen. That doesn't promise us when it's going to happen. But that it's going to happen ought not to be forgotten by us. It ought to make its way into our prayer lives.

It's easy for us to get myopic with reference to our own lives, our own situations, our own jobs, our own families, our own trips to Walmart or whatever it may be. And forget that God is going to cut off the wicked. And forget that God is going to usher in a new heavens and a new earth. That God is going to have cast into that lake of fire everything that offends and transgresses His law. All the righteous bask in the glory of God.

Athanasius to Marcellinus made this observation, he says, for victory over the enemy and the saving of created things, take not glory to yourself, but knowing that it is the Son of God who has thus brought things to a happy issue, say to Him, Psalm 9. Athanasius understood, and Athanasius communicated that to this young man, and I think it's good communication to us. Let us never forget what the psalm describes and defines in terms of God's purpose, in terms of God's perfections, what the psalmist calls marvelous works in terms of the execution of justice and mercy. And may we live in light, not only of what is, and pray for that intervention of God, but in light of what is going to be, because of the success of the last Adam, because of his obedience to the law, because of his holy, harmless, and undefiled life, and because of the promise that he will return again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

And if you're not a believer, I just want to leave you with verse 10. This is a good verse for you to consider and a good verse for you to ponder and a good verse for you to internalize. Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. In modern New Testament language, that simply means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Well, let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for those perfections of justice and goodness and mercy. We thank you for the revelation of those things in the created order, your blessing upon your people in terms of salvation, and your cutting off of the enemies of the Most High. We ask that you would help us to live in light of psalms like these, help us to pray these psalms in a way that is helpful for our own hearts and our own contentment in this lower world, but ultimately for the glory and the praise and the honor of God Almighty. And please open hearts to receive the truth such that sinners may believe on Jesus and be saved. And we ask this in His most blessed name. Amen.