Good morning. If you would, turn with me and your Bibles to Psalm chapter 9. My goal for the eight weeks or so that I'm planning to be teaching the 10 a.m. hour is for us to examine each week a different psalm and to consider specifically selected psalms that I believe have particular applications to our lives today and considerations that I think are very important for all of us to give serious thought to. For example, I chose Psalm chapter 9 today for many reasons, but one in particular is this. In coming to Reformed theology and beginning to read the Puritans and hearing men of God begin to preach the word in a biblical way, I began to become familiar with what is described as imprecatory psalms or imprecatory prayers. And I remember really wrestling with that for a time, trying to wrap my head around praying for God's judgment. We pray for God to save people. We certainly delight in God's mercies. And we proclaim that good news that Jesus can save any who come unto him with their whole heart. He turns none of them away. you it had been quite an impactful study for me to begin studying the attributes of God, the justice of God, the holiness of God, and considering how we are to handle psalms of that nature. And I chose this one specifically because I think that by the end of the psalm, we will be able to come to the same conclusion that there is a certain way that we are to approach these psalms. And I think that this psalm lays that out for us in a very beautifully designed way that only the Lord through his inspired word could do. And I think that by the end of it, my goal is that we would all walk away of the same heart and mind, both praising God for his excellent justice and for his mercy and praying for both. Let us go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Father, I ask that you would be with me this morning, that your spirit would speak through me, that you would hide me behind the cross. I pray that you would prepare everyone's hearts and ears to hear this word and receive it, myself included. May we be convicted, encouraged, and strengthened in our faith today. And as we read through this glorious psalm, may we see the beauty of not only the direct context given through the pen of David, but the implications of Christ and his salvation earned for us, and of the final judgment that is to come. We praise your name, and we ask that you would be with us this morning, and we would honor you in spirit and truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us begin by reading through Psalm 9 from beginning to end. 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, Selah.' "'The wicked shall be turned into hell "'in all the nations that forget God, "'for the needy shall not always be forgotten. "'The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. "'Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. "'Let the nations be judged in your sight. "'Put them in fear, O Lord, "'that the nations may know themselves to be but men.'" Selah. I want us to consider as we go back through and work through this psalm its division. We see that it is put together much like we would consider a song. And that is in verses 1 through 6 we see thanksgiving for what God has done. In verse 7 and 12 we see a declaration of faith looking forward. But then in verses 13 and 14, the psalm is divided with this prayer, only to then repeat the same cycle, verses 15 and 16, singing of God's past judgments. Verses 17 and 18, singing of trust in future justice. And then closing in verses 19 and 20 with prayer once more. And so we see the way that the psalm is constructed. There's some varying opinions about the nature of this psalm, but my understanding in my own studies is that it's generally agreed. This is obviously a psalm of David as it's recorded. It was very likely written at the end of his life, looking back over the course of his life and everything that the Lord had brought him through. There's some debate regarding this very detailed description that he even set this song to the tune of another song that the people may have been familiar with. It is of no coincidence that the father, who has given us this inspired word, had this tune set to the death of a son, which of course invokes this image of Christ in our minds, even here as it was possibly being set to another tune. Some people have translated it in different ways. Some people think it may be referring to the death of Goliath. Regardless of where we fall on this, it is very interesting that the psalm is set to the tune of another song called the Death of a Son. Because this is a psalm of God's redemption, of God's perfect justice, and how can we in this greater covenant read such a passage without considering Jesus Christ who sits on the throne and rules and reigns and makes judgments over all things. And so as David is writing this psalm, of course, we know that David is writing from his own experience and his own trials and circumstances that the Lord brought him through, considering what the Lord has done and praying for the Lord to continue to do so in the future. But as we read through this, we can also see these images of the greater David, these images of Christ as our Redeemer as well. And we'll consider that as we go through this verse by verse. Notice the beginning of the psalm, he says, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I was tempted when I texted Steve the title of the message this morning, I was tempted to just say, we're just doing a book study on the treasuries of David by Charles Spurgeon, because it is the best commentary that I have ever read in regards to the psalms. It's absolutely beautiful. It's free online. I highly recommend it. I'm going to be relying on Spurgeon so much so for this that I'm not going to bother to quote him in every single area. But I will say, in only the way that Spurgeon could, Spurgeon begins his commentary with this when it says, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. Spurgeon says, we must praise the Lord with our whole heart because half heart is no heart at all. And we must understand that when we read these, we know that they're songs, maybe they're poetic, maybe they're using more dramatic language than narrative passages or historical passages. But we must not think that the Lord is just flowering this to sound good. There's implications in this language. When David says, I will praise you with my whole heart, he's saying something to us. And it is indeed that David is committing his whole being, and what does the Lord ask of us, but to worship the Lord with our heart and soul and mind and strength. And this echoes the same idea. He says, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. And I want us to pause and consider this. Because he is praising God with his whole heart, because it isn't just when he's gathered together with the Lord's people, because it's with his whole heart, because he's giving consideration to this at all times, he cannot but help tell everyone about God's marvelous works. When we fail to tell Of all of God's marvelous works, there are often several reasons for this, chiefly being that we are not praising the Lord with our whole heart. We've become apathetic to what the Lord has done, to who he is, to his promises in the word. But as one commentator pointed out, very often it is simply because we have nothing to say on the matter. And I want us to really think on this this morning. Do we find ourselves telling others about the marvelous works of God, what he's done throughout the scriptures? And even more importantly, I would say in this context, what he has done in our own lives, and for us, and through us. The prayers that he has answered, the graces that he has extended to us that go unrecognized so many times, and looking back over the course of your life, and you see how God providentially led us to where we are today, and how he used all of these things for the good of his people, and for his glory. Do we share these things with other people? Do we talk about them? I have met many, many people over the course of my life, and praise God, I haven't encountered it here, but in my own experience growing up in several different churches and spending some time there. There were people who would attend every service, and they would sit in the same seat, and the pew probably had their imprint. We all do that from time to time, but they were faithfully attending in these buildings for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And if you ask them any theological question, well, I'm not a preacher. If you had some conversation about the gospel, you very clearly realize they didn't really know, they didn't know what they were talking about. And at the time, growing up in the Pentecostal church, it's like, well, the man in the pulpit, that's the only one you gotta worry about, that's the Lord's anointed, we're all, you know, far beneath them, and you know, they have some special gifting. But I realized as I grew out of that sort of dead evangelicalism, that there are many people who are even gathering together to lift up the name of God who have very little to say other than words on a screen or in a book or what's being told to them. We ought to be able to stand When the Lord provides us opportunities and to speak from personal experience, from what God has done in our lives, from our appreciation for what he's done and our understanding of what he has done in his word for us, we ought all be able to speak of God's marvelous works. And that's something I encourage all of us to consider this morning. When called upon, do we have something to say? He continues, I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name. Oh, most high. He will be glad and rejoice in the Lord. When we find ourselves in throes of spiritual depression and we are going through great trials in life and we are facing great circumstances. Even in the midst of great sorrow, we have all the reason to be glad and rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. And in this, he says, he will sing praise to your name. He announces that he will do so with singing. This is why when we gather together on Lord's Days, brothers and sisters, we must remember that we are not just gathering to come and sit and to be lectured or to be entertained, but that the man in the pulpit and each and every one of us in the pew have a responsibility when we come together to praise the name of the Most High. And singing is a great opportunity, is one of the chief opportunities for us. to lift up His name and to rejoice in Him and to celebrate Him and to give back to Him when we are about to receive through His Word. It is an opportunity for all of us to stand together and to sing in great unison. This is why we keep the lights on. This is why we don't do fog machines. This is why we don't have professionals on stage doing the singing for us. Because it's not really about how it sounds. It's about coming together and from the heart singing and praising the Lord because He's worthy and because He deserves it and because we just came through another week and we have many things that we ought to be able to come and praise Him for and thank Him for. In verse three, when my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence, for you have maintained my right and my cause. David, of course, is speaking in context of actual warfare. I mean, he was putting his sword to flesh. He was in great battles and triumphs and many conflicts throughout the course of his life. But we know all too well, in light of passages like Ephesians 6, our faith is a spiritual battle. And we know that there are many enemies of the Lord. And David says here, when my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence. That is to say, in the presence of God, these people would not be able to stand. And we know this from the word of God. He says, for you have maintained my right and my cause. This is a bold statement coming from David, but David did according, we know that David was a great sinner, we know of his life, but in regards to defending the throne, and in regards to passing the crown of Solomon, standing against Goliath, David did these things knowing that he was obeying the will of God. And he was able to say confidently in writing this psalm that God maintained his right and his cause because David knew that when he was facing great enemies in these situations, he knew what God had commanded. And so for each and every single one of us, are we able to say in the midst of great trials, when we are calling upon the name of God, that we can trust that the Lord has maintained our right and our cause. In order to do so, we would have to know that we are in the will of God, that we are repentant of our own sin, and that we are humble before Him. But if we are in Christ, and if we are seeking to honor His face, and we have come against great trial and great tribulation, and we are experiencing these weighty matters, we can find great confidence, the same confidence that David is writing with here, knowing that the Lord is on our side. And then he continues, you sat on the throne judging in righteousness. Speaking of his past judgments, he says, 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. He is recounting all the victories that God has given him in the past, and we ought to be able to do the same. Look over your past and over the situations you were in at the time that were so overwhelming. You didn't know how you would get through, and you gave yourself to prayer, and you trusted the Lord. And now you can look back and see how he has dealt in those situations. But even throughout the testimony of Scripture, we see that when we are adopted into the family of God, Paul says that we are the spiritual seed of Abraham. We're adopted into the family, you might say. And so when we talk about what the Lord has done for us and for our people, we can go all the way back to the beginning. In the same kindness that was shown to Adam and Eve right after they sinned, where God covered them. Noah being spared on the ark of Abraham and his line and of all the stories of God's faithfulness. We can recount those ourselves when we are thanking the Lord and praising the Lord for His goodness. We can see God's consistent righteous judgments being made in the past. And so in verse 6, he now turns that attention towards the enemy. He says, Oh, enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities. Even their memory has perished. As I was reading through this, I couldn't help but be reminded, I think I've made mention of it before, but there's a poem called Ozymandias. It's a very short poem, you can look it up, and it speaks to this very thought. And it's just, there was a man, and he was traveling, and these travelers are asking what kind of sights they saw on the road. It's a fictional narrative but he says that one time he was passing through a desert and there was nothing left but the feet of a great statue and at the bottom of the feet it said, here's Ozymandias, the king of kings and the lord of lords and it's nothing. It's in the middle of a wasteland and only the feet remain and it gives us this image of how many kings and emperors and rulers have came and went and thought that their empires were going to be forever and God has brought them to ruin. One of my favorite analogies of this is, when was the last time you thought of Caesar that wasn't in regards to your salad at a restaurant? I mean, at the time the scriptures were being written, apostles were being slain because they refused to say that Caesar was Lord. And now, when was the last time we thought of him? When was the last time we feared him? One great example of this that I encourage people to do, I remember one time I was talking about this with Jess, and she's like, what do you, you know, she had to look it up. And it was, you know, we know about the wars in the Middle East, and we've seen the imagery, and we know it's, we see lots of desert, and these little stone houses, and we're always seeing, like, you know, images of warfare. And we know that there may be pockets of civilization, but in my head growing up, I always just thought all of that Middle East was just wasteland, and a lot of it is. But you can go online, look up the images, look up the recreations people made of the ancient city of Babylon and the hanging gardens and all of its wonder and all of its splendor. And now today it's nothing but a cesspool of violence. It was destroyed and blotted out forever. People are even forgetting that these things even existed. But David, looking at the peril of his enemies, does not then say, but I will endure. That's not what he does. Because he is praising the Lord. He knows that these destructions, though they may have even been done by his own sword, he knows that the victory was only given to him by the Lord. And so when he speaks to the destruction and the erasing of his enemies from history, he responds with this in verse 7, but the Lord shall endure forever. because David knew they were his enemies. They had set their face against him. But it was only because their true enemy was the Lord. When we go out and we evangelize, when we witness to those whom we love, when we have these awkward conversations and people return evil to us, when they curse us and they strike us, and they call the police and they try to oppress us, we must see that it is not about us. They hate Christ. And they can't lay their hands on Him. They can't reach that high. So they'll lay their hands on us. So they'll direct their curses and their blasphemies at us. But this isn't a battle of us versus them. It's a battle of the Lord against wickedness. The Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared His throne for judgment. This statement is important because what it tells us is this, did not see what happened and then say, well, now I've got to do something about it. The Lord wasn't caught by surprise. He's not waiting to set up the bench so that he can begin his proceedings. The Lord was prepared for judgment. It has always been a part of his nature, his perfect judgments and righteousness. The Lord will endure forever. He was prepared for this. He will judge the world in righteousness, and he shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The apostle Paul quotes this passage when he's preaching it at the Areopagus, and he says that the Lord will judge the world in righteousness. Paul wanted the enemies of God in their pagan temples to know there is coming a day when you will stand before the king of the universe, the God whom you have forgotten about, and you will give an account. And he will administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. In verse nine, the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And so we're given this image of a great and mighty conquering king who is prepared to deliver judgment But he also provides this word to those who are suffering, to those who are being oppressed, to those who are suffering by the hands of the enemies of God. The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. The enemies of God have tried all throughout the centuries to crush Christianity and it has only failed time and time and time again because they can take your clothing, they can take your home, they can take your children, they can take your spouse, they can take all your money, they can take everything from you but they cannot take Christ. They cannot remove his gift of faith. This is why scientists are so determined to figure out what the gene is that causes this religious fundamentalism. Because if they could figure out how to break that, how to twist that, how to chemically change that, they'll do it. Because they hate it. And they will find themselves frustrated time and time again. because the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. If you are here today and you have suffered great injustice, you are suffering for the cause of Christ, there are things that were done to you in your life that never received the proper justice that they should have. Know this, God has not forsaken you. He has not forgotten those who seek Him. Those who know His name can put their trust in Him. Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Zion, of course, being a mountain, this mighty mountain. Sing praises to him who dwells on the mountain. At the beginning, it refers to him, I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. David wants us to see this imagery of God being so high above us. That language, actually, the O Most High, the first time we see that used in Scripture is by Melchizedek. In the narrative with Abraham, when Abraham gives 10% of what he has to Melchizedek and he returns to Abraham with wine and bread, this image of Christ, he's called a priest of the Most High. David wants us to see this language here of God being above us. And he says, "...declare His deeds among the people." He's repeating what He said at the beginning. He's now invoking everyone to do the same. Those who have been oppressed, those who have suffered for the faith, you who are going through trial and circumstances right now, join me in praising the Lord, singing His praises, and declaring His deeds among the people. It is a wonderful thing that Andy made a point this morning to mention the use of the word warble. Because indeed, David's proclamation to us through this Scripture is to warble forth! To go forth with song in our hearts, praising the Lord. And in verse 12, when he avenges blood, he remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble. There was a comment put in Spurgeon's, in his commentary, he borrowed a comment from someone else on this passage, and I found it absolutely amazing. I'd never heard this idea presented in this way, and I want to rush because of time. I could go on and on about this song. But he says, speaking of the Lord, when he avenges blood, he remembers them. And who is he speaking to? The cry of the oppressed, those who are seeking refuge in him. He remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the humble. I believe it was Chrysostom that he was quoting, who said that when we pray as children of God, God hears us and he answers us. If you have not received the immediate response in which you requested, he says to consider yourself as a child in remembering that when your own children ask you for something, you want to give it to them, but you know when it's best and what is best. And so he says, let your prayers continue. Because when God doesn't answer immediately, he says it is an invitation, to paraphrase what he said, for us to continue to store up prayers as if we were storing money in a bank. And he says, and be sure the Lord will answer. And when he does, and I love the image that he used, he says, the money will return to you with a duck in its mouth, with use upon use upon use. That is to say, when the Lord has not responded in justice to our immediate circumstances, know that he has not forgotten it, and he has kept a full account. But he is storing up the answer. He is storing up that great response of mercy and justice for us. And so let your prayers continue, and let them store, and let them build interest, as Chrysostom said, in the kingdom of heaven, until he delivers with a far greater reward than you ever asked. Trust in the Lord. He does not forget the cry of his people. He does not forget justice. He doesn't wink at sin. Today we keep crying for justice for these people that are very clearly guilty of many myriads of sin and our justice system just strings it out and strings it out and strings it out and then someone makes a plea deal and they're off with their millions of dollars and they're off on somewhere or they're just released back into society just to harm people again. We see such injustice done in our nation today but God is not forgotten. God will deliver justice, and it will be upon their head, or it will have been absorbed on the head of Jesus Christ, but it will be answered for. Let us hurry through the end of this psalm. He says, in response to God's wrath, when we pray imprecatory prayers, it's uncomfortable, is it not? Because many times, I know in conversations with people about this, the usual response is, but who am I to pray such a thing? I am, I'm a sinner. I wish that God had shown me mercy and not his perfect justice. And I think that that's exactly what David is indicating in his language here, because he says that God will avenge the blood that has been shed. He remembers the oppressed. He will deliver justice. But then immediately, knowing who he is, David says, have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me. You who lift me up from the gates of death. not so that I can be spared, not so that I can pursue my own dreams and the desires of my heart. No, you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of all your praise. Once again, coming back to the point of when God has delivered us, when God has made these perfect judgments, when God has shown mercy, what is the purpose of it? It is so that we would go and tell, that we may tell all. your praise. And he says in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation. We see this, these two images here that God lifted him up from the gates of death. and has set him among the gates of Zion, that he may now praise and honor and worship the Lord. You remember when David came back from battle and the daughters of Israel came out and they danced and sang of his great deeds. It's this image of we have now been placed among God's people that we can rejoice in our great Redeemer, rejoicing in his salvation. Verse 15, the nations have sunk down in the pit which they made, in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. We think of Haman hung by his own gallows that he had built for Mordecai the Jew. We think of Joseph's siblings who sold him into slavery because they were sick of hearing about how he was going to be greater than them. And they would bend the knee to him only to find themselves bending at his knee and asking for mercy. when he was in his position of power in Egypt, and no greater example of this could ever be made than the nations between the Jews and the Romans who thought that they would rid themselves of the nuisance of that man in Israel 2,000 years ago, only to have him rise from the dead and their names be forgotten forever, and his name exalted forever. In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. They destroy themselves, their judgment. When the blasphemer blasphemes God, he only curses himself. When the drunkard drinks to get away from his problems, he only creates more problems for himself. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. And he says here, meditation, this word, hegeon, is to indicate consideration, pause and consider God's mighty justice. And then in verse 17, he continues to the end of the song, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. And this is in contrast to verse 18, for the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. And so what is indicated to us here? The wicked are bound for hell. As a matter of fact, the language seems to be emphatic, and multiple commentators made this point. The language here in the Hebrew is emphatically indicating that the wicked and the nations that forget God will be thrown into the farthest depths of hell. Spurgeon says forgetfulness seems like a very small sin, but according to this psalm, would seem to be that which God hates most. that we would forget God. And knowing the judgment that is waiting for the wicked who have suppressed the truth and righteousness and forgotten the God who has blessed them, and we're not thankful. And seeing that God pours out His wrath upon entire nations of people that have forgotten Him. We see this played out in Romans 1 in more detail. May we consider our own ways, brothers and sisters. Let he who stands consider himself lest he fall. Because when we sin and we give ourselves over to grievous sin and habitual sin and hidden sins it's because we are forgetting God, we're forgetting who he is, his eye is always on us, we're forgetting his perfect judgments against those who practice such things. we ought to find ourselves needy before him. He says, the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. The indication being in this life, those who seek to serve the Lord, those who are suffering, those who are going under the foot of tyrants, they seem to be forgotten. Many people live and die under the boot of oppression and never see deliverance. But the indication here isn't just to be financial. I have witnessed to many homeless people in the gutters of our country who very proudly had no need of God. And I can assure you, any Christian who has a conversation with someone like that, regardless of their financial situation, can walk away from this conversation saying, they're better off than I am. In this sense of, we have a great need of Christ. We need our Savior. And to have somebody who has absolutely nothing say, I have no need of God. Jesus did not come for those who were well, but for those who needed a physician. The expectation of the poor and the needy is like Jesus Christ's, the beatitude sermon, where what he's truly addressing are those who are suffering for the cause of Christ. And those who are brought low by circumstance ought to be the first people to call upon God because they have no financial means to escape their troubles. But indeed we see that those who have found refuge in the Lord will not perish forever. God will remember them, they will be exalted. One final example I'd like to give before we close, if you remember the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. He wished only to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. And back then it was a common thing when people would gather for feasting that they would eat. I know in medieval Europe, I can't speak specifically to Jerusalem at this time, but I can say, I know from the stories I've read in ancient Europe, when there would be great feasts, they would have buckets next to them because they would eat so much food that they would have to throw some of it back up. It was a common thing. And so we see this man, this beggar, who's sitting outside, and he probably hears the feasts going on. He sees all the wealth, and of course he's placed his trust in God, and all he desired was to eat crumbs. And the man's dogs would come out and lick his wounds. The dog's probably eating the scraps that he wasn't allowed to have. And as he's carried into the afterlife, we see that the rich man was in torment. And he pleaded for Lazarus just to dip his finger in the water and place it on his tongue. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever, the needy shall not always be forgotten. And so he invokes God in this final call. He says, arise, O Lord, and do not let man prevail. David was not fatalistic. He knew that God would not allow man to prevail, but he's invoking him. Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord. And this is where I want to make my final point. When we pray these Psalms, it is a good and just thing for us to pray for the judgment of God against the wicked. We ought to do so. but not because we see ourselves as superior in any sense. It is because we do not want Christ's good name to suffer these blasphemies and these enemies anymore. It's in the nature of... of this natural defense we ought to feel for God. We know there's nothing we can do to defend His name, but we can proclaim His goodness. And when people blaspheme and they perform all these wicked deeds and wickedness abounds, we want it to end. And so we ought rightly to pray for God to put an end to these things. But what is the end of that judgment? What is the goal that we ought to desire in these imprecatory Psalms? It is summed up for us in verse 20, He didn't say kill all of the wicked and spare me. That wasn't his attitude. Bring your judgment so that everyone who sees it would know who you are and remember where they stand. Charnock says this, put them in fear, O Lord. We should otherwise think ourselves to be gods. We are so inclined to sin that we need strong restraints and so swelled with a natural pride against God that we need thorns in the flesh to let out the corrupt matter. The constant hanging of the rod over us makes us to lick the dust and acknowledge ourselves to be all together at the Lord's mercy. Though God hath pardoned us, he will make us to wear the halter about our necks to humble us. May we remember this morning that we serve a God of great mercy. and of great humility, who gave his life for anyone who would come unto him, his elect, calling people from all over the world, every tongue, nation, and tribe to come unto him, to believe in him, to feast upon him, and to receive the riches and mercy of heaven. And may we remember this, that God has also set aside vessels for destruction. and that he is a God who does not wink at sin, and that his wrath is good, his justice is necessary because he is good. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for this opportunity to examine this psalm. I pray that it would be an encouragement to us, and that we leave here today proclaiming your marvelous works, both of your wrath and your grace, and it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.