Amen. All right. Well, we're there in Psalm 17. And of course, on Wednesday nights, we are studying through the book of Psalms together and we're taking one Psalm a night. And tonight we find ourselves here. in this psalm, Psalm 17. It's only 15 verses, but there's a lot in this psalm, there's a lot to cover. And I'm gonna just, there's a little bit of an introduction just to give you some context for the psalm, but let me just tell you up front what the psalm is about. And in this psalm, we see David dealing with a little bit of a unique problem, but it is a problem that David dealt with and a problem that I think all of us might deal with from time to time. And it is that he is being accused of being wrong or doing wrong, but he's actually right. He's innocent. And that's what this psalm is about. If you notice there in Psalm 17 and verse 1, of course, you have the superscription. It says, a prayer of David. And we've been learning from these psalms that these psalms are not only songs and music, and they, of course, are scripture, but they're also prayers. And you can actually pray through these Psalms as prayers. And we see this prayer of David, and I want you to notice how it begins. It begins with this little statement. It's kind of an odd statement, the way it's worded. It simply says this. This is David's prayer. David is praying to God. And he says, hear the right. Hear the right. And again, it's just kind of the way it's worded, it stands out to me because it's not a common way of maybe saying something, he says, hear the right. And that word right, the underlying word that's translated there in our King James Bible as right, is also translated in other places in our Bible as just, or justice, or righteous, or righteously. And what David is saying when he says hear the right, is he's literally saying hear the just. hear the righteous person. He's saying, hear the person who's right. He's praying to God and he begins by saying, hear the right, hear the person that's right, oh Lord. attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer. We're going to come back to that in a minute. But notice what he says. He says, that goeth not out of feigned lips. He says, I have a cry and I have a prayer, and it's not going out of feigned lips. The word feigned means counterfeit or insincere. It means to pretend. When we feign something, we're pretending. But David here is saying, Lord, hear the rite. O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. And what David is saying here, he's saying, hear the righteous. He says, I'm righteous in this instance. And let me just give some thoughts just by way of introduction. I'm going to give you an outline. We're going to walk through the psalm together. But let me just explain a couple of things. First of all, I do not believe that David is claiming to be sinless here. When he says, hear the right, And he's saying, I'm just. We're going to see later in the psalm that he's talking about being just and how he's innocent. I don't believe that David is claiming to be sinless or that he's without sin. Obviously, we're all sinners for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God is what the Bible says. But I think what David is saying is that in this specific situation, dealing with this specific person. Now, the superscription of the psalm does not tell us what specific situation or person David is dealing with. I think there may be a hint in the psalm, which I'll show you in a minute, as to what we might be dealing with in David's life. But whether we're correct about that or not, or whether We know that or not what we can know is this that I think David is we know that David's not saying I'm sinless I'm without sin. I don't make mistakes, but what he's saying is in this specific situation this Situation I'm being dealing with with this person. He's saying I have not done wrong I have done them right." Which is why he says, hear the right, hear the righteous, hear the just, hear the innocent. He says, my cry, my prayer goeth not out of feigned lips. And what he's saying to God is this, God, you know I'm telling the truth. You know that what I'm saying is not feigned, it's not fake. You know that I'm right in this situation. Now, what is it that David is dealing with? Again, we don't know 100%, we can't know what he's dealing with, but let me just tell you what I think he might be dealing with, and there's maybe a hint to it in the psalm itself. If you skip down to verse number 11, we're gonna walk through the whole psalm together, but just real quickly, skip down to verse number 11. And I want you to notice this little phrase here. In Psalm 17 and verse 11, David is talking about the situation he's dealing with. He's dealing with some people, and they are accusing him of doing wrong, being wrong, being a bad person. They're attacking him as a result. And David is saying, I'm right. He's not saying, I'm sinless. He says, I am a sinner, and I have made mistakes. But in this situation, dealing with this person, I have done right. In Psalm 17 and verse 11, there might be a little bit of a hint as to what he's referring to. And I want you to notice this little phrase. It says, they have now compassed us in our steps. And he talks about the fact that he is compassed. The word compass means he's surrounded. And again, maybe that's not enough to really dial in what he's talking about. But when I read that, I think of a very famous story. It's actually a very well-known story in the life of David when he was compassed about and surrounded by his enemies. Just real quickly, let's look at it. Keep your place there in Psalm 17. That's obviously our text for tonight. But if you would go back with me to the book of 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 23. Towards the beginning of the Old Testament. If you can find the books that begin with the numbers 1 and 2. The 1 and 2 books. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. They're all clustered together. I'd like you to find 1 Samuel 23. And I'd like you to look down at verse number 26. 1 Samuel chapter 23 and verse 26, and let me just give you a little context to the story. In 1 Samuel 23, we're right in the midst of David running for his life, and he's running from Saul. And if you remember, Saul has got it in his head that David is trying to steal the kingdom from him, that David is usurping his authority, and David hasn't done any of those things. In fact, David is the most loyal person in Saul's army, but yet he's being accused of doing things that he has not done. And as a result, he's having to run from Saul. He's had to leave his home. He's out living in the wilderness. And Saul is still yet coming after him and chasing him and hunting him. And here we have a story where David actually, because for most of the time that he was running from Saul, he was able to stay a step ahead of Saul. He was able to stay away from Saul. But in this specific time, Saul actually wins and David gets outflanked and gets surrounded by Saul. I won't take the time to go through the whole story. I've preached on it in the past. Let me just show you one verse, 1 Samuel 23 and verse 26. The Bible says this, and Saul went on this side. This is after Saul, he got word. that David is staying in a certain place. He goes out to find him and the Bible says Saul went on this side of the mountain and David and his men on that side of the mountain and David made haste to get away. Notice he's trying to run from him, he doesn't want to fight Saul. David made haste to get away for fear of Saul. For Saul and his men, notice the words, compass David and his men round about to take them. And this is the one time in the story of David and when he's running from Saul, that he gets outflanked and he actually finds himself surrounded by Saul. And it's pretty much over. 1 Samuel 23-26, the story's over, Saul has won, David is going to get captured, and David is going to die. We won't take the time to go through it, but if you read the very next verse, you find out that right as this happened a messenger comes to Saul and tells Saul the Philistines have invaded the city and Saul has to drop everything and leave and go defend the city against the Philistines and of course that was a miracle that God performed where he allowed David to be saved by the bell. I mean he was just saved right at the last moment there because Saul got this news and he had to leave. But I think that it may be possible that Psalm 17, make your way back to Psalm 17 if you would, is a reference to this story because this is a time when David could say, I am innocent. I am right, I am just, I have not done wrong to Saul, I have not hurt Saul, and yet I'm being accused of doing wrong, I'm being treated like an evildoer, and I have been compassed about. So it's possible, and I want to be clear, I always try to be authoritative when the Word of God is authoritative, and always try to be transparent when maybe we're taking a guess, but I think that it's possible that Psalm 17 could be talking about this situation or a similar situation, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter because what matters is that we see David dealing with something here where he's being accused of something, he's being accused of being wrong, and he's actually right. Now, again, there's a little bit of a longer introduction for the sermon, but let me just explain a few things. Let me just give one big disclaimer, okay? Psalm 17 is not the psalm that applies to every situation. I know oftentimes we like to think that in every situation, we're always right, the other person's always wrong, and there's never any sort of responsibility we need to take. That's not what Psalm 17 is telling us. Psalm 17 is one of 150 psalms. And there's other Psalms that deal with times when we are wrong and we need to take responsibility and confess our guilt and get right with the Lord. We're not always right and in fact if we were honest we would probably have to admit that most of the time we find ourselves in trouble it's because we've done something wrong. However, the book of Psalms is covering every situation. It's a book that covers all sorts of situations. So there are some Psalms to deal with situations when we've done wrong. And Psalm 17 is there to cover situations when we've not done wrong. But let me just show that to you real quickly because I don't want you to get this idea that God, that David is saying, I'm without sin. He is saying in Psalm 17, I am innocent. But there's other psalms where we see David confessing sin. Let me give you one example. Go to Psalm 51, if you would. Psalm 51. This, of course, is a famous psalm of David after he commits adultery with Bathsheba and he's getting right with the Lord. Psalm 51 and verse 1. Notice the words. It says this, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Notice the words here. He says, Blot out my transgressions. wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." So I want you to notice that there are other Psalms where David says, I have sinned, I have done wrong, my sin is ever before me. He's acknowledging his transgression. He says, my iniquity. He says, cleanse me from my sin. There are other Psalms that deal with us having to deal with sin. And we've already covered some of them. We studied Psalm 6, where David was talking about being chastised by the Lord, and it was because of sin in his life. So there are sometimes when bad things happen, or things aren't going well because of our own sin. But sometimes, and it might be rare, but it does happen every once in a while, where something bad happens, or someone's attacking you, and you've actually not done anything wrong. It's rare. It's not every time, but it happens. Let me share a verse with you real quickly. Keep, again, your place there in Psalm. Go to the New Testament book of 1 Peter. Towards the end of the New Testament, in fact, if you start at the book of Revelation and go backwards, you've got the book of Jude, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John, 2nd Peter, and then 1st Peter, 1st Peter chapter number 2, if you would, 1st Peter chapter number 2. Do me a favor, when you get to 1 Peter, put a ribbon or a bookmark or your bulletin or something there because we're going to leave it and we're actually going to come back to 1 Peter several times during the sermon tonight. So I'd like for you to be able to get to it quickly. 1 Peter chapter 2 and look at verse number 19. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 19, the Bible says this, for this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, notice these words, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye take it patiently? He said, what really is there to brag about when you are suffering because of something you did wrong for your faults? He says, but if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. So I want you to notice that there are times when you and I will suffer wrongfully, suffer innocently. And that's what we find David doing. Now, keep your place there in 1 Peter, if you would. We're gonna come right back to it. Go back to Psalm 17. Let me just make a few more statements and we'll jump into the passage. We find David here. Again, I want to be clear about this. I don't believe David is saying, I'm sinless. But I do think David is saying, I'm sinless in this situation. In this situation, with this specific person, I have not done wrong. And I'm thankful for David, and I'm thankful for Psalm 17, because I can tell you right now that I am a big sinner. And I make, and have made, and will continue to make a lot of mistakes. But there have definitely been times in my life when I've been attacked, when I've had people turn on me, when I've had people accuse me of things, and I was right. I had not done this, I'm thinking of an individual right now, don't worry, they're not in our church, they've never been in our church, okay? Some of you are gonna accuse me falsely just for even bringing someone up that you don't know. But I'm thinking of an individual right now that, We had a great relationship. I mean, this person had been in my home and been with my family. And they got mad at somebody else. And for some reason, they got mad at somebody else. They had to let me into it. And they started attacking me. I mean, I didn't even know we weren't friends until somebody started sharing with me, like, hey, this person is saying this about you and that thing and this about you. And I'm thinking to myself, I've never done anything wrong to this person. I've literally only ever blessed this person. I've only done right to this person. And they're just, they get mad at someone else and they start attacking me. And you think to yourself, what in the world? And the problem with these situations, because here's the truth, when you and I suffer, and you kind of know like, oh yeah, okay, they were wrong, but I kind of did something I shouldn't have done, you know, that's a little easier to deal with. But when you find, you know, the few instances, the rare instances when you're actually just like, whoa! I haven't done anything wrong here, I haven't hurt you in any way, I haven't attacked you in any way, and you start being attacked. You know, those can be the most difficult times to deal with in the Christian life. When you're just minding your own business, you ever done that? You're just minding your own business, you're just going through life, you're just working away for God, loving your family, and then all of a sudden, somebody's attacking you, somebody's bad-mouthing you, and you're just like, whoa, where did that come from? You know, those times when we are accused wrongfully in our innocency, though they are rare, can be some of the most discouraging and angering times in the Christian life. Because you're thinking to yourself, I'm just minding my own business. You know, church people often get upset because they think, you know, a pastor's preaching about me. You know that preachers get preached that too? I mean, I've had people preach against me. Some preacher perceives that I was preaching a sermon about them, and they retaliate and preach a sermon about me. And I'm thinking to myself, I wasn't preaching about you. I wasn't even thinking about you. I wasn't, you weren't even in my mind at all. But you know, sometimes these things happen where you get attacked, you get people accusing you of things, you get people bad-mouthing you, and you're thinking to yourself, I'm just minding my own business. You know, David's saying, I've just been trying to be a good soldier for Saul. I've just been trying to follow the Lord. And I find myself surrounded by enemies. And he says, I'm right. And in those instances, in those instances, it's easy to get bitter and angry, discouraged, depressed. So the question is, what do you do when accused of wrong but you're right? What do you do? when you're accused wrongfully of doing wrong or being wrong, but you're actually innocent. I know it's rare. Those are rare instances. They don't happen a lot. But what do you do when they actually happen? Well, that's what Psalm 17's about. And that's what David teaches us in this prayer, what to do when you've been accused wrongfully, but you're right. Let me quickly give you, I know that was a little bit of a longer introduction, let me give you five things that we are to do when we're accused wrongly that we find in the psalm, and we'll try to move through them very, very quickly. And if you'd like to jot these down, of course, I always encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to write down these things. There's five headings that all come under one word, and I'll just give them to you. Number one, what do you do when accused of wrong but you're right? Number one, pray. Pray. And the pray or the prayer is not just a normal prayer, but it is a prayer of pleading with God. And what you should be asking God, well, let's just look at it. Psalm 17, look at verse 1. A prayer of David. Hear the right. Hear the right person. Hear the righteous person. Hear the innocent person, O Lord. But notice the emphasis. Attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer. He says that goeth not out of faint lips. Look at verse 2. He says, let my sentence. I want you to notice that word sentence. Because what's interesting to me about verses 1 and 2 is that all these phrases are being used and they're kind of odd phrases that we don't see a lot in scripture, but I want you to see. He says, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. The word sentence there is translated in our King James Bible elsewhere as the word judgment or justice. And the idea is that David is asking the Lord to judge me. He says, I know that these other people are all judging me. I know all these other people who don't have the full story and don't care to ask are all making all sorts of accusations and all sorts of decisions and all sorts of judgments against me. But David says, Lord, I want you. He says, let my sentence, you ever heard of someone being sentenced? Right? They're being sentenced for a crime. They're being judged for a crime. David says, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. What is he asking? What is he saying? He's praying and he's asking, God, you judge me. He said, everybody else wants to judge me, but Lord, I care only of one person's judgment and it is yours. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence, he says. Let thine eyes behold that, the things that are equal. And the word equal there is translated as something that is upright, righteous. But I want you to notice that David begins by saying Because we're answering the question, what do you do when you're accused of wrong but you're right? What do you do when you're actually right, you've actually not done anything wrong, you've actually not done the things you're being accused of, or the things people think you did, or think you said, or did. What do you do in those instances? One thing we need to do is pray, and in that prayer is ask God to judge. Lord, you judge this thing. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Now I want you to notice that we actually find that in 1 Peter. Did you keep your place in 1 Peter? Go back to 1 Peter, if you would, chapter 2. Remember we saw verses 19 and 20? For what glory is it when ye be buffeted for your faults? Ye shall take it patiently. But if when you do well, you suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is because it's acceptable to God. We're talking about suffering wrongfully. That's the context. Notice verse number 21. 1 Peter 2, 21. So Peter is writing about the fact that sometimes you're going to suffer wrongfully. You're going to be minding your own business and you're going to get attacked. You're going to get criticized. You're going to have people come against you. And then Peter says, this is actually what you were called to. And you say, explain that, Peter. He says, here's why. Because Christ also suffered for us. And if there was anyone who ever suffered innocently, it was Christ. If there was anyone who ever suffered being right and righteous and just, it was Christ. And he says, for even here unto where ye call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Look at verse 22. Just in case you don't believe me, this is the context. Who did no sin? Who did no sin? If there was ever anyone who was judged while being innocent, it was Christ. And listen to me, when you and I, in the rare instances, because they are so rare, in the rare instances that we were actually minding our own businesses, actually not doing anything wrong, actually just going about our days, and somebody began to slander and attack and backstab and accuse, in the rare instances that we find ourselves suffering wrongfully in those instances is when we are the most like Christ. Because the Bible says He did no sin. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, and when He suffered, He threatened not. We're going to come back to that in a minute, but I want you to notice the last part of verse 23. Because what did David say? David said that we should pray and ask God to judge, right? He says, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. He says, God, I want you to judge. God, I'm gonna commit myself to you. I know everybody else has an opinion, I know everybody else is judging, I know everybody else is making decisions, but Lord, I'm gonna give the judgment to you, I'm gonna ask you to judge. What did Jesus do when he suffered who did no sin? Look, the last part of verse 23, the Bible says this, but Jesus, this is what he did, but committed himself to him that judgeth You know what Jesus did when he was being hung on a cross? When he had done no sin? He committed himself to God. He committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. And what you and I need to do in these difficult moments, these rare moments when we find ourselves being attacked in innocency, is we need to commit ourselves to him that judgeth righteously. Because there is a righteous judge. And we need to say, Lord, I know everybody else is making judgment calls, but let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Keep your place there in 1 Peter. We're going to come back to it. Go back to Psalm 17. Now, why is it that we should ask God to judge? Now, here's the danger. And here's the dangerous part. Because there are some people out there who, it doesn't matter what the situation is, it doesn't matter what's going on, I mean, you can be caught red-handed, you can be caught with a smoking gun, and it's like, I did nothing wrong. I mean, there are some narcissists out there like that, right? Where it's just like, they never do anything wrong, they've never done anything wrong, it's always everybody else's fault. You say, well, how do I know when I'm actually innocent or when I'm doing what 99% of people always do and just plead their innocence, right? Because everyone in prison is like, I didn't do it. I mean, everyone's always like, it wasn't me. So how do you know? Here's how you know that you're actually innocent. When you have the guts to ask God to judge. When you have the guts to come to God and say, hey, God, because look at Psalm 17 too. Let my sentence come forth from my presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. The word equal means upright, the right things. It's a way that is translated in our Bible, the righteous things. See, when you have the confidence to say, search me, oh God, and know my heart, Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. When you and I can actually go to God and say, Lord, you know I'm not perfect. You know I've made a lot of mistakes. You know that I'm a big fat sinner. But you also know that in this situation, with this person, in this circumstance, I have not done wrong to this individual. In fact, I've done nothing but right to this person. You know that's true, God. That's a good place to be. Why would you ask God to judge? Because you know that God knows who's actually right and who's actually wrong. God not only knows what is right, but He knows who is right. Notice verse 3, Psalm 17 verse 3, Thou hast proved mine heart. The word prove means to test. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried, the word tried means to test. Thou hast tried and shalt, notice the words, find nothing. Find nothing. So what do you do? What do you do in those rare instances when you've been accused of doing wrong and you're right? You've been attacked wrongfully, but you're right. You've been treated like you've done something wrong. You've been minding your own business. You've just been working away for the Lord. You've just been trying to do right. And all of a sudden, somebody attacks you. Somebody criticizes you. Somebody slanders you. Somebody defames you. Somebody comes against you. They usurp you. What do you do? Number one, pray. And if you're truly innocent, Ask God to judge. You say, what if I'm not actually innocent? Then you've got Psalm 10, you've got Psalm 51, you've got if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and forgive us our sins, that's a different sermon for another day. But what I'm saying is when you're actually innocent, you put it in God's hands, number one. Number two, what do you do? The first word was pray, here's the second word, purpose, purpose. And it is this, look at Psalm 17 verse 3. Thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me and shall find nothing. Then he says this, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. You know, the first thing you ought to do when you find yourself accused of wrong and you're actually right is pray and put it in God's hands, ask God to judge it. But the second thing you ought to do is you ought to purpose. You ought to purpose. not to sin with your mouth. Look at what he says. Look at what he says. Verse three. Last part of verse three. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. The word transgress means to sin. The Bible tells us that sin is the transgression of law. Now, why would the psalmist say this? Why would he say, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress? And what I would say to you, and we're gonna look at it here in a minute, is this. When you are justified, in the rare instances. Because it really is rare. I mean, it really is rare that we suffer wrongfully. Usually when we suffer, it's because of our own sin, our own mistakes, we're reaping what we sow. But in the rare instances that we suffer wrongfully, in those instances when you are justified in your indignation, at least for me, and at least for David, I would say that's the easiest time to slip up with your mouth. Because you're so innocent. Because you're so right and they're so wrong that it's easy to then say something you shouldn't say, do something you shouldn't do. And there's been times in my life where I think to myself, I say something, I do something, I take some action, and then immediately the Holy Spirit's like, well, you were innocent till you said that. You were innocent till you did that. You weren't, you know, sometimes I've been in situations where there's conflict and I've learned from experience and I've told myself, don't say anything, don't say anything, because I know me and I know the Holy Spirit, and even though I'm completely right and they're completely wrong, if I say the wrong thing right now, two weeks from now I'm gonna be apologizing for the thing I shouldn't have said, and I don't even wanna go there, so I'm just gonna not say anything right now. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Let's look at it in other situations. Go to Job. You're there in Psalm, just one book back, Job chapter 1. Now, if there was ever anyone in the Bible who suffered wrongfully, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you want a close runner-up, it would be Job. Isn't that true? Now, Job was not sinless. Job was a sinner, like anyone else. But isn't it true that in the story of Job, in the book of Job, in that instance, in that situation, he was just? He hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't his fault that all these things happened. His friends are telling him that he's suffering because of his sin. His wife's telling him, curse God and die. Everyone else has turned against him. But Job was actually innocent. And I want you to notice one thing that I think saved Job. Because remember, the whole story of Job, I won't take the time to go through it, but it's really just this whole contest up in heaven. The devil goes to God, Satan goes to God and says, well, of course Job serves you, you've been blessing him. Doth Job serve you for naught? So God says, okay, take it all away. Take away his blessings, take away his security, take away his wealth, take away his success, take away his family, take it all away and see if he curses me. And here's what the Bible says, Job 1.22, in all this, in all what? Suffering wrongfully. The psalmist said, I am purposed I am purposed that my mouth did not transgress. Job was suffering wrongfully, was being attacked wrongfully, was being accused wrongfully. And here's what the Bible says about Job. Here's why we have a book of Job. Here's why all these thousands of years later, we're still talking about this man Job. Because in Job 1.22, the Bible says, in all this Job sinned not. Now look at it, don't miss it. nor charged God foolishly. The word charged means accused. Remember like the sentencing? If someone's charged with a crime, they're accused. You know, Job was up and down in the book of Job. We studied the book of Job several years ago. He was up and down. He was questioning God. He's just like, I sure like to talk to God. I mean, there's lots of things that Job did. But you know one thing Job never did in the entire book of Job is he never charged God foolishly. He never accused God foolishly. He never said, God, you're wrong. He said to his friends they're wrong. He said to everyone else they're wrong. But he never said, God, you're wrong for doing this to me. He never said that. You know what Job did when he was being accused of wrong, but he was right? He purposed that with his mouth he would not transgress. And what you and I should do when we find ourselves, in the rare instances we find ourselves in those situations, is we should purpose not to sin with our mouths. Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Let me give you another example. Go back to 1 Peter 2, if you would. 1 Peter 2, real quickly. 1 Peter 2, look at verse 22. 1 Peter 2, verse 22. Remember Jesus, of course? 1 Peter 2, verse 22, who did no sin. The context is about suffering wrongfully, who did no sin. Notice what's highlighted for us. He did no sin, and then here's what he also didn't do. Neither was guile. The word guile means duplicity or deception. Neither was guile found in his, look at the word, mouth. You know what the emphasis is on Jesus Christ? Is that when he was suffering wrongfully, he made sure He purposed not to sin with his mouth. Look at it. The Bible says, neither was guile found in his mouth. Verse 22, verse 23. Who? When he was reviled, he was reviled. They were reviling him with their words. They were reviling him with their mouths. They were reviling him with their lips. When he was reviled, look at the emphasis, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. but committed himself to him that judged righteously. And I'm here to tell you, and I know it's rare, and it doesn't happen a lot, but in the rare instances when you and I find ourselves accused and we've done nothing wrong, we're just minding our own business, going about our day, and somebody starts attacking us, they start posting stuff about us, they start undermining our ministry, whatever it is, say, what do you do? Number one, if you're actually innocent, pray. Ask God to judge it. Say, God, I'm putting it in your hands. Number two, purpose. Purpose not to sin with your mouth. Because oftentimes we find ourselves, even when we're vindicated, even when we're vindicated, we have to come back and say, yeah, but I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have done that. And we should learn from the Lord Jesus Christ who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. So we see the purpose, not to sin with your mouth. And I want you to notice the third thing we see in this psalm. What do we do? What do we do when accused of wrong but you're right? What do you do? 1. Pray. 2. Purpose, not to sin with your mouth. 3. Here's the word. Path. Path. Now I want you to see it in Psalm 17. Look at verse 4. By the words of thy lips. Now this is David speaking to God, so he's talking about God's lips. And he says, by the word of thy lips. What is he referring to? He's referring to the word of God. By the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. The destroyer is the devil. And he says, by the words of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Look at Psalm 119, real quickly. Psalm 119 is a famous psalm on the word of God. Psalm 119 in verse 133, I just want you to see this. Psalm 119, 133, the Bible says this, order my steps in thy word. I want you to see this. The psalmist says, order my steps, align my steps in thy word, and then here's what he says, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. He said, what does that mean? Somebody said it this way. The Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible. This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. And here the psalmist says, he says, by thy word, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. The destroyer is trying to get you on his path. And you know the truth is this, that when we are attacked, the devil is trying to get us to get off the path. Off the path of righteousness. Off the path of soul winning. Off the path of Christianity. Off the path of following the Lord Jesus Christ. And here the psalmist says, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. He says, by the words of thy lips, I have kept me from the path of the destroyer. He said, your word. has kept me from sin. Look at verse 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths. So notice there's two paths. In verse 4, there's the path of the destroyer. In verse 5, there's thy paths. He's talking to God. Thy path, the path of the Lord. For my footsteps slip not. Here's how Job said it. You don't have to go there unless you want to. Job 13, verse 15. Job, in the midst of his battle, here's what he said. He said, though he slay me, talking about God, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. That's famous. Everybody knows that. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. But here's the second part of that verse that we often forget. Job said, but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job, you've lost everything. Job, you've lost everyone. Job, it's all been taken from you. He says, though He slay me, yet while I trust in Him, He said, but even if He slays me, even if He kills me, I will maintain mine own ways. And you know, when you and I are accused wrongfully, and isn't it rare? It's so rare. But when we're accused wrongfully, we should maintain our path. Don't get on the paths of the destroyer. Stay on the paths of the Lord. Determine in your mind, I'm not going to allow someone else's sin, someone else's wrongdoing, someone else's bad attitude to undermine my walk with the Lord. So maintain your righteous ways. Now why? Why do you need to do that? There's two things. I want you to see it in verse six and seven, Psalm 17, six. Why should I maintain my righteous ways? Why is a psalmist saying maintain your righteous way? He says there's two reasons why. Number one, because I need God's attention. Look at verse six. I really like this verse. He says, I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me. That is a statement of confidence. He's saying, I pray to God and I call. If you ask David, why do you pray? He would say, I have called upon me for thou will hear me. You know, I think that one of the reasons that we don't pray as we should is because we really don't believe that God hears our prayers. We really don't believe that God is going to hear and answer and do anything. But here he says, I need to maintain my path in God because I need God's attention. I have called upon thee for thou will hear me. And then he says, I love these words. He says, Oh God, incline thine ear unto me. Now God is omniscient, he's omnipresent, God knows everything, he's everywhere. But there's an illustration here, there's a picture in the mind of David, and I love it. He's looking up to heaven, he says, oh God, incline thine ear unto me. It's like David is saying, God, I have something I need to say to you. Can you incline your, it's like David is asking God to go like this. Can you bring your ear down to me so I can speak to you, God, because I need your attention. Oh God, when's the last time you asked God to incline his ear unto you? And hear my speech. Psalm 116.2, you don't have to turn there. It says this, because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him. See, if you and I actually believe that God heard our prayers, we'd start praying. I mean, if we actually believe that when we bow our heads and close our eyes and say, our heavenly father, which are in heaven, and begin to speak to him, and begin to plea with him, and begin to cry to him, and begin to bring our petitions, if we actually heard the God of the universe was inclining his ear and saying, shh, shh, he's praying, this is rare, I wanna hear this. If we actually believe that, I think we'd start praying. Why should you maintain your paths? Well, one reason is because you need God's attention. But another reason is because you need God's assistance. Look at verse seven, Psalm 17, verse seven. Show me, notice these words. We could do a whole study just on these words. I don't have time to do it, but let me show it to you. He says, show thy marvelous, loving kindness. That is a phrase of God's favor and God's blessing. I was just reading this in my personal Bible reading just this week. You don't have to turn here, I'll just read this to you. In Amos 4, 7, the Bible says this, and also I, this is God speaking through the prophet Amos to the children of Israel. He says, and also I have withholding the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I have caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city, One peace was rained upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered. And I think that's a really interesting verse because God is telling the children of Israel, He says, you know that I decide where it rains? And I can cause it to rain on one city and not rain on one city. I can cause the harvest to come in on one city and for it to wither in another city. And in an agricultural society, which is what Amos is speaking to, this would be very important. See, if we put it in our vernacular, we would say, God would say, you know that I can make one business to prosper and another business not to prosper? You know that I can make one job to prosper, another job not to prosper? You know that I can make one church to prosper, another church not to prosper? You know that I have withholding the rain from you? It's not where you and I want to be. I cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, that's where we want to be. And the piece whereupon it rained not, withered. That's where we don't want to be. So you say, why should I stay right with God? Here's why you should stay right with God, because I need God's attention and I need God's assistance. And whether I deserve whatever I'm going through and whether you deserve whatever you're going through, I need the God that can rain blessings upon my life. So don't get off the path onto the path of the destroyer. So what do you do? What do you do when accused of doing wrong but you're right? One, pray. Two, purpose. Purpose, pray, ask God to judge. Purpose, not to sin with your mouth. Path, maintain your right ways. Here's number four, protection. Protection. I gotta go through this quickly. Look at verse seven. Now, in verse 7 he begins to talk about two different groups. I want you to notice it. Here's group 1. So he's saying, O thou that savest by thy right hand, I'm asking you to save group one, them which put their trust in me, from group two, those that rise up against them. Then he begins to describe these two different groups. Here's group one, them which put their trust in me. Hopefully you and I are in that group. Look at verse eight. He talks about people that are precious to God. Keep me as the apple of the eye. That phrase, apple of the eye, is used throughout scripture. I'm not going to take the time to read it to you. It's used throughout scripture in reference to God's people and the fact that God considers them precious and he holds them dear. Deuteronomy 32.10 is the first time it's seen in scripture. Another great verse, Zechariah 2.8, if you want to write it down. Then I want you to notice the last part of verse 8. He says, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Apple of the eye has to do with the fact that we're precious to God. Shadow of thy wings has to do with the fact that we're protected by God. Hide me under the shadow of thy wing. Again, that's a phrase that's used all throughout the Bible. I'm not going to take the time to go through it. Let me give you one notable One notable reference, you don't have to turn there. Matthew 23, 37. So we see the protection of God. We should be pleading to God that we're precious to Him and be pleading for His protection. Then I want you to notice the other group. Remember there's two groups. Those that rise up against them. They start being described in verse 9. From the wicked that oppressed me, from the deadly enemies who compassed me about. Now he's going to describe them. Verse 10. They are enclosed in their own fat. Okay, now that's not politically correct, but he's not talking about physical fatness, he's talking about the fact that they're really prosperous. They that are enclosed in their own fat, because in these days, if you were fat, you were rich, because you can just afford to be fat. By the way, that's why Americans are so fat, because we're in the most prosperous nation in the world. They are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly. This has to do with, notice their pride. Because they have so much, because they prosper. He's talking about the wicked. Because they prosper, they have pride. Then notice their appetite. Talking about being fat, but again, not physically, literally. Look at verse 11. We talked about verse 11. They have now encompassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth. Here's verse 12. Notice, he's talking about their appetite. Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. He says, this is what they're like, the bad guys, the other side. They are like a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were, a young lion lurking in secret places. And sometimes, if you go through enough of these seasons, you start having this type of PTSD that David's having. Talking about lions and secret places, and you're wondering, who's next? Who's the next person that's gonna attack us? Who's the next person that's gonna come again? I mean, you start getting to the point where every time you get a text message, you're thinking like, what's the next thing that's gonna happen? But I want you to notice what David says in verse 13. His answer to that stress, his answer to that PTSD, his answer to that trauma, verse 13, he says, arise, O Lord. And then I want you to notice he gives us two points, and they're alliterated. He says, disappoint him. I love that. Disappoint him. Pastor, you know there's somebody out there, and they're working towards trying to bring damage to the church, and they're trying to draw people out. You know there's people attacking you. You say, what do you pray? I pray, Lord, disappoint him. They want to stop us. Disappoint him. They want to ruin us. Disappoint him. They want us to quit. Lord, will you disappoint him? Arise, O Lord, to disappoint him, cast him down. And then here's the other. He says, deliver my soul. Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. So what do you do? What do you do when accused of wrong, but you're right? Number one, pray. Ask God to judge. Number two, purpose not to sin with your mouth. Number three, path. Maintain your righteous ways. Number four, protection. Trust in the Lord to protect you. And then number five, portion. The word's portion. Now I want you to notice, He's talking about their hope, and he's talking about our hope, and he's talking about it in this sense of a portion. Look at verse 14. We're almost done. From men. Because remember, there's two groups. There's us and them. Those that trust in the Lord and those that rise up against them. Verse 14. From men. Because he's talking about disappoint them, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. And then he says, deliver me, save me from men which are thy hand, O Lord. from, just so we're clear of who he's talking about, men of the world, which have their, look at the word, portion in this life. He says they have their portion in this life. And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure, they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their bait. He says they've got money, they've got family, in fact they have so much money, they're going to leave some of it. He says they have, here's the key in verse 14, their portion is in this life is what he says. Psalm 73, 12 says this, behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. See their hope, their hope is that their portion is in this life. Their hope is that their riches is in this life. Their hope is that they're having their fun in this life. That's their hope. But then notice David ends with our hope. Verse 15. As for me, he says, I will behold thy face. I will behold thy face. But when are you going to behold his face, David? I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied. When? When is this gonna happen, David? Notice, there's a very unique reference here to the resurrection. He says, when I awake with thy likeness. He said, see, one day, David said, one day I'm gonna die, I'm gonna go to sleep, but there's coming a day when I'm gonna wake up. And when I awake, he says, I'll awake in thy likeness. in thy likeness. Let me just show you one verse. I know we gotta be done, but look at this real quickly. 1 John chapter 3. If you kept your place in 1 Peter, if you kept your place in 1 Peter, you have 1 Peter, 2 Peter, then 1 John. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John. 1 John chapter 3, look at verse 2. 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, look at it, I want you to say it, but we know that, here's my hope, I may never have riches, I may never have a portion so large that I can leave to my children, sorry kids, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. When the Bible says here, we shall be like him, it's what David is talking about when he says, when I awake with thy likeness. And here's the point that he's saying. He's saying, their portion is in this life. Their inheritance is in this life. Their riches are in this life. Mine will be in the next. And see, what David is doing is he's circling us back around to where we started. Because what are we talking about? We're talking about what to do when accused, of wrong, but you're actually right. What does the resurrection have to do with any of that? What does when I awake with I likeness have anything to do with when I'm being attacked wrongfully? Well, here's the point, and I won't take the time to go through this, but I'll just tell you the story quickly. In Joshua 22, we have a story of the tribes. If you remember, after they've conquered the land, They're going back. If you remember, there was the two and a half tribes, the Rubens, the Gadonites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. They go back, and they build up a tabernacle. And it's a tabernacle that mirrors a tabernacle in Shiloh, the tabernacle of the Lord. And they actually did it not to sacrifice or not to do anything, just as a replica, because they were afraid that when they crossed the Jordan River, that eventually these people would say, you have nothing to do with us. And these kids would grow up thinking we have nothing to do with them. And they wanted to set up a tabernacle that looked like the tabernacle on that side so that it would be evident that they had the same God. They weren't going to sacrifice there. They weren't going to do anything there. But when the people on this side saw that they were building a tabernacle, they thought, you're starting your own religion. They didn't take the time to ask them. They didn't take the time to look into it. They just began to accuse them. They began to fight against them. And they actually decided to go to war with each other. And the children of Israel almost ended in a civil war before the whole thing even started. I preached on this in the past, I'm not gonna go through the whole story, but I just wanna end with this. When it finally got all resolved and all fixed, and they were being told, well, okay, maybe, here was a response from the leaders of the two and a half tribes. They said in Joshua 22, 22, he knoweth. He knoweth. And Israel, he shall know. You say, what does that mean when they said he knoweth? You know, what they were saying was this, at the end of the day, God knows the truth. At the end of the day, there's coming a resurrection. And you know what the scoreboard, it'll read the right score in heaven. God is just, God knows. God knows what I've done, what I've not done. God knows the decisions that have been made. God knows if you're right and if you're wrong. God knows! So what do you do when you've been accused of wrong, but you're actually right? You put your hope in the resurrection. That when I awake with his likeness, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. And at the end of the day, God knoweth. And sometimes that has to be enough. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. And Lord, we thank you for this psalm. Because sometimes people accuse us falsely. Sometimes they exaggerate and embellish and sometimes they just flat out lie. They come against us. We're just minding our own business. Trying to serve the Lord, raise a family. They stab us in the back. They hurt us. They lie about us. They accuse us. It's rare when we're attacked and we're innocent. But sometimes it happens. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to be oh so careful in those moments at those times. Help us to put our hope in you because sometimes it just has to be enough for us to say, God knows. He knoweth. Help us to rest in the resurrection. We love you. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. We're gonna have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to remind you of a couple of things. First of all, do not forget.