It's just basically saying that God has a way of working. It's how he works. This is the statutes of how his kingdom functions. And the person that's not right with him doesn't seek his way and therefore you cannot identify God's hand in saving work. You can't associate it with him. There's nothing on them that will identify you to point you to the Lord. And the reason is, as we've seen in Psalm 9, God's not their refuge, because they don't trust Him. They don't seek Him. They don't share Him. They don't declare His deeds. That is because what? Life is in themselves. They don't receive life from Him. But somebody who's walking in the saving grace of God knows where their life comes from. He is their life. He is their strength. He is their light. He is their source. And they broadcast it. They publicize it. Every opportunity that they get, they may not tell everybody every day, everything, but on a consistent basis, they take the honor and the privilege of sharing what God is doing in their life and why they think the way they think, why they walk the way they walk, how they do what they do, all because God is the one who is governing and shepherding their life. We sang that song, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Wow, we got a shepherd. He's our shepherd. He's shepherding us. He's leading us. We're his sheep. And sheep seek the shepherd's voice. Jesus says that in John 10. My sheep know my voice and they follow me. They're seekers. They're seekers. So we're always looking for the seeker. And when we don't find it, okay, we know we got somebody either backslidden or somebody who's lost. We started on a thought, and we talked a little bit about it in Sunday school, but we was closing out the service with it in chapter number 10, chapter number 10, that last phrase there, in the difference between a man of the earth and a man of God, an individual that serves and seeks the Lord and how throughout the Psalms thus far, we've seen several, several specifics that, that teach us the difference between the godly man and the ungodly man, the one who walks in righteousness and the one who don't. And we don't want to be classified as a person of the earth. Somebody who's locked down, man, our roots are in this world and that's the only plane that we're on. Now the thing about it, we're around people all the time that think that way. So we gotta learn how to recognize it because we can't ever forget we're ambassadors. That has a mission to help reconcile people. And all these things help us recognize this. So verse 18 says, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more. Now, that's the difference between the Lord doing a work in his servants, the humble, who are gonna be a blessing, but the idea that the man of the earth may oppress no more." That's just not a classification that we want God to describe in our life. A man or a person of the earth, a natural man, the man who does life his way. The man who lives, breathes, and walks with no fear of God before his eyes. That's a man of the earth. Over in chapter nine, look in chapter nine in verse number nine, speaking of the oppressed and the humble and the seeker and the non-seeker, notice how this is laid out. So this is Psalm nine, the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed and praise God. That doesn't mean all the oppressed. He can be a refuge to all the oppressed, but he's a refuge to those who are being oppressed, who are living and walking and serving him. That's the idea. God's not a refuge for those that don't trust him. You got to trust him for him to be a refuge for you. So we know that he's talking about those that trust him who are being oppressed. A refuge in times of trouble, verse 10, and those who know your name will put their what? Okay, so he's clarifying for us that even though they being oppressed, they continue to trust in the name of the Lord, they're putting their confidence in Him. That same verse, verse 10, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who what? Now that's, notice the combination there. Those that trust you, the evidence of that trust will be they live seeking you. You gotta remember that. Those that seek the Lord are those that trust the Lord. If you wanna find out, am I trusting Him? I'm a seeking. Somebody else trusting him, they're gonna be seeking him. They seeking him. Because that's an indicator of the man of the earth doesn't seek him. But you see, the seeker is the one who is putting their trust in him. So I can't, it's not enough for me to say I trust him. The evidence of trust is seeking. I'm seeking to walk in what he gives me. I'm seeking him as a way of life. That's just a clear, clear picture. Verse 11, sing praises to the Lord, you who dwell in Zion, declare his deeds among the people. So you see a couple of things there, what? Trusting, seeking, now you see praises, You see, declaring what God does, that is, you share Him. You see, those that trust Him, seek Him, and those that seek Him, share Him. Why? He's a refuge. Why wouldn't you share Him? Now, the consequences of sharing Him in a world that is not seeking Him, you're gonna be oppressed. Yet, God's a refuge for the oppressed. That's why they praise Him. That's why they sing to him. Verse 12, when he, when, not if, but what? When, it may not be in our timing, but when he avenges blood, he remembers who? Them. Who's the them? Those that seek him, those that trust him, those that praise him, those that sing to him, those that share him, those who are being oppressed by the ones who, who are, uh, as he says here, when he avenges blood, that is when God acts, he's acting for those who are being acted against. So he says, when he avenges blood, he remembers them. He does not forget the cry of who? Notice how all that plays together. The humble are those that trust him. The humble are those that seek him. The humble are those that are gonna praise him. The humble are those that are gonna share him. And remember, being humble is not thinking less of yourself or the people of God, it's thinking less about ourselves, more about Him and how we can be a blessing to other people. You don't make life about you, is the idea. The opposite of being humble, humility is you make life about yourself. When you make life about yourself, you're not acting in humility. You're not being humble and meek when it's always thinking about who? Us. When we're thinking about us, when everything revolves around us, we are not functioning in humility, in a humble spirit. But when we are living to declare and demonstrate the glory of God in our life, to bless other people, it's not that we think less of what we get to do. We just think less about ourselves and more about Him and how we can bless other people. And you're not focused on how you appear. You're not focusing on how you look. You're not focusing on those things. You know you have something to give away that can be a blessing to people. And that's gonna be taken often the wrong way. That's why you get oppressed, right? It won't be received the right way. But we don't have to venge ourself. We know that. God will do that in due time. Do we bring it to the Lord? Yes, that's what he talks about. The humble are what? Crying to the Lord. They giving it to him, but they're not taking it out on the avenger. They giving it to him. They want to be a blessing. And they know that they don't have it within them to harm or be a problem to people. So therefore they bring it to the one who sees them right where they are. But you want to link those together. These are so, so precious to us that the humble are crying out to the Lord, asking the Lord to do His work and His ways in us. It goes back over to chapter, look in chapter 10 again, and look at verse number 16. As we said this morning, regardless who the President of the United States is, the King is the King forever. Men come and go, don't they? We're gonna come and go. We want our going to be for his glory, but while we're here, we want it to be for his glory. The Lord is king forever and ever. The nations have perished out of his land. Lord, you have heard the desire of who? The humble. You see, he hears. He hears their cry. He remembers them. when He does His work. He remembers them. You will prepare who? The humble's heart. You're going to prepare it for what? For seeking you. You're going to prepare it for trusting you. You're going to prepare it for what? Singing your praises and being a blessing to people. God prepares the heart of the humble. The humble have been humbled by him, but it's God who makes their heart pliable and moldable. He's the potter and we are the clay. He's at work. And anytime you see him at work in the humble, it's a grace thing. God's at work. Because remember what is James teaches and Peter does too. God gives more grace to who? The humble. More grace. Key, more. There is no humility apart from grace. Now they can be people who are humble people. Don't get me wrong. They're humble people, but a humble person without the Lord is still an ungodly person. A humble person in this world we live in, a man of the earth, who is humble without God is still ungodly. That's why he says don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. You've heard this, we talked about that before. Good people still go to what? Hell. Good people, the good old boys, good old gals, still go to hell without Jesus. We need Jesus, we gotta be right with him. So when we think about that, it all goes back to this idea you're looking for the seeker. Who is seeking the Lord? for answers for life. Who's seeking Him? Because the man that fears God is a man that believes Him. Believes that God will do what He says He's gonna do and that they don't wanna live this life without hearing from Him. They want what He has, that's the seeker. That's the person that trusts Him. That's the person that knows He's a refuge. That's the person who loves sharing what He's doing in their life. They're gonna praise him. Verse 11 says that in chapter number nine. Sing praises to the Lord, you who dwell in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people. Declare what he's doing among the people. That goes back to what? Meditating. When you meditate and you ponder and you think about all the things God's done in history, what he's done for his people through time, what he's done for you, You can't help but what? Let that flow out of your life. You're gonna talk about it. Because you're gonna revisit these things that God has done, these monumental historical things that he's caused his deeds to be remembered. God's made it possible that we can remember these things and have these things. He's left us a record of it. So when I think about this picture that we have here this is exactly what he said earlier about being a blessing that salvation belongs to the Lord those that trust God are blessed by God all these things he's a shield for those that trust him all these things are blessings that Psalms has already been declaring to us, and what you see in chapter 10 is just a deep dive into that which is wrong about man without the Lord. And what is some of the things you see? Look at verse four, chapter 10. Those who are wrong, that is the man of the earth, is proud in his countenance, and he does not what? That's see that that is the dividing line right there the seeking you're looking for the seeker a Man that depends on himself don't seek God Psalm 14 says the fool has said in his heart that there is So he doesn't seek God The fool says God's not gonna hold him accountable So he doesn't seek him right and that what this says look look in verse number 13 of chapter 10. Why did the wicked renounce God? Because the wicked has said in his heart, God will not require an account. Now we know that's a lie, isn't it? That's a deception. Look in verse 11. He has said in his heart, God has what? He hides his face. He will never see. See, that's his perception of who God is. Even though he acknowledges there's a God, he says this God is useless because he's not looking, or he's not watching, or he's not gonna hold us accountable. So the wicked man in his thoughts, as verse six says, he has said in his heart, I shall not be moved, I shall never be in adversity. That is saying he controls his own life. nothing's gonna stop him, but he's watched other people come to a halt. He's watched everybody he's known in the past that were no different than him. He's watched them die. He's watched them come to nothing. But see, in his mind, that doesn't apply to him. Why? Because he's perceived in his mind something different. That's why he doesn't seek the Lord. And then as verse four says, the wrong person who doesn't seek God, you don't hear God in his thoughts. So when he talks, he doesn't declare the deeds of the Lord. When he talks, he doesn't tell us about what God did with Adam and what he did with Cain, what he did with Abel, what he did with Noah. He don't talk about shark's teeth, Keith. He doesn't talk about a flood. He doesn't talk about Moses. He doesn't talk about those things because he doesn't seek the Lord to know about those things and you can't pick up God in his thinking. It ain't there. It's missing. It goes back to he doesn't seek the Lord, right? Let's parallel this with a thought. What God tells us about how to deal with this thought is in, go to Isaiah chapter two. Isaiah chapter two. I was pondering this yesterday and walking through it. Isaiah two. Isaiah is one big good book. It sure enough gives us a lot of insight. Y'all remember this morning I gave y'all how many times these first 16 Psalms is in the New Testament? What'd I say, about 16 times? And I ain't counting all the rest of them. I mean, it's loaded all the way through. But in Isaiah 2, which is a prophetic reference to a future day, but we can see the principles that work right now. It's talking about in the day of the Lord, in that day, what men who are men of the earth, who did life their way, there's gonna come a point in the journey where they're gonna realize everything they counted on ain't working. And that's what he says in verse number 10. Enter in the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be what? Humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. Verse 12, for the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon some things. What does it say? Everything proud and lofty. Remember it takes grace to be humble in the eyes of the Lord. The right kind of humility. Notice, I'm just going to read from verse 12 on down and every time I say the word everything or all, just consider that. For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low. Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains, upon all the hills that are lifted up upon every high tower and upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarsus and upon all the beautiful slopes, the loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low for the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. You see, that goes back to what we were saying this morning in chapter 10 of Psalms. The Psalmist said, Lord, why are the wicked prospering? Why do you stand afar off? Why are you not doing anything? Remember, all injustices will come to a day of justice. See, the wicked says, God's not gonna require it of me. But right here, he's telling us everything's gonna have to give an account to him one day, because everything is gonna be brought low. and brought before him. Verse number, oh, look in 18. But the idols he shall utterly, what? They're going to be completely done away with in that day. Verse 19, they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily. Remember in Hebrews a couple of Wednesday nights ago we looked in Hebrews 12 Hebrews 12 says whatever we do make sure we do it is established by grace Because if it's not established by grace, it's going to be shaken and everything shaken is going to be destroyed It's important God's going to shake everything on this earth, and if it can be shaken it won't endure It's going to be destroyed. And the only things that can't be shaken is what God's done. And what He does is what He's done in grace. It's through grace. That was in Hebrews 12, 25 through 28. If you want to write a little note down there about when He arises and shakes the earth mightily. Hebrews 12, 25 through 28. And the important part is He says that it's extremely important to hear Him speak and to let everything be established by grace. God has spoken and He's spoken to us through His Son and we got to hear His Son. Got to hear Him. And whatever we hear in grace, it must be established by Him. or it's gonna come to nothing, ruin. There's a lot about our lives that's gonna be ruined, meaning it won't have no value to it because we've done way too much in the flesh and not by grace. Verse 20, in that day, a man will cast away his what? All right, he's put his confidence in him. and he's been trusting in them, he's been crying out to them, he's been dependent on them, but when that day comes, he's gonna chunk them. The problem is he ain't gonna turn to the Lord. He's gonna chunk them because they're not profiting, but he's fleeing to hide, but he can't hide. And that's where Revelation 9 talks about how all this devastation comes, but he still won't repent of his life because God's done turned him over to strong delusion. He says in that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made for himself to worship to the moles and bats to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crags of the rugged rocks from the terror of the Lord. He's trying to get away but he He just can't get away. And from the glory of His majesty, when God arises to shake the earth mightily. Can't get away. So this is His admonition to us in these last verses. If that's the case, if everything's going to be shaken, and everything that man counts on, He's going to throw away? The advice for you and me would be verse 22, sever yourself from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils for of what account is he? What he's telling us is don't put your confidence in men. especially men of this earth who has put their confidence in everything but the Lord. Sever yourself from them. And the idea whose breath is in his nostrils, it's a twofold picture. One, that is saying that whose life is in himself. You see, we live in a world who think life is in themselves. They control their own destiny. They control their own life. They live no more than what they are as in this world that they live in, and there's no accountability before God. Well, God's telling us there's coming a day when this world's gonna be shaken, and many people have died and passed away before this day comes, but see, they all have had an encounter with Him already. Remember that picture of the rich man and Lazarus? And the rich man was like this man, and he depended on everything else. but he realized his life was based on a lie and he's begging Abraham to send somebody back to his family and go tell them the truth because they're going to perish in what they believe in right now. They follow in the same steps I've been following in and they don't know what they hit, where they headed. They don't know their destination. They don't know they come in the ruin. So can you please send somebody back to them? And what did he tell them? Cannot happen. He said, if somebody from the dead come back and told them, they wouldn't believe it. But they do have everything they need. They've got the Word of God. And if they won't believe it, They won't believe nothing else. They've got everything they need. So he's telling them whose life, the word breath is life, whose life is in himself, in his own nostrils. That is, he's his own man and he doesn't need anything else, even though he's dependent on the world that he lives in, but he's not accountable in his eyes unto the Lord. The other side of it is, is that a man that thinks that a way and a man that lives that a way doesn't, he, unlike God, he's just a man who's breathing on this earth. God is the God who sees all things, knows all things and will hold all things accountable and is going to shake everything. Man can't do that. There's no man can do what God's going to do. So there's no need to put confidence in a man that can't do what God can do. You're just setting yourself up for failure. So anytime you come across people who, as we talked about and what Tom 10 is all about, a man of the earth is a man whose life is in his own nostrils. That his life is in himself. He does life his way. That's why he doesn't seek God. That's why he doesn't serve you. That's why you don't hear him talking about it. because he don't trust him. Who does he trust? Trust himself. And the scripture would describe that not only as somebody who's wrong, because they're not right with God, a wicked person, a man of the earth, but it also says he's a fool. Why? Because he puts more confidence in himself than in the Lord. And we, in the day that we live in. We want to help people recognize, even though you can tell them a million things and show them, outside of God doing a work in humbling them to see that life is not in themselves, that they're going to have to give an account to the Lord, that everybody's a sinner and there's not just a righteous person on the earth that doesn't sin. But we cast our imperfections upon Jesus. And it's not enough to say I trust him with no evidence of seeking him. Because if you trust him, you're gonna what? Seek him. It's just inevitable. A truster seeks. Whatever you put your trust in, you're gonna seek out. You will work to keep it working, in a sense, if you trust in it. That's just what we don't see in a lot of people that we are around on a regular basis. And we looked at that passage, what, in Psalm 119, 155, as we closed out this morning, what did it say? That everything connected or associated with or identified with salvation is far from the wicked. Why? Because it goes back to, they don't seek God's way. Said he doesn't seek their, Let's look at it one more time. 119, 155. I just want to plant this seed of the idea of trusting and seeking go hand in hand. Hand in hand. Hand in hand. Salvation is far from they that seek not thy statutes. Salvation is far. That is, you don't see it connected to them. You don't see the fruit or the beauty of salvation. You don't see it on the wicked. It's not connected to them. Nothing associated with the work of God is connected to them. It's not associated with them. You can't identify them as a person of righteousness of God, all you can say is that that's a person of the earth, because they live off the earth. They live off of themselves. Their life is in themselves. Their breath is in their own nostrils. And these are just one of these truths that are so clear for us. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. And statutes, as Psalm 119, is all about the word of God, would be interchangeably used for judgments, commands, law, precepts. It's just basically saying that God has a way of working. It's how he works. This is the statutes of how his kingdom functions. And the person that's not right with him doesn't seek his way, and therefore you cannot identify God's hand in saving work. You can't associate it with him. There's nothing on them that will identify you to point you to the Lord. And the reason is, as we've seen in Psalm 9, God's not their refuge, because they don't trust Him. They don't seek Him. They don't share Him. They don't declare His deeds. That is because what? Life is in themselves. They don't receive life from Him. But somebody who's walking in the saving grace of God knows where their life comes from. He is their life. He is their strength. He is their light. He is their source. And they broadcast it. They publicize it. Every opportunity that they get, they may not tell everybody every day, everything, but on a consistent basis, they take the honor and the privilege of sharing what God is doing in their life and why they think the way they think, why they walk the way they walk, how they do what they do, all because God is the one who is governing and shepherding their life. We sang that song. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Wow, we got a shepherd. He's our shepherd. He's shepherding us. He's leading us. We're his sheep and sheep seek the shepherd's voice. Jesus says that in John 10, my sheep know my voice and they follow me. They're seekers, they're seekers. So we're always looking for the seeker. And when we don't find it, okay, we know we got somebody either backslidden, somebody who's lost, who needs Jesus. Either way, the solution is that God's got to grant them repentance, either way. And repentance is a turn in trust to Him and putting their confidence in Him. And sometimes we're the people who God's going to use to turn them back to Him or the people who He's going to use to introduce them to Himself through the good news of Jesus. And so that's part of our work. We've got to be able to recognize that. We're looking for the man of God or the man of the earth. What are they? Who are they? What are they doing? And when I use the word man, I'm just using it as the scripture used it, but he's talking about a person, man, woman, boy, or girl, who is either, what, blessed of the Lord or not. Who are either righteous or unrighteous, godly or ungodly, right with God, wrong, righteous, or wicked. And the scripture doesn't give a whole lot of space in between, does it? of where one person's position can be. It goes back to that Psalm 1 again, as we close, how does it say? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel. What is counsel? Advice on how to live or how to do a thing, how to think, counsel. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of who? What does it mean to be ungodly? It's without Him and therefore against Him. Either you're with Him or against Him, right? So if I'm not with Him, I'm against Him and the ungodly are not with Him because they live a life without Him. And then there are times we can take and be given advice that is ungodly advice, because God's not in that advice. That's why the seeker says, I wanna hear from the Lord. King Jehoshaphat flirted around with the wrong people, but every time a situation come up and they gave advice to him, he would always say, is there really a prophet around here? I need to hear from the Lord. And God dealt with him, chastened him, but because he kept seeking God, God showed him favor. It's just what he does. A seeker, a believer, is always gonna seek out an answer from God. It's in their DNA. It's what he's doing in them. They're gonna seek him out. What's the next? Not only walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but not stand in the way. We're talking about a path. They're not in a pathway of living, not in a pathway of living, of sinners. And a sinner is just somebody who is missing the mark with God on life. They're doing it their way. Nor do they sit in the seat of the scornful. So they take up a position, they got a path, and they are avoiding the counsel of the ungodly. So you see life advice, how to do things, and how to think about things in life in those three characters that he mentioned there. The scorner, the sinner, the ungodly. But what is the delight of the? The law of the Lord. What's the law of the Lord? It's the principle ways of God. how God thinks about a thing, what he says about a thing. What is the next thing? Not only does he what? Delight in the law of the Lord, but he meditates day and night. Remember the wrong person, you can't discern God in his thoughts. But the blessed man, the seeker, He meditates on the principle way of God day and night. That is, his mind is soaking up and pondering and thinking of the ways of God. It can't help but come out of you. You're filled up with it. So, scripture says he's like a tree, right? He's rooted. He's rooted. The results of his life and the rewards of his life are all godly. He's been rooted by God, the results of his life are godly, and the reward of his life is godly. That is, God's involved in it. But just the opposite for those that don't seek him. They're rooted in this world. The results of this world is what comes out of their life, and what eventually will happen is they come to ruin, because everything about their life is easily shaken. So, we wanna help people, amen? We want to help people. These things add clarity to us. Anybody have anything before we go? I pray for you. Where we going? I pray for you and me. God is so good. Every day I go to school and every day I want to pray for me. Yeah. God is so good right there. God is my heart, it's my friend. I pray for me. Why are you nervous, Carolyn? Nope. I pray for you. Can we pray for you about being at home with Janet and Greg too? Isn't that special? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I go to school in the morning. Yeah. Please pray for me. We will, we will. Anybody else? You don't have to use your headlights on the way home tonight, brother Shannon. Watch out for the four-legged stuff. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Father, we bless you. We thank you. We love you and praise you. I thank you so much for your kindness and goodness. Thank you for a sweet day with your people. Thank you for your grace and your mercies. Thank you for being so gentle and patient and kind with us. Thank you for life among our flock. And we just ask you to continue to manifest that. We pray for our church family that have major things going on in their lives right now with family members and even themselves. Those that are going through procedures and testing, we pray for them right now as they travel and as they meet with their doctors. We pray for Keith as he travels across the country with friends and we pray your protection over them and keep them and bring them back safely. We just thank you for using us, for opening doors, for your word to go forth and that we would proclaim it as we ought with accuracy and with authority and the affection that only you can give. So we just gonna depend on you right now, ask you to continue to strengthen us and our resolve that we'll be gentle in our approach and that you would use us. We pray for our nation and that you give us the leaders that we most need your will to be done. I pray you'll direct each one of us as we go forth over the next several days and cast our ballot that you would lead us in that and we're going to depend on you and we're going to lift up holy hands to you without wrath and doubting believing you're going to place the one you have chosen whether out of your mercy or out of your judgment that you give to us in the meanwhile we're going to keep doing what you called us to do and we're going to keep giving away what you give us we're going to keep preaching it on the housetops what you speak into our ear and what you give to us in the secret place we're going to keep telling it, and we're going to give you the glory for it. So give us strength, give us your light, and we're going to praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night.